24 April 2012

Re sixth grade school lunches

From an open letter written by sixth-graders at Seward Montessori School in Minneapolis:
In the Minneapolis public schools, we are supposed to have 15 minutes to eat, which would be bad enough. But realistically we get only 10 to 11 minutes (we have been timing it)...

Lunch is an important social time. Teachers always tell us to socialize at lunch and recess, not in the classroom. But we cannot do that if we are scarfing down our lunches in 11 minutes... 

Almost no one finishes what he or she gets to eat. That means a lot gets thrown away, wasting food. Food waste affects many things in our world. It wastes much more than food; it wastes the time and energy it takes to make the food product. That is a sign that we are hurting our planet.

The reasons for having longer lunch times are obvious when you think about them. Weight, indigestion, waste and everything else just shows how inefficient and hurtful our lack of time is. We need change.
I don't remember how long I had for lunch in sixth grade in the 1950s, but I remember it was a social time - enforced by teachers who sat at every table while having their own lunches.  I'll bet that isn't done any more.

11 comments:

  1. Montessori

    Aren't Montessori's private schools? Is this a charter or something?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I gave you the name of the school. You could Google it...

      Delete
    2. Fair enough, I see it's a magnet. Around here Montessori's are private schools that cost 20-30k a year for tuition.

      Delete
  2. This is tough on the kids. I realized a year or so ago that part of my issue with indigestion as an adult was that I do not chew my food enough... a habit I developed during 15 minute lunch breaks at school when I was a kid. Not a healthy habit to develop!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good grief! I remember in the 80's, lunch was combined with the longest recess, and a time to look forward to. I think we had two 25 minute recesses a day plus a 50 minute lunch/recess break. 15 minutes is horrible, because I remember you could easily spend ten minutes waiting in the lunch line to get your food!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I remember running home (or riding a bicycle) for lunch. Probably had an hour.
    This was way, way, way back in the 1930s.

    Louis

    ReplyDelete
  5. 15 minutes for lunch? Only getting 11 minutes to eat? I had an hour for lunch in elementary and middle school. Time to leisurely walk home, eat and get back to school. This was in the 70's and 80's in Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was at school until the mid nineties.

    We had an hour for lunch (more or less, not saying it was precisely an hour.) We ate in any of the zones where eating was allowed, which were either in covered areas or in non-grassy areas outside, but there were no indoor eating zones except in special circumstances (permission to eat in the classroom was granted in cases of exceptionally bad weather). Having finished our food, we had the remainder of the lunch hour for play.

    I do not understand your statement that social time was enforced by teachers. Surely "enforced" and "social" are mutually exclusive -- it's not as if you might get ten minutes detention for not speaking to your neighbour, and it's not as if the word "social" would be applicable in that situation if you could.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A teacher sat at each table with maybe 8-10 kids. If the group finished eating before it was time for everyone to be dismissed to the parking lot to play, the teacher led us in word games like "Geography" where everyone participated.

      Delete
  7. My employer is legally required to give me half an hour for lunch. Kids need to strike for the same treatment.

    ReplyDelete
  8. When I volunteered at a local elementary school the students were not allowed talk at lunch and there was no recess (they did have PE most days). They had stoplight on the wall: green-talking permitted, yellow-whisper, red-no talking. It was always set to red. I can't imagine having to sit still all day and still be able to pay attention in class!

    I remember always feeling rushed at lunch when I was still in school too but maybe that was just me trying to get a little free time to go to the library as that would be my only opportunity in the day to go.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...