School Lunch

Why are children expected to be quiet during lunch at school?!? Lunch (well, all meal times) are inherently social activities! Why not use this time to teach our students social skills and table manners? We could sit family-style and provide an experience the average American is often nostalgic for - "a family dinner" - to children all over this country. Instead, I listen to a teacher on a microphone, day-after-day, yell at the kids to be quiet in a very social situation then publicly humiliate them when they get in "trouble"...it just doesn't make sense to me at all!