Improving School Lunches
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Classical argument paper:
The need for improvements in school lunches
Children consume over 50% of their calories in school. This surprising statistic underlines the importance of providing healthy school lunches to our nation's students. However, the nutritional quality of school lunches remains, by any standard, abysmal. A recent study in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine "found girls who participated in the school lunch program gained weight faster than those who did not participate" (Flynn 2011). Given these sobering statistics, the U.S. government recently set new standards for the meals served as part of the National School Lunch Act to make student's lunches lower in calories and healthier. Many of these changes were controversial. However, given the extremity of the nation's obesity crisis, particularly in low-income communities where children rely upon free or subsidized lunches in school (and in some cases, breakfast as well), it is vital that these changes are enacted and expanded upon. The changes did not go far enough and are only the first step in changing the way children eat in the U.S.
The first changes were to reduce the number of calories eaten by schoolchildren. Currently, there are no maximum calorie limits, only minimum standards. But now the "minimum and maximum calorie levels would be 350 to 500 for K-5 breakfast, and 550-650 for K-5 lunch; 400-550 for 6-8 breakfast and 600-700 for 6-8 lunch; and 450-600 9-12 breakfast and 750-850 for 9-12 lunch" (Flynn 2011). Initially, when the school lunch program was instituted to provide low-cost or free lunches to indigent students, the major problem facing the nation was that some children did not have enough calories to sustain themselves throughout the day. Before the National School Lunch program, some students could not even afford milk. One 1920s guide to mothers from Good Housekeeping noted that when: "milk is sold to the children as a small sum per half pint bottle. The results in both instances were immediately beneficial. The children gaining in weight, in improved color, and eventually in keener intelligence, In one city, it has been found that the average child completes the eight customary years of school twenty-five...
The idea that more calories are automatically linked to better nutrition has changed.
A casual scan of the calorie counts at any corner store will inform the purchaser that it is very easy to buy a large amount of calories for a relatively small amount of
money. Unfortunately, those calories tend to be mainly starch and sugar, rather than nutrient-dense. Limiting calorie intake is essential to curtail obesity. Eating more fruits, vegetables, and lean protein is vital to maintaining a healthy weight, and fresh fruits and vegetables are more expensive, calorie for calorie, than fast foods and snack cakes. Although the
federal government cannot control what students eat at home, it can strive to foster healthy habits while they are still growing up.
Other changes designed to reduce calories include ensuring that only fat-free and low-fat milk will permitted to be served to students. However,
chocolate,
strawberry and other 'flavored' milks will still be permitted under the new guidelines, presumably because it is assumed that children will not drink milk otherwise. Even this allowance really does not meet the stated aim to encourage children to develop healthy tastes and habits. Of course, some children may drink flavored milk at home, but ideally the school lunch program will encourage them to have other tastes, preferences, and habits. Just…
