Who didn’t hear the phrase “Don’t chew gum at school!” when they were growing up? Of
course, this sort of instruction always encourages a few people to flout the rules and chew gum even more frequently.
The main reason that gum chewing was frowned upon was that students would probably stick the used wads under the desk
or on the floor, where other unsuspecting students might come into contact with them. For some reason, though, the
teachers always claimed that the reason was that students couldn’t pay attention while chewing gum. This was a
ridiculous excuse since people are more than capable of engaging in other activities while they chew, like walking, for
example.
Some schools finally realized what students have been trying to tell teachers for years: you can’t fall asleep in class while you’re chewing gum.
To increase alertness during the administration of standardized tests at the Mennies School in New Jersey, school officials passed out peppermint chewing gum to students, in addition to providing them with high protein breakfasts. The staff said that the kids were put at ease by being allowed to chew gum, in addition to being perked up by the peppermint. It worked, too. Math pass rates increased by more than 10% from last year, with many students scoring “advanced” and over 80% of the students passed the language arts portion of the exam. The students tested were third and fourth graders, but perhaps it won’t be long before more teachers catch onto this trend.
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