Five Minute Break Update

There are many ways that this article could start, countless hooks that could draw in the reader. For example: “As you sit in fourth period, watching the freshman pour into the room, late from illegally going off campus to chick-fil-a, you check the time…” Or “Ingraham wants to stop congregating in the hall, yet they’ve allowed it to continue with the extra 5-minute break…” Or even, “Did you know that there is a new 5-minute break on Wednesdays, and that there isn’t one after fifth period…” And yet that’s not how this article will start, with so many reasons or possibilities of why this 5-minute break was added and why some believe it should be removed, there is only one way to start this article: 

Four minutes. That is how long on average it takes someone to walk from the three hundred building to Maestre Andy’s room upstairs of one of the new add-on buildings. Data was gathered from three different time periods, one during the 5-minute break, one during lunch, and one during passing period. And yet all the times averaged out to four minutes. So, what does this small, yet still significant, piece of data prove. Passing period is a great length. If you don't stop and talk with friends you can get from period to period without having to worry about time. Sure, maybe using the bathroom will be hard, but your teachers won't be as mad at you for being late. Ever since middle school, teachers have tried to cement it into our brains that talking to your friends during passing periods will lead to being late. Yet we still do it, all of us 

Normal 

Period 1: 8:50 – 9:45

Period 2: 9:50 – 10:45

Break: 10:45 – 11:00

Period 3: 11:05 – 12:00

Lunch: 12:05 – 12:35

Period 4: 12:40 – 1:35

Period 5: 1:40 – 2:35

Break: 2:35 – 2:40  

Period 6: 2:45 – 3:40

Wednesday

Period 1: 8:50 – 9:30

Period 2: 9:35 – 10:15

Period 3: 10:20 – 11:00

Lunch: 11:05 – 11:35

Period 4: 11:40 – 12:20

Advisory: 12:20 – 12:50

Break: 12:50 – 12:55

Period 5: 1:00 – 1:40

Period 6: 1:45 – 2:25

It’s not the talking to friends that teachers hate, it’s the congregating, the loitering. Yet what does this 5-minute break create? While walking through the halls at lunch, Ingraham has easy navigation routes. Before school, the same thing. Even during the 15-minute break, everyone has found their corner to sit by which leaves plenty of room to roam. Then, as you try to get to class or wherever you’re going throughout the 5-minute break, the groups halt you. The congregation begins, and it spreads. In front of the vending machine, in the entrance from the 200s building, in front of classroom doors. People know that they do not have much time to free roam so they quickly find who they can and then stop and talk. Done. Grouped. Hallway. No room. 

If the administration was to get rid of the break, the next question would be where to put it. You can’t just leave 5 minutes empty in the schedule. This is where a key factor comes into play, traffic. When the word traffic is mentioned in a school context, it can be interpreted in many ways. This can be from students slowly walking down the halls, blocking them off, and others having no way to pass, or from arrogant drivers as you walk to and from school. This can also be from drivers in general, rushing back to school from Starbucks.  Why not give them more time? There will be fewer students late to class, less missed tests, less “eh, why should I even show up for class?” Add the five-minute break onto the end of lunch, and these problems might just go away.