http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/magazine/how-school- lunch-became-the-latest-political-battleground.html?_r=0 |
My first reaction to this information was, like many parents, why can't we feed our kids better food? Then I started to really analyze the data.
First, almost every nation brought into the comparison has a ridiculously smaller population. It's much easier for a smaller system to sustain better quality food service. When the entire country is the size of our single state of Texas it's easier to find local, fresh food sources.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ commons/8/81/Texas-France_comparaison.png |
http://www.flowersociety.org/street-children.html |
As I scanned through the information on site after site the information only became more depressing. Logical analysis of the data made it seem like the only two options were:
1) Go deeper into the taxpayers pockets to serve the children healthier food, or
2) Neglect a higher percentage of children, and focus on serving a smaller quantity of lunches overall.
I believe there is a better way. If each school district was responsible for raising the money for the school lunch program, the system would be broken into much smaller, more easily managed budgets. If, as a parent, I knew I was providing healthy meals to my children, and their peers, I would be more emotionally involved in the decision making process.
Now I know this doesn't take into account really low income districts. The first objection to a change of this kind is that kids in "rich" districts will be eating filet, while kids in "poor" ones will still be stuck with chicken nuggets. This is where two options would come into play.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2001697/Microsofts- Bill-Gates-A-rare-remarkable-interview-worlds-second-richest-man.html |
The second option (which really should go hand in hand with the first option) would be to set up a mandatory lunch rotation with school parents. Each child who attends the school would need a parent to work in the cafeteria a minimum number of days each year. For instance, there is an average enrollment of 694 students per school in the state of Florida. The average number of children per family is two. There are approximately 180 days in the school year. This means the parents would need to work in the cafeteria a minimum of 2 days per year.
As one final note I'd like to add the following:
What do you think?
I welcome rational discussion. Ad Hominem, Straw Man, and other comments containing illogical fallacies will be removed.
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