School Lunch Persuasive Essay
The state of school lunches has been a point of debate for many since Michelle Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act signed into law December of 2010, giving full authority to the USDA in setting the nutritional standards for all foods regularly sold in school lunch lines, stores, and vending machines. The law was set to provide additional funding to meet the updated standards, however, the cost was severely underestimated. Using data provided by Medicaid, eligibility for the free or reduced school lunch programs has seen a definite increase, although participation has not (Lee, 2010). In a press release, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius was quoted saying “The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is a significant step forward in our effort to help America's children thrive and grow to be healthy adults... By increasing the number of students eligible to enroll in school meal programs and improving the quality of food served, this legislation simultaneously tackles both hunger and the obesity levels currently affecting too many communities across this nation.” I would like to draw attention to her careful wording of “...step forward in our effort...” A subject as incredibly important as the nutrition of
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our children and adolescents is not something that should be an experimental process, but that is exactly what it has become. As noted by CNN’s Jen Christensen in a 2010 article titled “Schools Struggle to Feed Kids Healthy Food” a mother of three, Dana Woldow, came to congress with a challenge.
Woldow asked every member of Congress to try their districts school cafeteria food before making any decisions regarding cutting a bill that was to be passed for school lunch funding in half. Blogs, articles, and comments sections have pointed out a catalog of perks members of Congress receive at a discounted rate on the taxpayers dime. If even a handful were to be eliminated, like free airport parking, or just lowering the $40,000 every senator is allotted for decorating their office to a modest $30,000, school lunch programs wouldn’t be the only thing Congress could
fund.
In articles published as recently as May of this year alarming statistics of these food programs have been exposed. Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association (SNA), was quoted this month stating that the program initiated in 2010 has been counterproductive if anything, as more and more kids are opting out of school lunches altogether. The SNA has been pushing to allow more flexibility in the restrictions placed on schools because the drastic cuts in sodium have left lunch programs scrambling to make the healthier foods they are serving actually appealing. Although the CDC has stated that nine out of ten children have far too much sodium in their diets, the radical cuts made to their routine have left the kids getting their meals elsewhere. Students have been noted bringing “illicit” foods with them to school. Those who aren’t binging on chips are leaving campus entirely (Gerlock, 2016).
Participation in the National School Lunch Program has been showing a very steady increase since 1969 for those in the free or reduced price programs, with only 3.9 million participating then compared to 22 million today. But in terms of students who pay full price, participation has dropped from 16.5 million in 1969 to only 8.5 million as of May 6th, 2016 (USDA, 2016). Of those students who are paying full price for their lunches, it is important to take note that although the healthy food was purchased, most of it was not eaten. In a small study performed by the University of Vermont, research found that food waste had increased from 2010, when the law passed, by a whopping 56 percent by 2015 (Welch, 2015).
Suffice it to say, although Congress has convinced themselves the progress made was enough, it hasn’t been. For years the topic was on every news station. Michelle Obama wants kids to get fit! The First Lady hula hoops with first graders! But when you take a look at different social media outlets, arguably the newspapers of the millennials, they paint an extremely different picture. #ThanksMichelleObama on Twitter takes you to a wall of photos posted by students with captions like “Crusty dog food for lunch #thanksmichelleobama”(Salvatore, 2016). The problem seemed to be a lack of integration. With the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act the decisions were essentially forced on kids. One thing that any educator, parent, and babysitter can agree on is that a good portion of children don’t tend to do what they are told. At least not without a fight.
The simplest solution is one that celebrity chef and activist Jamie Oliver has been fighting for for over a decade. Throughout his career, Oliver has hosted a number of shows specifically focusing on the state of school lunches in England. His 2005 show “Jamie’s School Dinners” created an environment for discussion. A discussion that prompted the British government to pledge £280 million (GBP), or $404,250,000 (USD), to the school lunch program over the span of just three years.
The approach Oliver took was hands on. He encouraged kids to learn about food. They were taught to understand why locally sourced chicken was different than the chicken nuggets in the freezer section by counting how many ingredients were listed on the packaging. His methods included incorporating food and nutrition in other core classes and dedicating a class to not just learning to cook, like our home economics does, but learning to cook healthy, affordable, and simple meals. Bringing the kids into the equation got them interested and excited to learn about food. Elementary school aged children were learning to prepare salads that they later proudly served to their classmates in “Jamie’s Return to School Dinners”. The lessons would build on each other. The younger kids learned about and tended to gardens. Fresh fruits and vegetables were the focus. As Oliver started working with high schoolers, the lessons became about the quality of meat and fish. He taught these kids how to pick fresh meat, several ways to prepare it, and what to serve it with all in a half hour lesson. I have to say that watching a 17 year old try fish he prepared for the first time himself was incredibly satisfying.
