Should we be okay with students developing a dependency on coffee? Many schools now, including Tahoma High School, have coffee shops inside to cater to their students daily caffeine cravings.

But what effect is this increase of coffee having on students? The question of whether it is beneficial or detrimental is highly debated. Many students argue that it is beneficial to their alertness at school.

One of the primary and most undebatable arguments for students and coffee is that having students help to run the coffee shop gives students very valuable business skills that will help them later in life.

Now the highly debated argument is that students have a need for coffee.

Senior Ryan Pearson has said that if he doesn’t have coffee in the morning there’s no point in going to school since he would be far too tired to learn. Many students share this same thinking and claim that they are much more capable of learning early in the day when they have their morning coffee.

Despite coffee keeping students more alert in the early mornings, drinking coffee at the wrong times of day can severely throw off a sleep schedule and make you even more tired.

An additional argument to students and coffee is that many students have not developed an understanding of financially responsible spending habits. With many drinks such as a single-shot mocha costing $3 at Bear-Beans, some students do not fully understand the amount of money they spend on coffee throughout the year, but will develop this understanding during high school because of coffee, rather than during college when they have need to have a greater understanding of how to maintain financial stability.

Students and coffee may be highly debated, but nearly every argument against it has an apparent upside that works to balance the pros and cons.