By: Deirdre Spilman
Associate editor
Beggars cannot be choosers. Sadly, some schools have trouble grasping this concept.
Schools across the country are abandoning the federal lunch program because students are scoffing at the healthy options and it’s causing schools to lose money.
School districts that rejected the program say the reimbursement received was making up for the losses from students who began skipping the lunch line and bringing food from home or, in some cases, going hungry, according to an Aug. 27 Associated Press article.
Schools are given federal assistance to provide nutritionally balanced, inexpensive or free meals to students who would not have been able to afford a meal otherwise, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website.
America has a bevy of problems. Unemployment, homelessness and possible military action in Syria. We should consider ourselves lucky that with all of the other issues occurring, our nation’s leaders think it is still important to spend precious time and funds – $11 billion to be exact – to address an issue that may not be as apparent as other problems.
However, many students rank taste above nutritional value and are refusing to eat the food provided by the federal lunch program is because it “tastes like vomit.”
That tactful quote was provided by an elementary school student from Kentucky in an Aug. 28 CBS News article.
“It’s not the chicken nuggets, it’s not the popcorn chicken. It’s not the corn dogs and stuff that the kids really liked,” says Debra Apell, the food services supervisor at a school in Laguna Beach, Calif., according to the same article.
Well, so what? That food is the poison that is giving our nation its embarrassing place as one of the most obese in the world.
If these students think that they have it rough because they are not able to eat a hot dog with a side of Twinkies for lunch, they need a serious reality check.
To say that something somebody worked hard to prepare “tastes like vomit” has got to feel like a slap in the face to those poor cafeteria workers.
Why are parents allowing their children to pack lunches instead of eating the healthy lunch their schools were providing? Bringing your own lunch simply because the healthy food at school is too “gross” for you just shows what’s happening to this country. Parents need to encourage their children to live healthier lifestyles.
It’s as easy as giving them no other option than to eat the healthy choices at their school.
These ungrateful students have the luxury of knowing that no matter their financial status, they will be guaranteed a meal at school.
This is not the case everywhere. In many impoverished countries, people have no idea where their next meal will come from. They would never even dream of refusing to eat something because it would have been better if it were fried.
School officials need to take a stand. Children who probably do not even know what B.M.I. (Body Mass Index) stands for should not be allowed to dictate what should and should not be served at school.
Sure, the kids may refuse to eat the “foreign” food at first, but I can guarantee that once these kids are too tired for the playground they will surrender to the healthier meals.
spilmadm10@bonaventure.edu
