Madison ONeill

A lot of desks in classrooms, especially the ones in the language portables, look like this one. This is why many of the teachers believe that students should be allowed to chew gum outside, but not in the classrooms. “I believe there are places [it’s okay]. If they’re definitely outside of class it’s their liberty, but within the classroom we are in a group setting,” Ms. Joanne Park said.

Gum chewing is a great stress reliever for many students across campus, but due to many people sticking it under their desks, teachers are continuing the ban of gum in their classrooms considering health and cleanliness problems that may be related to it.

Many people have probably heard the rule that chewing gum is not allowed in classrooms on campus, which is for a good reason. People stick their gum on the hallway walls, floors, and even under their own desks where students step on or touch the chewed gum from other students. 

Mostly due to the convenience that it brings, students put their gum under their desks rather than disposing of them in the trash can. This makes it hard for teachers and custodians to do their job in keeping their classrooms clean as they have to spend a majority of their time doing the tedious job of scraping gum from under the desks, especially in the B-portables. 

“I would like to give our kids the responsibility of properly disposing [gum] and properly following the rules,” Spanish 1 teacher Ms. Joanne Park said. “If they don’t follow it, there’s got to be a consequence.”

This is not only very disrespectful to the teachers and the cleaning crew that has to clean it up, but it is unsanitary to have gum under the desk. Gum that comes out of a students mouth can harbor many different kinds of bacteria that not only grosses people out, but makes them sick as well, preventing them from coming to school and making others sick in exchange. 

“It’s just unsafe [and] unsanitary and to do that, we’re just sort of disrespectful to the cleaning crew and the teacher in the classroom,” Ashley Chang (10) said. 

However, some students like to chew gum because it allows them to be more efficient. Some say that it makes them less stressed, helps them concentrate on their school work, helps with memory, and promotes well-being as gum stimulates the brain. 

“I think [gum] should be allowed because I feel like when I chew gum in class, I’m not as distracted. It helps stimulate my brain,” Rachel Askar (10) said.

Realizing the issues that teachers have with gum under the desks and around campus justifies why they don’t allow students to chew gum in their classrooms, as they can feel disrespected and often don’t want to clean students’ gum from under desks. Despite this, the no gum rule prevents productivity that many students get from gum, preventing them from concentrating and focusing on their school work. 

“I do think it depends on the teacher mainly because there are a lot of problems with [gum], like the noise and just some people finding it disgusting, but I think they could ease up on the rule,” Chang said.