With proper care in the selection of food, the packing of the lunch box,
and rational methods of consumption, there is no reason why the box
lunch should not be nourishing, attractive, and possess an educational
value.
It may be laid down as an axiom that every school lunch should be
supervised by the teacher and hap-hazard methods of eating the lunch
should be prohibited. Those schools that are fortunate enough to possess
a large table can approximate somewhat to the best home conditions, and
have the table set in the proper manner, as shown in Lesson VI, page 18.
The pupils should sit round the table, at the head of which is the
teacher, and the lunch may be made to partake of the nature of a family
party. If rightly managed, the meal, even under the unusual difficulties
presented in the rural school, may offer the most favourable
opportunities to inculcate habits of cleanliness and neatness and to
cultivate good manners. The pupils will learn something about the proper
selection of food and the importance of thorough mastication. Clean
hands and faces and tidy hair should be insisted upon, and individual
drinking cups should be encouraged. As a manual training exercise, each
pupil may be taught to make his own drinking cup from heavy waxed paper.
Grace may be said by the older pupils in turn.
The table should be made to look as attractive as possible. The pupils,
in turn, might undertake to have the table-cloth washed at home or, in
place of a linen cloth, a covering of white oil-cloth may be used. In
some cases the school garden will be able to supply flowers or a growing
plant for a centrepiece. Three or four of the larger pupils, either boys
or girls, may set the table in ten minutes, while the others are washing
their hands and faces and tidying their hair. Some such plan as this
will add palatability and cheer to the monotony of the everyday cold and
often unattractive lunch and will create a spirit of true and healthy
sociability among the pupils.
In schools that do not possess tables large enough to be used as
suggested above, each pupil should be required to set one place at his
own desk, as shown in the illustration on page 20. A paper napkin may be
used for a table-cloth, if a small piece of white oil-cloth is not
procurable. Each pupil retains his place until all have finished; he
should then dispose of the crumbs and leave his desk tidy. From twenty
minutes to half an hour is generally found sufficient for the meal.
There should be cheerful conversation and restrained laughter throughout
the meal, and acts of courtesy and generosity should be encouraged. At
seasons when there are no flies, and on days when the weather is
favourable, it is a pleasant change to serve lunch out-of-doors.
The lunch is provided by the home, but the teacher may give some useful
lessons in Household Science by talks on the contents of the lunch box
and the proper methods of packing the same, so that the food will keep
in good condition until the time for its consumption arrives. It is the
duty of the school authorities to provide a suitable storage place for
the lunch boxes. These boxes should be kept free from dust or flies and
in a place where the food will not freeze in winter. Open shelves, so
often seen, are not suitable and a properly ventilated cupboard in the
school-room should be provided.