A big part of the process is educating those preparing the food as well. In 2006 Oliver spent a few days as a “lunch lady” in a Greenwich school. After observing and participating, with the help of the school’s head cook, he came up with a whole range of dinners, cooked with fresh ingredients from scratch daily that have since been implemented as standard in other schools in the area. His campaign Feed Me Better points out that the cost of cooking healthy meals daily is double that of what was allotted. This is the case in America as well. While cutting sodium out of the meals did not lower the cost, it did create unappealing meals that were being wasted. The solution is not restricting certain things, it is encouraging moderation and portion control. The answer is teaching kids, parents, administrators, lunch ladies, and congress. The Jamie Oliver Food Foundation currently consists of three programs; Kitchen Garden Project, Ministry of Food, and Fifteen Apprentice Programme; as well as three campaigns; Childhood Obesity Strategy, Food Revolution, and Sugar Smart UK. His mission statement reads “My Foundation aims to shape the health and wellbeing of everyone, by providing access to the right information and to education around food, by campaigning on the issues that matter, and lobbying governments and industry to do the right thing to create a healthier and happier world.”
Alice Waters, an American food activist, introduced the idea of “the edible schoolyard”. This program involves kids in the farming, gardening, preparing and serving of food. Her goal was to “awaken their senses and encourage awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land. (The Edible Schoolyard Project, 2016)” Quoting Waters from Transforming School Food: “...we had in mind to tie a curriculum of a garden, and of a kitchen classroom, to all the other subjects at the school. And what we’ve discovered after ten years is that kids really like this interactive pedagogy of a garden classroom and of a kitchen classroom. And when they get involved with the growing and the cooking, that they all want to eat it.”
Participation is the key. Creating an interactive learning experience will not only encourage students to participate, but they will leave school with knowledge that will always be useful. In my own home economics class I learned to sew mittens, a tote bag, a small toy, and a wallet. That was five years ago and not only have I never made any of these things again, I don’t even have them anymore. I was fortunate enough to come from a family in which cooking is the nucleus. I’m reminded of every lesson my grandmother taught me when I go shopping for my own groceries. All of the tips my mother gave me go into every meal I prepare for myself. These are all skills that everyone needs at some point throughout their lives. I find it silly that food, as vital as it is, is not a core subject in schools. No matter where we are in our lives, we come together over food. A holiday meal with family, lunch with friends, a business dinner. Food is central in our lives but the education of it stops at the food groups.
our children and adolescents is not something that should be an experimental process, but that is exactly what it has become. As noted by CNN’s Jen Christensen in a 2010 article titled “Schools Struggle to Feed Kids Healthy Food” a mother of three, Dana Woldow, came to congress with a challenge.
Woldow asked every member of Congress to try their districts school cafeteria food before making any decisions regarding cutting a bill that was to be passed for school lunch funding in half. Blogs, articles, and comments sections have pointed out a catalog of perks members of Congress receive at a discounted rate on the taxpayers dime. If even a handful were to be eliminated, like free airport parking, or just lowering the $40,000 every senator is allotted for decorating their office to a modest $30,000, school lunch programs wouldn’t be the only thing Congress could
fund.
In articles published as recently as May of this year alarming statistics of these food programs have been exposed. Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association (SNA), was quoted this month stating that the program initiated in 2010 has been counterproductive if anything, as more and more kids are opting out of school lunches altogether. The SNA has been pushing to allow more flexibility in the restrictions placed on schools because the drastic cuts in sodium have left lunch programs scrambling to make the healthier foods they are serving actually appealing. Although the CDC has stated that nine out of ten children have far too much sodium in their diets, the radical cuts made to their routine have left the kids getting their meals elsewhere. Students have been noted bringing “illicit” foods with them to school. Those who aren’t binging on chips are leaving campus entirely (Gerlock, 2016).
Participation in the National School Lunch Program has been showing a very steady increase since 1969 for those in the free or reduced price programs, with only 3.9 million participating then compared to 22 million today. But in terms of students who pay full price, participation has dropped from 16.5 million in 1969 to only 8.5 million as of May 6th, 2016 (USDA, 2016). Of those students who are paying full price for their lunches, it is important to take note that although the healthy food was purchased, most of it was not eaten. In a small study performed by the University of Vermont, research found that food waste had increased from 2010, when the law passed, by a whopping 56 percent by 2015 (Welch, 2015).
