Crunch...Crunch...Crunch.  That is all that can be heard instead of the lesson being taught.  Imagine being so distracted from the food people are happily enjoying that it is nearly impossible to even focus on the information being given.  How would it feel if the annoyance of  a pet peeve got in the way of a learning environment and nothing much can be done to stop it?   This is how many young people feel in the classroom all because of the allowance of food.  Many children would benefit from the absence of food inside the classroom and would be an advantage for the school as well.  Students should not be permitted to eat in the classroom because eating increases health risks,  causes a distraction and comes off as rude to the employees of the school. 

Many adolescents leave behind crumbs and wrappers which increase health risks inside of the school.  Many kids, especially our generation, are becoming lazy and forgetful.  They sometimes leave behind wrappers and crumbs of the food they were just eating, therefore, exposing themselves and their classmates to multiple health risks.  Eating food in the classroom would be most critical to the kids with allergies.  Some kids are severely-even deathly-allergic to certain foods.  Examples of some of the most popular allergies would be gluten, wheat, and multiple kinds of nuts.  As for statistics, “The National Peanut Board shows that 4-6% of school age children have peanut allergies” (Should ). Out of the “8,167 students in the school district” roughly 408 students are allergic to only peanuts in the 2015-2016 school year.  This is not counting all of the other food allergies too. This makes schools students at high risk for allergic reactions because of the remnants of food.  Some being deathly allergic to some swelling up like a big red balloon to some just getting a stuffy nose.  No matter what the effect, it is important to avoid them at all costs., the students without allergies would be affected too .  The left behind crumbs of students are dinner for local rats and insects, drawing them into the classroom.  Rats are responsible for the transmission of many diseases and so are many kids hence the saying, “Kids and rodents are a deadly combination, literally” (Kids ).  Bringing them into the classroom will increase the risk of disease throughout the school.  Rat feces contains lots of germs and bacteria making kids susceptible to different, dirty viruses and germs.  Finally, excessive eating or snacking in between meals is considered unhealthy.  There are some exceptions based on the snack.  For example, vegetables and fruits are excellent sources of vitamins and make a great snack, but snacks like ice cream, chips, cookies, etc. are what is considered unhealthy snacks. Only a certain number of calories can be consumed without putting on weight.  For example, on average, “A teenage girl ages 14-18, must consume roughly 2,000 calories per day to maintain their current weight” (Nhlbi ).  Calories add up fast and many are too lazy to check the nutrition labels on the back of their food to really see how much food they are consuming.  This can eventually be a deadly habit because consuming lots of calories without keeping track can push someone over their calorie limit.  Continuing with the facts, “each meal, for women, should be roughly 650 to 700 calories leaving little to no room for snacking” ( Recommended).  It is plain and simple, snacking must be reduced to a reasonable portion to maintain a healthy diet along with eating substantial meals.  Most kids these days just grab a bag of chips not realizing how high in calories most bags are,  sometimes taking even more than one because they are not “filling enough.”  All of this overeating, will gradually lead to obesity, which has side effects of high blood pressure, stroke, and even cancer.  Most of people's loved ones have died from one of these side effects.    These side  effects can most likely end in a early death.  Not only can food be a danger to people but it can also be a distraction to people.

