Graduated high school about 15 years ago in Maryland. IIRC, lunch and recess were decently generous in elementary school, but of course there was no such luck i

Graduated high school about 15 years ago in Maryland. IIRC, lunch and recess were decently generous in elementary school, but of course there was no such luck in middle and high school. Lunch was just another period, so about 45 minutes. I was lucky to get decent periods most years, but with so many kids, someone had to eat at 10:00AM in order to make sure there were enough lunch periods to service the entire school. I would have liked time after lunch to use as a rest or study period; I distinctly remember getting crap from my post-lunch math teacher for falling asleep constantly in her class (in retrospect, I must have been mildly sleep-deprived, going through a growth spurt, AND crashing from my carb-heavy packed lunch), despite essentially acing all her tests. I think, in general, Americans are loathe to build in "cushion" for human needs. I'm sure everyone has heard, "If you're on time, you're late."