“She said, ‘I’m just going to have you spit out that gum.’ She clocked me,” Hana ’25 said.
She was referring to an anonymous Marlborough teacher. Being asked to spit out gum is almost a universal Marlborough experience. But another universal Marlborough experience? Striving for educational excellence through consistent class participation, focus during tests and alertness in lectures and roundtables alike.
Some might say that chewing polymers, resins and softeners has no correlation to class participation and focus. But I (and countless researchers) would beg to differ.
A 2009 study published in Physiology & Behavior found that gum-chewing individuals were significantly more alert, less stressed and less anxious than their non-gum-chewing counterparts. And these results are unbelievably common.
A 2018 study found that adults who chewed gum during a lesson performed better than those who did not. A 2015 experiment offered overwhelming evidence indicating that gum was beneficial for productivity and “reduced cognitive errors” in the workplace.
And at an institution whose mission is that learning sparks purpose, why wouldn’t we use every available tool to help us focus, participate and learn?
In the Marlborough Student Handbook, the gum policy is a single sentence:
“[Gum] can be destructive to floors, carpeting, and furniture,” it states.
Sure, gum can damage all three surfaces. But so can Caf froyo, stickers and water on the CEI leather couches. To ban the most beneficial, helpful, functional and practical object for potential staining issues, is ultimately a bad call.
Plus, I’ve yet to see a Marlborough student stick gum under tables or on a carpet. Why sacrifice the countless benefits of an Extra for a hypothetical situation that, in my four years here, I have yet to witness? It’s because Marlborough students are sanitary! It is ridiculous to rob so many students the pleasure of a minty fresh mouth, for the what if scenario of gum on surfaces.
Whenever I start to zone out in class or join a Gimket in Bio, I reach for a sweet mint Orbit gum stick. With a pleasant minty breath, I’m instantly locked in: focused, alert and ready. I’m not arguing that gum guarantees academic success, but I am certainly contending that it plays a pretty significant role. To ban it is to ban a study tool, and we would never do that to
Quizlet.
Although gum is a potential hazard for ruining our furniture, us Marlborough students have never and will never vandalize the School’s property. Gum being banned, prevents all students from being more concentrated, just because of the small risk of “damaging” surfaces.