The crinkling and cracking of wrappers and crunchy foods during class time can become a distraction for the kids inside the classroom.  Many kids cannot stay focused on the lesson being taught because of certain noisy distractions.  First, there is a chronic condition called Misophonia, which “is when a person experiences autonomic arousal (analogous to an involuntary “fight-or-flight” response) to certain innocuous or repetitive sounds such as chewing, pen clicking, and lip smacking” (Edelstein).  Many get anxious and angry being exposed to these kind of conditions.  Being a victim to this condition, I understand how frustrating the lip smacking, crunching, and popping noises are.  It becomes very difficult to concentrate on the lesson because nothing else is heard but these sounds repeating over and over and over again until the person finally stops.  The noises also seem to be at ten times the volume which becomes even more annoying and disruptive.  This prevents these types of people from learning and prevents them from achieving the education they deserve and that their parents paid a lot of money for.  Next, the other kids who do not have Misophonia can find these actions just plain annoying and rude, too, but just not in the same way.  They necessarily do not act the same as someone with Misophonia would, but they still are distracted from the teacher.  For example, someone could be sitting in the back of the classroom, which is already hard for them to hear the teacher, but then a neighbor opens a bag of trail mix and starts crunching away at the nuts and m&ms inside.  While they were looking at their neighbor opening the bag and watching them smack their lips and crunch their teeth, they have missed part of the lesson that can be of value when it comes to test time.  Nobody wants to do poorly on tests, especially the questions that were specifically stated by the teacher in class during a lesson.  So the prevention of food could possibly lead to better homework and test scores.  Finally, the aroma of certain foods can trigger other students away from the lesson and onto thoughts of food.  “The sense of smell is closely linked with memory, probably more so than any of our other senses” (Psychology).  Smelling certain foods can trigger certain memories which lead to thinking about those specific points in time.  Eventually a person can be thinking about something random that has nothing to do with what is being taught.  These thoughts are irrelevant and only distract the student further away from paying attention.  All of  these distractions are noticeable to the teacher and the teacher can become angry because no one is paying attention to the lesson the teachers have worked hard to plan.

Finally, kids eating food in the classroom comes off as rude and disrespectful to the teachers and to the staff of the school building. First, the teachers see the students eating and then begin to believe that eating their food is more of a priority than learning the lesson from them.  This also becomes frustrating because not all the students are paying attention to teachers, as if they are almost being ignored.  No one wants to be ignored.  Everyone wants to feel important. The teachers become less motivated to teach their lesson because they believe not all students are listening to them.  Eliminating food will allow all attention to go to the teachers because they deserve everyone's attention and respect.  Secondly, chowing down in class shows the teacher how the students are not being considerate of the teacher's time.  For example, if kids would just eat breakfast in the morning to hold over their hunger to lunchtime, then this would show the teacher how they are managing their own time to be considerate of the teacher's time.  Many kids simply rush their mornings and do not allow for a lot of time to eat breakfast.  In fact,  “ Approximately 8 to 12 percent of all school-aged kids skip breakfast... By the time kids enter adolescence, as many as 20 to 30 percent of them have completely given up the morning meal” (Case).   Many adolescents skip the morning meal, hence them chowing down during class.  Eating breakfast, at home in the morning, can show the teachers how the students understand how valuable class time and the teachers time are and how fortunate they are to have such tremendous teachers’. Finally, most students will leave their wrappers behind because they are forgetful and lazy, but little do they realize that someone has to clean up that mess.  Whether it be the teachers or the school janitors, this comes off as a rude and disrespectful action.  Students can not even respect the facility that the janitors work hard to clean every night, and they are often taken advantage of or taken for granted.  “We often take for granted the sanitary, trash-free environment in which we learn” (Custodians).  Students, once again, are not very appreciative of their learning environment which is the main reason for the laziness of throwing away their own trash.  Do we really want the schools to look a mess? No. With food being taken away from this equation, the janitors can focus their attention to more important tasks, like setting up school events, and maintaining a great first impression when visitors walk through the door. Ultimately, this will lead to success for the district, which is the primary goal for most schools.
Nowadays many lunches at schools are close to noon which is late considering that most get up around six.  A lot of students also skip breakfast in the morning possibly because they forget or simply because they were rushed and did not have time causing them to be hungry throughout the day.  But this just further proves the point that kids need to manage their time better in the mornings.  They need to wake up in the morning giving themselves enough time to eat a sustainable breakfast to hold them throughout the day or to their lunch period.  However, there are some cases with people who have diabetes or high or low blood sugar levels and exceptions can be made. 

Everyone wants the schools and the classrooms to be safe but some things must be restricted in order to provide the best learning environment possible for students. Having and eating food in the classroom increases health risk, causes a distraction, and comes off as a rude and disrespectful action to the staff of the school building.  Those who are unheard or too shy to speak to your school principals or counselors, here is a chance now.  Email or call your local school district and tell them how these conditions are affecting our kids.