1. Reference Essay 4
Students are the future of our nation. Our study and self-discipline directly influence our future lives. While some students are conscientious in their studies and personal growth, many others still have the unhealthy habit of snacking during school hours.
Every morning, it's not hard to spot students buying snacks or breakfast before school. Many students not only eat snacks outside of class but also do so during lessons, completely unconcerned. Despite being reprimanded by teachers, some students continue to repeat this behavior. The primary cause is the lack of awareness about the negative effects of snacking during class. Many schools don't have strict policies against snacking, but students don't understand the importance of eating in designated places, which makes the act seem disrespectful. Additionally, some parents are too busy to prepare meals for their children, resulting in students purchasing fast food. Furthermore, schools often fail to enforce strict rules on snacking. Eating snacks in school can lead to several consequences: first, it negatively impacts the school's image, making students appear unkempt; second, it creates unhealthy habits. Many students also fail to dispose of trash properly, which harms the environment. If this behavior continues, it will only spread further, negatively affecting the school community.
To address this issue, students need to become aware of the importance of eating in the right places and maintaining cleanliness. Families should help limit their children's snacking habits, and schools must implement policies to reduce this behavior. A collective effort from everyone can help eliminate this problem and promote positive change.

2. Reference Essay 5
School is a nurturing environment that provides knowledge and cultivates moral values in students. Yet, this environment is being polluted by bad habits, one of which is the widespread phenomenon of snacking. While eating is a necessary part of life, the issue lies in what and how we eat. Many snacks contain harmful chemicals and artificial coloring, which can lead to dangerous health problems such as digestive disorders, cavities, stomach ulcers, and even cancer. Additionally, snacking can become a bad habit that, in extreme cases, leads to theft when students are unable to afford snacks. This behavior negatively impacts their character development and contributes to social issues. Furthermore, snack wrappers, soda cans, and candy packaging contribute to litter and environmental pollution.

3. Reference Essay 1
It’s easy to notice that school gates are often crowded with street vendors offering a variety of snacks, drinks, and toys, which attract many students. However, this also poses hidden risks that have led to unfortunate consequences.
The products sold by these vendors are often of unknown origin, lacking expiration dates, and sometimes contain artificial coloring or are stored improperly, which creates potential health hazards, especially during hot weather.
Understanding the curiosity and love for snacks among students, many vendors have chosen school gates as their prime location. At any time, particularly before and after school hours, these vendors are always ready to serve their young customers.
The range of items for sale is quite diverse, including food and drinks like sticky rice, sweet soup, cakes, candies, beverages, fruit cups, as well as violent-themed toys such as plastic guns, knives, and swords. These products all share the same feature of being of dubious origin, with prices that are affordable for most students, ranging from 2,000 VND to 10,000 VND depending on the item.
Consuming these snacks can result in acute food poisoning, and prolonged consumption of these products could lead to chronic health problems due to poor hygiene and unclear sourcing.
Parents should not easily give in to their children’s cravings for street snacks. It’s important to explain the harmful effects of eating unhygienic food and teach children how to use their pocket money wisely. Instead of buying snacks, children can spend money on school supplies, contribute to class funds, help less fortunate classmates, or save it for meaningful purposes. By explaining the hidden dangers of street food, parents can help their children break bad habits.
In addition to health risks, eating street food can also affect a child's character, promoting behaviors such as loitering and imitating others' desires, which can upset teachers and parents. It’s important to teach children that crowding around food stalls blocks sidewalks and creates traffic congestion, while pushing and shoving can lead to disorder and sometimes even violence.
While many parents and schools are working together to curb the “snack culture,” some inadvertently support it by buying street food for their children right outside the school gate. Some even buy drinks or snacks like rice paper and carry them around, waiting for their child to come out and “distribute treats.” These children, eager to share their academic achievements, often choose the snacks they see in front of them, especially when peer pressure encourages it. Seeing colorful, cheap snacks makes it easy for children to indulge, and this cycle continues because parents haven’t set a good example. Therefore, eliminating the snack culture at school gates is a difficult task.
To resolve this issue, it’s not just the responsibility of the education and health sectors but also requires cooperation from local authorities, student awareness, and the involvement of parents in their children’s daily habits.
Therefore, families and schools must pay more attention to educating students and reminding them not to buy snacks, especially beverages from street vendors near school gates. Parents should also avoid giving their children pocket money, which is a preventive measure to ensure they don’t consume unhygienic food or drinks.

4. Reference Essay 2


