Halloween is a time for people of all ages to celebrate and have fun. Children parade around the neighborhood, going from one house to another asking for candy.

Eventually, you get too old for it to be socially acceptable for you to trick-or-treat. This usually comes around the teenage years, when the child reaches high school and becomes a young adult. Halloween usually then becomes a time for the teenager to give candy to the children that come knocking at their door, or to have Halloween parties and attend haunted houses with their friends.

“On Halloween, I hang out with my family at home. I always take candy from the dish when my parents hand out candy to little kids,” said sophomore Dallas Robinson.

No matter how old, Oct. 31 seems to have one common theme: candy. When you have candy, you have sugar. When you combine a child or teenager with a late night full of sugar, you get a massive sugar and/or energy crash the next day. This is why students should have Nov. 1, the day after Halloween, off of school (when it falls on a weekday).

There were an estimated 41 million trick-or-treaters in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, this estimate was only based on children aged 5-14; many children of other ages may have went trick-or-treating or gone out in general. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010, there was an average 24.7 pounds of candy consumed per person.

These numbers bring forth striking evidence of how much candy children across America consume each Halloween night. This doesn’t count the kids that don’t go trick-or-treating but still eat candy at parties or at home.

“I definitely think so,” said Robinson when asked if students should get Nov. 1 off school. “The day after Halloween, many students will be on a major sugar crash and it will affect their learning.”

The effects aren’t only pinned on students. Teachers have to deal with hyped-up and unusually tired students all day while trying to teach material at the same time. A student may be disruptive to the class due to their hyper behavior. This could distract other students from learning. A student may also distract his/herself by being incredibly tired and not paying attention to the lesson being given by the teacher.

Teachers may also be tired on the day after Halloween after staying up late with friends or possibly with their own children.

“I go trick-or-treating with my daughter on Halloween. I also eat candy myself,” said art teacher Scott Ledbetter.

The effects of having school on Nov. 1 are unsatisfactory to both teachers and students. After a long night of candy and fun, the last thing students want to do is go to school the next day. They will either be over-energetic from all the sugar they ate, or extremely tired; both of which will negatively affect a student’s learning. I believe this can be fixed by having a day off on Nov. 1.