Suffice it to say, although Congress has convinced themselves the progress made was enough, it hasn’t been. For years the topic was on every news station. Michelle Obama wants kids to get fit! The First Lady hula hoops with first graders! But when you take a look at different social media outlets, arguably the newspapers of the millennials, they paint an extremely different picture. #ThanksMichelleObama on Twitter takes you to a wall of photos posted by students with captions like “Crusty dog food for lunch #thanksmichelleobama”(Salvatore, 2016). The problem seemed to be a lack of integration. With the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act the decisions were essentially forced on kids. One thing that any educator, parent, and babysitter can agree on is that a good portion of children don’t tend to do what they are told. At least not without a fight.
The simplest solution is one that celebrity chef and activist Jamie Oliver has been fighting for for over a decade. Throughout his career, Oliver has hosted a number of shows specifically focusing on the state of school lunches in England. His 2005 show “Jamie’s School Dinners” created an environment for discussion. A discussion that prompted the British government to pledge £280 million (GBP), or $404,250,000 (USD), to the school lunch program over the span of just three years.
The approach Oliver took was hands on. He encouraged kids to learn about food. They were taught to understand why locally sourced chicken was different than the chicken nuggets in the freezer section by counting how many ingredients were listed on the packaging. His methods included incorporating food and nutrition in other core classes and dedicating a class to not just learning to cook, like our home economics does, but learning to cook healthy, affordable, and simple meals. Bringing the kids into the equation got them interested and excited to learn about food. Elementary school aged children were learning to prepare salads that they later proudly served to their classmates in “Jamie’s Return to School Dinners”. The lessons would build on each other. The younger kids learned about and tended to gardens. Fresh fruits and vegetables were the focus. As Oliver started working with high schoolers, the lessons became about the quality of meat and fish. He taught these kids how to pick fresh meat, several ways to prepare it, and what to serve it with all in a half hour lesson. I have to say that watching a 17 year old try fish he prepared for the first time himself was incredibly satisfying.
A big part of the process is educating those preparing the food as well. In 2006 Oliver spent a few days as a “lunch lady” in a Greenwich school. After observing and participating, with the help of the school’s head cook, he came up with a whole range of dinners, cooked with fresh ingredients from scratch daily that have since been implemented as standard in other schools in the area. His campaign Feed Me Better points out that the cost of cooking healthy meals daily is double that of what was allotted. This is the case in America as well. While cutting sodium out of the meals did not lower the cost, it did create unappealing meals that were being wasted. The solution is not restricting certain things, it is encouraging moderation and portion control. The answer is teaching kids, parents, administrators, lunch ladies, and congress. The Jamie Oliver Food Foundation currently consists of three programs; Kitchen Garden Project, Ministry of Food, and Fifteen Apprentice Programme; as well as three campaigns; Childhood Obesity Strategy, Food Revolution, and Sugar Smart UK. His mission statement reads “My Foundation aims to shape the health and wellbeing of everyone, by providing access to the right information and to education around food, by campaigning on the issues that matter, and lobbying governments and industry to do the right thing to create a healthier and happier world.”
Alice Waters, an American food activist, introduced the idea of “the edible schoolyard”. This program involves kids in the farming, gardening, preparing and serving of food. Her goal was to “awaken their senses and encourage awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land. (The Edible Schoolyard Project, 2016)” Quoting Waters from Transforming School Food: “...we had in mind to tie a curriculum of a garden, and of a kitchen classroom, to all the other subjects at the school. And what we’ve discovered after ten years is that kids really like this interactive pedagogy of a garden classroom and of a kitchen classroom. And when they get involved with the growing and the cooking, that they all want to eat it.”
Participation is the key. Creating an interactive learning experience will not only encourage students to participate, but they will leave school with knowledge that will always be useful. In my own home economics class I learned to sew mittens, a tote bag, a small toy, and a wallet. That was five years ago and not only have I never made any of these things again, I don’t even have them anymore. I was fortunate enough to come from a family in which cooking is the nucleus. I’m reminded of every lesson my grandmother taught me when I go shopping for my own groceries. All of the tips my mother gave me go into every meal I prepare for myself. These are all skills that everyone needs at some point throughout their lives. I find it silly that food, as vital as it is, is not a core subject in schools. No matter where we are in our lives, we come together over food. A holiday meal with family, lunch with friends, a business dinner. Food is central in our lives but the education of it stops at the food groups.