School Lunches CAN be Better | Teen Ink

School Lunches CAN be Better

May 31, 2022
By Vedika5 BRONZE, Parsippany, New Jersey
Vedika5 BRONZE, Parsippany, New Jersey
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

The COVID-19 pandemic made lots of people's lives grueling. People would be scared to go get their necessities and if you went anywhere you would hear about the countless deaths from COVID-19. The hot topic during quarantine was virtual learning, being at home, and the lack of being able to socialize. One area society never discussed was about food loss. What about the kids that ate at school and now were stuck at home without food? These poor kids were starving at home. However, even though schools have reopened, the problem is still there because many of the schools do not have the most nutritious lunches. This can be fixed if the schools took responsibility and made sure that the school lunches that are given are nourishing. Over 380 million kids' main meal was at school and when the sudden pandemic hit there was no one getting them food. Therefore, it is the school’s responsibility to provide a nutritious lunch that is well-balanced for all children as well as provide support for impoverished or malnourished children as well. 

The first reason is that the schools should help fight students dealing with poverty and malnutrition. In the article, “School meals Coalition Hopes to Provide a Meal to Every Child” it states, “As one of the primary means for children to get healthy meals, they help combat poverty and malnutrition” (Hossain 1). Hence, schools providing students with healthy meals is very important as they potentially could and should help children struggling with degradation and malnutrition. Afterward, if thought about, many of the children's school meals could possibly be the only meal they eat. “A meal at school may be the only food they eat all day and can be an important incentive for families to send and keep families to send and keep girls and boys in school” (Hossain 3). This shows that it is significant that schools provide a healthy lunch as it could be the only meal students have in the day. Along with that, many people may think, “why can't the parents of the students take charge in providing them with nutritious meals?” With these previous pieces of evidence it provides us the idea that some parents might not be able to do that because they cannot afford it or they do not take care of their children, and numerous other reasons. Hence, it is the schools responsibility to provide children a balanced meal. The last reason further sums up the idea of healthy school lunches for children is important. “... the restoration of school meal programmes is expected to provide much-needed support for children” (Hossain 3). Support for children that may be dealing with “...poverty, complexity in family lives, or conflict…” (Hossain 3).  This shows that school lunches are significantly impacting students' lives and if they are healthy they are positively impacting their lives and if not there is a negative effect. 

The first reason the school can take responsibility is by figuring out what works to try to get kids to eat healthy foods. In the article, “A Kid’s Right to Choose” it is shown that,  “...it's important to analyze what works and what doesn't in trying to get kids to eat more nutritious food” (David and Wansink 1). Therefore, it is important to notice the patterns of kids eating and what they eat in order to conclude what works and what does not work in trying to get kids to eat more nutritiously. Moreover, the school might have to take different measures in order to get healthy foods on the lunch trays. “Heavy-handed measures might be effective at putting nutritious food on the lunch tray…” (David and Wansink 3). Thus, taking drastic measures in order to get beneficial foods on the students lunch trays will only benefit the students. To conclude, taking a look at programmes for school lunches will be outstanding for the school. For example, “This emerged at a recent launch of the School Meals Coalition, a new initiative that aims to give every child a nutritious meal by 2030 through bolstering health and nutrition programmes'' (Hossain 1). It would be the schools responsibility to take part in these meal programmes to help students receive a well balanced diet. 

In conclusion, it is the school's responsibility to provide healthy lunches to children. Even though most of these children have parents, the situation could be unpleasant and they may be unable to provide them with the proper nutrition. It is important that these students get a nourishing meal because it helps combat penury, malnutrition, and sickness, overall. In the COVID-19 pandemic, the kids that were starving should not be starving now. The schools should be giving the finest and well balanced meals to make up for all the meals lost in the COVID-19 pandemic. 


The author's comments:

I wrote this for my eighth grade English class. I want to emphasize that it is crucial for schools to provide nutritious lunches to students to aid them in health. 


Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 1 comment.


TonyJJr BRONZE said...
on Jun. 10 2022 at 11:53 am
TonyJJr BRONZE, Conway, Arkansas
1 article 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!”

--Hunter S. Thompson

I suppose this is a little late, but this is a decent argument to make; oftentimes people forget that nutrition plays a heavy role in our lives. I would only comment that the actual process of making school lunches is much more complex than you'd think, and I think that an effective argument would have to acknowledge those obstacles.