(continued)

What do we want to eat?

Kids are divided, like the adults in their schools, on the kind of food schools should provide for lunch.

“I think schools should serve healthier food, more food that’s better for your brain, so that you can work. It would be a lot easier for you to do better with your schoolwork.” —Gabe

“If you don’t serve junk food, the kids will just go to the corner store to buy like chips or candy and stuff like that. So they should sell it, but make it expensive so people won’t buy it, or buy as much. Like, sell a candy bar for two dollars. [But] there’s no point, ’cause most schools have a corner store really close.” —Edward

Let us show you we can eat in class.

Students understand there are responsibilities that go along with the privilege of eating in the classroom.

“[Eating snacks in class] works well but sometimes the teachers could take away that privilege if it gets distracting.” —Canek

If a teacher does have flexibility in establishing eating policies for the classroom, working with students to achieve shared goals can provide a powerful learning experience. Kids want to have the privilege of eating and they are willing to take responsibility for cleaning up.

“The teacher should actually trust us, because in seventh grade, we’re not in elementary school. We’re not going to make a big mess out of food, and we’re not going to try to disturb her by eating. A lot of people can’t think right when their stomach is empty.” —Javier

“In my other school, they wouldn’t let us have snacks because it would make a mess to clean up. It’s just a little mess, it’s not like it’s impossible to clean it up—let the kids eat something.” —Genesis

Addressing these issues directly may help students better understand their role in the classroom and in the school—as well as solving the clean-up problems of snacking.

“In my school, they don’t let us eat. They say, ‘Oh, roaches’ and stuff, and that the janitors don’t always come and clean up the room like they’re supposed to. When I was in seventh grade, they came every day after school, but now, they don’t really do it that much.” —Kenson

“In my pre-algebra class, when my teacher gives us food, the students have to clean it. It might only be a little bit, but it makes a big mess, so it takes time out of our period. Fifteen minutes before the bell rings, everybody has to stop what they’re doing and clean up their mess. So I’m not crazy about that.” —Denue

Kids know that the room must be clean and that distractions must be kept to a minimum. They don’t want to be unfairly blamed for someone else’s mess, and they are therefore ready to agree to rules that ensure individual responsibility.

“[Kids] should clean up, because it’s their mess that they made. Nobody else should be responsible for cleaning up the mess they made. My teacher, he only makes us clean up the stuff that’s under our chairs. Because the janitors, they do a good job cleaning up the room, except they don’t go under the desk and chairs. We have two janitors in every floor, so when we get in the classroom in the morning, it’s really clean.” —Daquan

Often, they see the teacher as responsible for enforcing these rules of “cleaning up after yourself.”

“Well, I think that the teacher should make them clean after every period so he’ll know which period made a mess. When most kids eat their sunflower seeds, they spit it all over the floor, and they don’t clean it, so if you come into that classroom and you shared that seat, and you have gum or something and you’re chewing, the teacher might think that you made all those sunflower seeds all over the floor.  And then you have to pick it up, clean it, and…” —Denue

“[The teacher] should stay there and watch the kids when they make the mess. But when it’s near our desk but we didn’t put it there, he shouldn’t make us clean it.” — Amelia

 

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