The perfect first-day icebreaker: what are your opinions on the lunch timing change? I’m sure many of us have heard this question and the variety of opinions surrounding this topic from our friends, but what does Hinsdale South as a whole think? Are you really hearing different points of view, or missing a perspective?
Last year, we had to purchase our lunch, eat our lunch, and find time to socialize with our friends within 25 minutes. The school board decided to double the allotted time for lunch, now making it 50 minutes at the cost of delaying our dismissal time to 3:15. We also previously had 5 lunch periods, including split periods, versus 3 periods available with no split lunches. I’m sure many of us felt rushed to eat and try to catch a break, and I can assure you that many Hinsdale South students feel the same.
After sending out a survey to the Hinsdale South body, from the 134 respondents, 47.8% of them said that the 25 minute lunch periods were too short. On the other hand, 23.9% of the students said that it was the perfect time span. However, many students don’t like the change in the lunch schedule, despite the period being longer. After investigating the data closer we saw that many of the issues people have with the 50 minute lunch periods are because there are only 3 lunch periods, rather than 5; it is much more cramped.
One Hinsdale South Student said that there are 300 students in the 4th period lunch, meaning the lunchroom is filled with “chaos, screaming, and rowdiness.” Along with the cramped lunch period, many upperclassmen are upset that they are not allowed to have off-campus lunch anymore. Another student shared, “25 minutes was perfect, and I don’t like that with a 50 minute lunch period we aren’t even allowed to leave to go get real food and getting out 15 min after school really does make a big difference.”
Although there is some backlash on the 50 minute lunch periods, 68.7% of the student body said that they prefer a longer lunch. Although there are some downsides, many of the students like how they get longer of a break from classes. One Hinsdale South student said that the longer time “also allows me time to get food, because the lines are normally so long,” given the increased number of people in their lunch.
There are both pros and cons to both lunch period schedules, so what is the best solution? Did the board make the right decision with this change, or was it better off before?
