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There have been a lot of complaints recently about our school's "no snacking in class" policy. Some students seem to believe they should be free to munch on whatever they like, whenever they choose. I admit there are some valid arguments for allowing food and drinks in the classroom. Overall, though, I think the principal's decision to uphold the snacking ban is a wise one.
Food in the classroom could actually create a lot of noise. It is easy to say that one person eating a crunchy food like potato chips does not make that much noise, but what happens when there are twenty people crunching, crinkling bags, ripping open packages, and gulping down juice? I think it could easily make it more difficult to hear what the teacher is saying. All of these sounds would be a nightmare for me, because I find it difficult to focus on my work when there is a lot of background noise.
Students may say they will clean up after themselves, but I think we all know that letting food and drinks into the classroom would create a huge mess. No matter how careful students are, there are bound to be spills and crumbs. Just imagine how it would feel to arrive at your desk only to find the seat is sticky and the desktop is littered with cracker fragments.
Next, there is the issue of what students will be snacking on. Some students would make healthy choices. They might pack apple slices or carrot sticks with dip. They would choose to drink water or milk; however, there are many others who would decide to drink soda or eat chips and candy bars. Unhealthy snacks do not have much nutritional value at all. They are full of empty calories, and eating too many of them can lead to health problems. The school would probably want to discourage students from eating garbage. This gives teachers yet another responsibility. Instead of making them the "snack police," it is easier to just keep food out of the classroom.
Allowing snacking in the classroom is not just noisy and messy. For some students, it could also be dangerous. Some students at our school are allergic to certain foods. If they are exposed to them, there could be serious consequences. They might feel sick to their stomach or get itchy. If they are extremely allergic to the food, they might even have trouble breathing and need to go to the hospital. The scary thing is, it may not take very much of a food to trigger an allergic reaction. Keeping all foods and drinks out of the classroom will help keep students with food allergies safe. There is no doubt that all snacks are not created equal. A vitamin–packed banana is clearly more nutritious than a sugar–filled bag of banana–flavored candy. Some may view the fact that students might make unhealthy choices as a reason to keep snacks out of class. Letting snacks in class provides teachers with a superb chance to educate students about making good food choices. They can talk to the class as a whole or to single students about the difference between good snacks and bad snacks. They might even choose to ban junk food outright. These lessons could stay with and help students throughout their lives.Some people worry about the potential noise and mess that will result if food and drinks are allowed into the classroom. They also worry about food allergies. The benefits of allowing food into the classroom outweigh these downsides, though. In addition, these possible problems could be fully avoided by creating some rules students need to follow and introducing some new classroom routines. For instance, students might be told they cannot bring "noisy foods" into the classroom. Teachers could post a list of foods that are banned because some students are allergic to them. Teachers could also give students just a couple of minutes close to the end of class to throw away empty wrappers and wipe up spills.
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