Many children depend on school meals at a daily rate. Meaning, children get about “half of their daily calories from school meals” (Park, Time). For this reason, it is considered for school cafeterias to provide healthier meal options. School meals are processed foods in which can contain high fructose corn syrup or large amounts of sugar. There is no telling what school meals contain because their is no label stating what they contain. Much of these processed, closed, sealed school meals are heated and reheated at any time for the children. I, myself, see the same food two or three days in a row at my school cafeteria. One way to improve school meals would be to have a chefs/cooks to cook fresh and healthy meals daily.
The National School Lunch Program “ provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day” (National School Lunch Program). This program assist public, nonprofit private schools and child care institutions with the annual value of around $11.6 billion. Many people “don’t realize is that very little of this money even goes toward food. Schools have to
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I have seen this at my school where students turn down school meals to buy chips, cookies, muffins, soda or anything that teachers or students are selling on school campus. On the survey, there were a couple statements in which the students had to answer “yes” or “no”. One of these stated, “I usually skip school lunch and buy junk food. My lunch consist of junk food” (Garcia, Student Survey), 73% of the students answered “yes” on this statement. Another statement in which 69% of the students answered “yes” stated, “I would prefer to eat healthy fresh food, instead of school lunches” (Garcia, Students Survey). This survey shows the results of students who do prefer to eat junk food for lunch instead of school meals, as well as choosing healthier school
Janet Poppendieck is a professor of sociology at Hunter College in New York, and additionally she is the author of several books including her most recent Free for All: Fixing School Food in America. This book centers on America’s recent interest in whether or not our school lunches are healthy. This issue has been put into the spotlight recently through shows such as Jamie Oliver’s School Food Revolution and in the news because recent changes in the Nation School Lunch Program’s dietary guidelines. Poppendieck’s book looks at the in depth reasons into why school lunches have turned into what they are today, what challenges need to be faced in order to fix school lunches, and ultimately how our the system should be fixed. She accomplishes this by interviewing her current college students about their previous school lunch experiences, working in a school cafeteria, interviewing current school employees, and looking at the history and policies of the National School Lunch Program.
Though proponents of this method argue that it has lowered meal debt and the amount of families failing to pay, Stacy Koltiska refutes this claim by saying: “[The ones making these policies] are suits at a board meeting… They are not the ones facing a child and looking them in the eye and taking their food away.” While it is irrefutable that debt in schools is a problem that must be tackled, it is not a justifiable excuse to take a child’s midday meal out of his or her hands and throw it into a trash can because his or her parents can not put money into their child’s lunch account. There is no excuse for denying a child a hot meal or making them go hungry during the school day for something that is not their fault. Their dietary and nutritional needs are not a bargaining tool for the school system to use under any
Schools are spending too much money with this program that could be spent on other benefits for schools. Rather than using the money to get students new technology or property it 's wasted on a lunch program that students do not enjoy nor want to purchase. In the Article, “School Lunch Food is Not Fresh, Students Say” Journalist Audrey Levine interviews high school students about they feel about their school lunches. “It’s way too expensive now, but I’m still buying,” said senior Stephanie Huang. “And I don’t think more people are bringing lunch because
has to spend more money on changing school lunch system from eliminating unnecessary spending portion of system and create farming class. As reported by Cooper, “ The National School Lunch Program needs 8 billion dollars to feed 30 million children a year to serve high quality foods.” However, this price of amount has to be double to serve healthy foods to students because our next generation has to grow up with high quality foods not with low quality foods. Moreover, according to Cooper, the U.S. spends more than 100 million dollars on fast foods portion which the U.S. suppose to spend less amount of money on fast foods to improve the entire food system of the country. If the U.S. government lower the expense of fast food system and raises the amount of money for school lunches, entire schools of the U.S. would get positive results. For example, students could brainstorm very fast as Albert Einstein, and gain more energy to work out on their gym classes. Furthermore, school have to create agriculture class for students to have strong knowledges in foods. Students can literally be ware of what they eat at their lunch times; they will know vegetables grow in the ground and how foods are really fresh. Therefore, schools must provide farming class as in Berkeley; students have rights to know how foods are important to them. As a result, students could get a lot of benefits for changing school
One reason our school should get a new lunch menu is many students do not like the food served. For example, a survey was taken and of the 31 students 100% said they disliked the food. As student Bryan Huang said, “The lunches are horrible, they need better choices and more choices.” In other words, the food is not delicious and there are not many choices. Also, when children don’t get proper nutrition they have trouble focusing in school. Most students do not buy lunch because they feel it is unappealing and do not like the food served. Many students go to other kids and ask for food. In addition, many students do not eat breakfast so they rely on lunch to fuel them for the day. But, if they do not like the food served they won’t eat so they starve for the rest of the school day, which can
“Our Schools need to start teaching kids how to be healthy.”- Unknown. School lunches have created a chronic problem in a school setting, and since it hasn't been fixed, 6-11 year olds have had a 17% increased chance of becoming obese (Centers for Disease control and Prevention). Most school districts don't even bother changing the food restrictions just so they can please their students. Unhealthy school lunches are a huge problem among children in the United States, it can cause obesity, stress, and many other problems.
“More than a third of the county's children are overweight or obese.”(Gustin, 1). As shocking as this is, it's true. One of the big reasons that children and teens are overweight is because of the foods that they eat. They are fed these fattening and unhealthy foods by the school system. Their futures can be changed if we change our choices. Having more nutritious lunches can have a positive impact on the health of American teens.
