I don't know if it's just me, but when I see a huge group of people, I get curious. I wonder, "Huh, what are they all waiting in line for?"
Here's just a little background information of myself: Although I have been a Mayfair Monsoon for six years now, I rarely ever paid attention to the MPB during snack or lunch break. I didn't even know the MPB was our cafeteria (hence, multipurpose building lol). To this day, I still have only stepped foot in the cafeteria roughly about five times.
However, I came to the realization that the long line of students were waiting to get their snack or lunch. Before we even started this food politics unit, I knew school lunches weren't healthy. My only knowledge was that they were all preserved meals that were just microwaved or something then served to the students. That always disgusted me. (The sad truth is that I actually used to enjoy school lunches in elementary school.) But now I know that school lunches are totally malnutrutious, made from high fatty meats and cheeses and comparable to fast food meals. It just leads me to question: WHY THE HECK DO PEOPLE STILL EAT THIS CRAP?
I have the answer to my own question. They eat it because it's all that is available and maybe all that they can eat. The only semi-healthy option is like... a salad that comes with soggy vegetables (I assume) and a truckload of cheese with a cup of ranch.
The solution isn't easy, though. We can't expect the whole nation to provide truly healthful, organic meals to the billions of students. Even if the government hypothetically provided enough money, the new and improved meals wouldn't guarantee a more healthy student population. Kids are super picky and sometimes prefer to eat fatty foods. Maybe serving nutritious meals would lead students to starving themselves. Also, it could lead to more of the "black market" smuggling among students that sell contaband (the good stuff) and so the children wouldn't even need the organic meals then the government would've wasted billions of dollars on the efforts. It's a tough problem to solve.
Unfortunately, you a right that an American nation where every school provides quality, healthy, and organic meals is indeed a hypothetical one. If schools can barely afford new textbooks how can they be able to afford a meal program as such? However, I feel that if this situation were to become a reality in the American school system it could actually increase the amount of schools with a healthy student population. This could be a result of both a more nutritious meal program and an extended health curriculum. Although, some students would still prefer fatty foods,as you noted, I think many others, especially those who qualify for free meals, will indulge in nutritious meals. Especially, if they were made in the school's kitchen rather than an industrialized factory, and if the meals actually looked like real food. I also think an extended health curriculum would help increase he trend of a healthier student population because the more educated a person is on the wrongdoings and negative effects of the food they are provided with the more likely they'll seek ways to change their habits. Look at us for an example. Many of us never even took the time to think of where are food comes from or what ingredients are inputed, but after learning more on the subject we are beginning to pay more attention to our diets.
ReplyDeleteIf you were tested on describing the school's salad you would have gotten an A. I never eat the schools lunch but my friends do and boy does it look super gross. The look and smell of it just makes me want to get up and walk away until they finish their food. I ask them why they eat it and they say its because their hungry and have no other choice. But there are kids that would rather go hungry until the school day is over. I feel that the schools should do something about that. I'm not saying making them eat the food but changing it. They should add better quality food or healthier food. If they did that then maybe the smuggling of food among students would stop. Instead of smuggling chips they could walk into the cafeteria and get something good for them.
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