Let me paint you a picture. Students of all ages intermingle with faculty and each other. It is lunch-time. Students sit at tables where they are able to meet teachers they never knew, or other students they would never have met otherwise. When the students feel that they have spent sufficient time eating and talking, they leave. There is no consequence, such as a cut slip for example, for not attending lunch. In my mind, the above setting represents what should be community lunch. However our reality is much different.

For many students and faculty, lunch blocks on Tuesdays and Fridays have become unbearable. Community lunch is an awkward and forced interaction between students and a faculty member. Neither the students nor the faculty want to waste their time at lunch, and the imminent cut slip for skipping enhances our distaste for the event. Recently, community lunch has been re-organized. Tables are now organized by form. So, rather than remaining true to the original purpose of the event, the ineffectiveness of community lunch is emphasized. Based on the long-standing tradition of organization in the dining hall, students eat by form. The freshmen are separated in their own area from the sophomores and juniors, who separate within their own area, and the seniors sit in their designated half of the hall. If sit down lunch is organized by form, its entire purpose is defeated. Teachers do not want to take time out of their busy day to sit and supervise students who would sit together already. While a great aspect of boarding school is the close relationship that students and teachers can build, mealtime is when teachers can separate themselves from the students and have time with other adults during their busy days. Therefore, the organization of community lunch must be re-thought. Perhaps, the purpose of community lunch is no longer relevant to the Choate community, or we must make an effort to really uphold its purpose as best we can.