The average school lunch has about 900 calories, which is about half of the amount of total calories a child should consume daily. Many schools attempt to serve healthy lunches for students, but sometimes they are not aware of what "healthy" is. Other times they do not feel it necessary to spend a large amount of money on healthy food. If schools knew how healthier food would affect a child academically, they might be more inclined to pay. The American government must increase school funding, so that the schools can make this change for the students' benefit. School officials must also look at the percentage of children who are obese, and consider how providing a healthy school lunch will help to lower that number. Healthy school cafeteria food is essential for school aged children in the United States because it will help them pay attention in school, improve their learning capabilities, and minimize childhood obesity.
Throughout the United States, concern of rising health issues is a popular topic. Over a progression of many years, American fast food chains and junk food companies have risen as a common means for food replacing homemade family meals. This quick and easy habit of buying cheaply made and sold foods that lack real nutritional value has been reason for increasing health issues. This habit is seen in children just the same as adults. Children eat the quickest meal with the most sugar and fat (among other unhealthy ingredients). This habit needs to be broken to take better care of the children today. Children are eating snack cakes and other junk foods at school instead of the breakfast/lunch that is offered causing bad habits and a poor diet. The children of America are suffering from the effects of malnutrition and yet, society does not help them to better understand or give higher grade options for them to choose from. Therefore, junk food should not be allowed in schools as it imposes health risks on children, lacks requirements for the nutrition contained in them, and without offering them, children would learn many morals/lessons.
President Harry Truman initiated The School Lunch Program (NSLP) in 1946, it was established under the National School Lunch Act. The program provides nutritionally balanced, low‐cost lunches to more than 32 million boys and girls each school day.The NSLP ensures the nutrition,portion, and safety of our children food, over the years do to the rise of childhood obesity the The USDA School Lunch Program is constantly evolving to meet the needs of our youth. Many concerned citizens, such as Eric schlosser author of Fast Food Nation believes that the USDA is not providing our children with the right nourishment. Many parents are taking it into their own hand and creating and joining advocacy groups. It is crucial that our youth receive nutrient
According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years,” meaning that America’s children need to start eating healthier, including healthier school lunches. The National School Lunch Act is a fairly recent addition to American society. For, as the world waged war a second time, the United States began to worry about the strength and health of the country’s soldiers. However, in the beginning, selling excess agricultural goods was more important than building a healthy, well-balanced meal for students. Unfortunately, many children coming from poorer families could not afford well-balanced school lunches, so in order to compensate, the School Lunch Program changed its focus to help these students. This program, however, decreased schools’ lunch budgets, and schools had a hard time keeping up with the amount of free meals they had to provide, so they came up with some extra ways to increase revenue. However, in a small town in Massachusetts, one chef makes a difference in the health of the school lunch students eat each day, and proves that hiring a trained chef to cook real, healthy meals can increase profit. Unfortunately, that is not the case in most schools across the nation. The quality of health of the food being served in school lunches is extremely poor and was allowed to decline even more with a new set of rule changes. However, there are some improvements currently being made to increase the quality of health of the food being served to students, including teaching them all about food and its nutritional information, both good and bad. In order for students to eat healthier lunches at school, the USDA needs to implement healthier ...
The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act was passed in 2010 by Barack Obama, with support from Michelle Obama. This bill changed the way many cafeterias are running on a daily basis, both in budget and what (as well as how much) they are serving. To understand why some schools are struggling to fully thrive under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, it is important to know some basic statistics of this act and what they mean for schools. Amanda Paulson informs us about funding statistics of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, stating that the Federal Government endorsed “[a]n additional $4.5 billion over 10 years to child nutrition programs–the first time the federal government has increased funding for them in 30 years.” Paulson continues on by stating that schools receive a higher reimbursement rate than prior to this act being passed; in particular, schools now receive “[a] 6-cent increase to the $2.68 reimbursement rate that schools get from the federal government for free school meals.” Furthermore, Julie Kelly and Jeff Stier inform us that “[t]he Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act funds a number of child-nutrition programs including the National Schoo...
With the implementation of the “Healthy Kids Hunger-Free Act” schools are not serving as many lunches and participation is decreasing. According to the Government Accountability Office (GOA), “Nationwide, student participation declined by 1.2 million students(or 3.7 percent) from school year 2010-2011 through school year 2012-2013, after having increased steadily for many years”(sec. 1). The school lunches became more distasteful and bland; the combinations of foods did not make sense, and the portion sizes decreased significantly. In order to support the cafeteria
To conclude, unhealthy foods in the cafeteria and the vending machines are the worst examples for the kids to maintain the healthy eating habits. Us Parents have to step in to make changes for our kids because in doing so would determine what kind of foods our kids are consuming. We do know for facts they are not getting the proper nutrients while in school, although they do spend in average of eight to 12 hours in schools. We, the parents, can start to make a difference, by attending the school meetings and being active in our kids functions in schools.
Students learn and do their best when they are hungry, and uncomfortable! That makes perfect sense right? If you’re like most Americans, this may be one of the most ridiculous statements you have ever heard. I know I have never done anything better hungry. Many students sit through their lunch time at school because they have no food to eat because they don’t have the money to afford it, or they are not able to bring food from home for various reasons. This is why many schools have free and reduced lunch programs. But not everybody can apply for these programs; even middle class families in today’s economy sometimes can’t give their child cash every day. Times are tough, and every family is different. These are good programs, but they are not good enough. One child missing a meal, and going hungry is too many in my book. That’s why I think it should be at least a state law in North Carolina, if not a federal law, that offers free lunch in all public schools for all students, regardless of income. This way it’s simple, cost effective and easy, and nobody will be singled out, or go hungry if they do not bring their lunch from home.