Letter to the Editor: Eating in the library
To eat or not to eat, that is the question. As students we are forced to ask if we want a quiet environment or to eat. Students being prohibited from eating in the library is inhumane and takes away from a students capability to accomplish work during the day.
As a student who frequents the library during lunch to ensure school work gets completed I’m forced to make a choice between eating for the first time in 5 hours or ensure I can get homework done as I often have my job or clubs after school.
The only argument the staff has to support their strict rules of no food is that they don’t want messes. Though students should not have full lunches at their quiet study, having a snack to tide over hunger and upkeep focus would be overall beneficial. Metea Valley is a highly ranked school with the funding to ensure custodial staff can keep the library clean throughout the day. This also gives more jobs out to those needing it and leaves no reason to prohibit nourishment for the students that the faculty of Metea Valley works to support on the road to college.
Through my day spending time effectively working at the library I witness librarians psychically taking food from kids or ejecting them from the library for small and quiet snacks. To be punished to eat is against human morals and is unfair as that is our lunch period we are spending in an attempt to complete work. It is a problem in need of addressing as students struggle between the chaos of the cafeteria or the path to being a good student.
Todd Redman • Oct 17, 2019 at 2:22 pm
If the food isn’t that messy or large, then I suppose it isn’t too much to ask to have a quiet snack alongside doing your thing in the LMC.
Hari • Oct 16, 2019 at 9:01 pm
Leaving a mess for the custodial staff to clean is not okay. The librarians’ concern about making a mess is definitely a valid one. If what you want is to eat snacks, most teachers allow that in their classrooms. The library is also the one spot where students can get almost absolute silence all throughout the day. Ruining that with a snack isn’t fair to the students that want quiet work time.
Neil Degrasse Tyson • Oct 11, 2019 at 7:31 am
I think the word “inhumane” is a strong word
Clarification • Oct 10, 2019 at 10:23 pm
I believe you are a senior so maybe just sneak a snack into the senior locker banks? Or eat food in the commons quickly and head over to the library? Also please never again use the idea of leaving a mess as increasing custodial jobs.
Yoda, Grand Master of the Jedi Order, Member of the Jedi High Council • Oct 10, 2019 at 8:40 pm
Kicked out I was, for eating my rice. Hrgmmm. Under the table it was, mess there was not. Hgrrrm. Annoyed the librarians are. Smaller and smaller the archives are, each year, the reason being. Hrrggmmm.
cafeteria • Oct 9, 2019 at 7:12 pm
I normally just do work in the cafeteria — is it too messy in there or too loud?
A Metea Student • Oct 9, 2019 at 6:16 pm
I am bringing up the following question because there is no where else to bring it up. Wouldn’t an “informal winter dance after winter break” just be the same thing as turnabout?
Jedi Master Yoda • Oct 9, 2019 at 4:29 pm
Hgrrrrm… other issues with LMC, there are. Scream at you if chairs are moved around, LMC supervisors do. Hgrrrrm.
Evan Lemberger • Oct 9, 2019 at 1:11 pm
I agree. Eating small quiet snacks in the library should be allowed, as long as they’re peanut free.
I will say though that the custodial staff already works really hard to keep the rest of the school clean. If we do make a mess in the library, it should be on us to clean it up.