I’ve always been a fan of Burger King’s famous French Toast Sticks and maple syrup — but not for lunch.
But when I received my schedule for senior year of high school — supposedly the most fun 10 months of one’s life — I faced a horrifying menu of imitation breakfast delicacies, served daily until 10 a.m. That’s right; I had been assigned fourth-period lunch.
It was bad enough to have first-period chemistry class beginning precisely at 7:30 a.m., but fourth-period lunch made chem feel easy. As a senior with the day’s earliest lunch session, beginning at 9:48 a.m., we were allowed to drive or walk off campus (save a major snowstorm) to buy a commercial lunch.
At 9:48 a.m.
As horrible as it was to force down lunch (well, brunch) before “The Early Show” ended — and it was horrible — I’m still inclined to believe that starting school bright and early is important.
The high school day is already long and tiring. My high school (on Long Island) was based on a nine-period system, from 7:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. Although fourth-period lunch was eternally scarring, in retrospect this seems like a very reasonable work day.
Our school newspaper club would hold meetings from 2:30-ish to 3:30-ish, once a week. This would still leave you plenty of time to make it to an after-school play rehearsal or athletic practice, which would typically last until about 5.
If school began at 9 a.m., and lasted until, say, 4 p.m., daylight would have been awfully scarce for any after-school activities. As it was, soccer practice after daylight-saving time was often cut short by the sun’s refusal to cooperate.
A later start would likely move many athletic practices to before first period, but away games in neighboring counties that require significant travel time would present late-afternoon issues.
For students not as involved with after-school activities, a later school day would keep students off the streets during business hours — but it would also encourage troublemakers to stay up later during the week.
There’s also the built-in luxury of having those daily couple of hours of freedom before dinner time. While after-school activities are nice, it’s also an opportunity for many adolescents to have the house to themselves for a bit, before Mom and/or Dad return home from work for the day. (Whether those hours are filled with homework or havoc is another issue.)
The early-morning schedule is also an introduction to the so-called “real world,” where most jobs begin earlier than we like to imagine — except, of course, the newspaper production business.
And as for me? I’m just glad that fourth-period lunch is history — and after this column, I no longer have to “waffle” on the issue.
Strub is a senior at Binghamton University, a part-time copy editor at the Press & Sun-Bulletin and a new resident of Binghamton’s West Side. His column appears Thursdays.
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