Last updated on 2013.07.09
The Republican propaganda machine continues to treat healthy school lunches as a campaign issue. Archly conservative P&R Miscellany cheaply insults First Lady Michelle Obama for urging kids to eat more fruits and vegetables. However, once he gets that out of his system, he seconds my contention that in their school-lunch hysteria, Republicans are contradicting their own professed principles of personal responsibility:
It's not the government's fault that [kids are] going hungry. Nor is it the government's fault that they "opt" to do so. The very word indicates that they do, in fact, have "options".
...if we are going to have the government provide a meal... then the government can decide what to put in that meal. My mother wasn't a short-order cook, either. What she fixed for supper was what we had for supper and that was that. If I didn't like it, that was my problem, not hers, and she made sure of it. The school provides a lunch. If they don't want to eat it, fine. Then they can bring their own [P&R, "School Lunch, Lessons in Responsibility," P&R Miscellany, September 25, 2012].
Kids at Spearfish High School can get breakfast for $1.35 and lunch for $2.50. In other words, for less than four bucks, they can two of their three squares a day. You can't get value like that anywhere else.
But if that's not good enough for you, Michelle Obama isn't forcing those apples and asparagus into your mouth. She and the USDA are simply advocating sensible eating. Don't like it, Kristi? Have Booker brown-bag it. It's a free country.
One could assume that each school district, every school board would have the flexibility to forego USDA school lunches, pass up the federal subsidies, and set up their own school lunch program.
Good point, Charlie! The Republicans hooting about school lunches are ignoring all sorts of opportunities for personal and local responsibility.
Earth haters leading on message...again. Matt Varilek: issue some press releases supporting the President and your party!
School food scraps go to urban chickens:
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120905/mott-haven/bronx-chickens-get-on-twitter-spread-healthy-food-message
I'm assuming the reason lunch prices have gone up (albeit minimally, as you point out) is because they include fruits and vegetables...a.k.a. the crops that are NOT supported by federal ag subsidies.
Food inflation has been outpacing cpi inflation, that is as much of a reason as anything.
Some food for thought:
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=118003
Will Kristi go against the Department of Defense?
As a parent, the problem that our family runs into is this; my son, who is in high school and participates in athletics, does not get enough calories with the new school lunch program. Can you imagine getting to school at 7am (after a good healthy breakfast - not pop tarts or something processed), lunch at 11:15 and at 3:30 working out and running until 5:30? I don't think 650 calories are sufficient. He says that he mostly misses the salad bar that is no longer an option. (he says too many calories in the ranch dressing- and they can't patrol it if it's not behind the counter).
650 calories may not be sufficient. Fortunately the cap is 850 calories. Perhaps you should pack a lunch or a snack to supplement it. A deep fried deluxe chicken sandwich plus an order of deep fried waffle fries from Chick-Fil-A is only 800 calories.
I would also support the opportunity to buy a second meal or second entree. But I don't think as a taxpayer I should pay for subsidized junk food because some lobbyist gives money to Steve King and Kristi Noem.
You have every right to feed your children whatever you want, but taxpayers don't have to pay for it.
Perhaps part of this issue is the mis-communication or lack of communication with all of the changes. Obviously it's my fault I didn't attend the meetings the school had last year explaining the program. Maybe schools will have more meetings to get some buy-in?
I'm choosing not to play into your need to "fight" Justin. I don't think it's a R vs D thing either. I would believe that people from both sides are confused over all the changes.
I'd like to add something to what KWN said above. I work for Lunchtime Solutions here in Madison and I totally agree with what you said about not being informed about the changes. I will probably ruffle someone's feathers in saying this, but it is true; my boss DID ask the school administrators for time to discuss this at the middle/high schools' orientations this fall, and he was denied. As a parent, and an employee of LS, I think that is unbelievable. It would have prevented a lot of the chaos that goes on at lunch time when the kids don't comprehend what a 1/2 cup serving of fruit or vegetables looks like (even though there are posters displayed)
Pardon me, I don't have a child in school. Do most schools have hot lunches, and are they made at the school? Is there a menu posted in the paper like the week before? I went to school in the 50-60's and we had cooks who made the food. Sioux Falls has a place they make lunches and then distribute them to the schools, unless that has changed.
You should see the lunches they feed me.
I'm not trying to fight. I don't have kids in school, but I contribute to the school lunch subsidies so I have tried to keep up with the changes and I agree with them.
If parents don't "buy in" they have the option to send a lunch to school for their kids or they can organize and try to get the school to adopt a non-subsidized lunch program.
KWN, I appreciate your son's mighty efforts to stay fit. Now let me ask: when he goes to McDonald's and gets a Big Mac, snarfs it down in two bites, and still feels hungry, does he go to the counter and (a) complain that the Big Mac wasn't big enough, or (b) buy another Big Mac?
I am biased, but I must note that Erin's comment about the price of non-subsidized fruits and vegetables is one of the sharpest connect-the-dots comments I've heard on this topic. It hearkens to Dr. Kevin Weiland's critique of the Farm Bill as contributing to America's health problems.
I had the chance to talk with a lunch lady last night - and she indicated the kids at our school can eat all the veggies and fruits they want (included in the regular price). However, her concern is that they get just 2 oz of protien with all the fruits / veggies. Thats not alot of "fuel" for your body to keep you going, especially if you're an active teen. She also sees alot of waste from kids taking a lot of veggies and fruit, and then dumping most in the garbage can, because they can't eat it. Think about it - have you ever eaten a large salad at lunch (with little or no protien) and been hungry at 3:00? I would guess this is part of the problem.
Again - I think parents don't understand the new requirements and that is where the conflict is coming from.
Corey: The kid refuses to eat anything so highly processed as a Big Mac. And I do send along snacks for him. I also send the other 2 with a sack lunch each day - not because I don't appreciate the school lunch, but because I can't afford it!
Complete proteins hardly require meat: only American Exceptionalism requires that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein
School FFA programs don't have chickens or hogs to eat scraps?
This isn't a federal problem: it lies at the feet of school boards.
http://grist.org/news/usda-oks-tofu-as-a-meat-substitute-in-school-lunches/
KWN, your son is obviously more dedicated to healthy eating than I am. Good for him! (And more Big Macs left for me. Hee hee!)
Unlimited fruits and veggies? Dang, that would pretty much kill the "I'm still hungry" argument. I understand that one still needs protein, but is there evidence that the schools are shorting kids on protein, or that we can't make up any deficit pretty easily at home with milk, yogurt, beans, nuts, and meat?
And really, KWN's intelligent and responsible actions show exactly why this is a manufactured controversy. Parents are still free to say that, even at the unmatched low prices school lunch programs offer, school lunch is more expensive than the brown bag lunch and send their kids with homemade meals. There is no problem here.