Nearly every day my friends and I do it: Go out to lunch. It seems like every time we go out to eat, no matter the location, we always seem to be running late and often time rushing back to school, late to our classes. After years of this behavior from many other students and I, why wouldn’t MPS and DHS make lunch longer, which would improve driving safety and allowing students to go out to lunch and come back on time.

Sure 30 minutes is an alright time to have for lunch, and for most people who don’t go out to lunch, it’s plenty. However, just to get to places like Taco Bell, McDonald’s, or Subway takes from four to eight minutes depending on traffic and weather. You also have to factor in that everyone is in a rush to avoid waiting in lines, causing havoc on the roadways.

Living in Michigan gives us the best of both worlds, warmth in the summer and icy cold in the winter. Driving anywhere to lunch seems more suicidal than practical for people, so why not extend the lunch hour? Not only would this open up many more places for students to go, but the roads would be much less congested. Take exam week for example. Sometimes during exams, there are two hours to go to lunch places and everyone is in a much more relaxed mood, not driving fast and furious to get back on time. Even for students who don’t go out to lunch, there would be advantages.

Who wouldn’t want more time to study for other classes during their lunch break or potentially do the day’s homework or have nap time? Where did nap time go in school? With students often staying up into the wee hours of the night, the few hours of sleep they get are prized.

As a consequence, students often fall asleep during their class schedule. With a longer lunch, students could actually concentrate and absorb or learn information the rest of the day.

Midland Public Schools, please listen to one of these my ideas.