Snack Machines should not be in school’s

A lot of students and teachers have been debating whether snack machines for the students should be allowed at Sevier Middle. The short answer is that, no, they probably should not be allowed for students.

It seems like a pretty harmless idea: in case students don’t have time to go to breakfast in the morning, or come into school late, snack machines could provide them with a snack to keep their energy up and focus on their classwork.

But snack machines, while beneficial in that way, can also cause many problems. For instance, the school has started using electronic “smart passes” because of students lingering and hanging out in the bathroom to skip class. Even before class, students will just be somewhere random in the school instead of getting to their class. If they have access to snack machines during the day, it just adds on to the problem of students being out of class for longer or being in the halls too much.

Also considering there have been bugs found in classrooms, and even animals like bats, adding snacks into classrooms may not be a good idea. These critters show that students do not pick up their trash from the snacks they eat now; they make a mess and leave crumbs everywhere. This attracts insects. Snack machines could make this problem worse.

There’s not just a problem with students not picking up after themselves; there’s also a money issue. Many people don’t understand that there is a steep cost to putting snack machines in a school. The school simply has no budget to get snack machines for students, or the money to keep refilling them.

Then there’s the problem that students will fight over food or take it from each other. Food can quickly become a problem, as students will harass each other for a bite of their snacks. This will cause yet another disruption in the classroom.

The school system also puts a lot of effort into making sure that students eat a healthy and balanced diet. Snack machines are usually stuffed with chocolate bars and chips, which definitely are not healthy options.

Yes, a snack machine would be convenient for students. It would, however, cause so many problems that teachers would just have to take away snack machine privileges from students. Spending the money on these machines would not even be worth it.

So, while having access to a snack machine sounds nice in theory, it would most likely cause more problems than do good. Middle school students just aren’t mature enough to have a lot of privileges like snack machines, because most students do not pick up after themselves and can’t make enough time between classes during the day to use the snack machines.

For now, Sevier Middle School should definitely avoid vending machines for students.