More than 31 million students eat school lunches every day and almost two-thirds of them get a free or reduced-price meal. For some students, this is the only meal they eat every day. Are these meals healthy? Would fast food be a better choce?
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is in charge of the school lunch program across the country and they have very strict guidlines. They have set guidelines on the amount of calories, the amount of salt, the amount of whole grains and require schools to offer fruits and vegetables. School lunches have become much healthier than past years. The cost of a school lunch is less expensive than the fast food option for both the schools and parents. There have been studies done in the past that show student performance at school goes down when they eat fast food on a daily basis. Not only are school lunches healthier, but they are teaching students how to make a better food choice.
Even with the USDA's strict guidelines, school lunches are not always better. Most times, they are processed, frozen food that is reheated. They have artificial flavors and coloring and most times are not very appealing. And safety can be an issue as well. A significant percentage of meat eaten by students at some schools fails to meet quality standards imposed by fast food restaurants. Although fast food does cost more, school lunch prices have increased as well due to inflation. Not all fast food is unhealthy. A lot of fast food restaurants have heilthy choice options on their menus. Giving students a healthy fast food lunch choice could help with their acadamic performance and make for an all better day.
I think schools should offer a fast food lunch option, at a higher price, if it is available in their town. But, I do think that the fast food choice must be a somewhat healthy one, like a subway meal or grilled chicken nuggets. I do not think that having these kinds of lunch's everyday will change my performance in school. There are couple of days were I eat very little of my school lunch because the meals are not good. I feel my lunch period and overall day will be much better with the fast food lunch.
Questions:
Do you think fast food in schools is a good idea?
If you had a choice, would you eat a school lunch or a fast food lunch? Why?
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Replies
I agree that fast food would give students a wider range of lunch options and serving it a couple of times a week would be okay too. Having a healthy fast food menu would be better than regular fast food.
I don't think schools should serve fast food. Many fast food restaurants are very unhealthy, and the school food option is more healthy. This could teach students to develop bad eating habits, and not preform as well in school.
I agree with some of your comments. But I think having a healthy fast food at school can help students to make better choices when they are out to eat at a restaurant.
I think there would be many pros and cons to serving fast food in the school cafeteria. I think it could give kids a wider variety but could also lead to bad eating habits. America is one of the most overweight countries and serving fast food in school cafeterias could make that worse.
I agree that there are many pros and cons to having fast food in school cafeterias. I think having a healthy fast food choice could help students make better decisions with food and create better food habits.
I think that fast food should only be served in schools one day a week. Fast food isn't just unhealthy it can be very costly too. We have many kids in our school and buying a fast food lunch will cost a lot of money. That money could go to bettering our learning environment. I also feel these lunches can be very unhealthy since fast food is defined as unhealthy food served fast.
I agree that maybe serving fast food a day or two a week could be a better option than everyday. Most fast food is very unhealthy, but there are many fast food restaurants that have healthy choices on their menus. The extra cost could be paid by the parents who agree to let their children have fast food so the schools wouldn't have to pay for it.
I think that demands are very temperary. I think that if we got some fast food for our school, our interest would dwindle fast and then we would be just like we are now, wanting something else. If we had places to buy snacks, coffee, or other assortments of drinks, then I think the school would enjoy it longer than fast food for lunch.
I agree that students would get tired of eating the same things all the time and would want a change. Maybe if the schools could look at new school lunch menus and offering different kinds of fast food that would help.
If there was a fast food place in my school I would maybe to their once or twice a week not every way. Fast food is a bad way for teenagers to get out of shape and start to eat bad food instead of healthy food. It is ok to have fast food at some points just not every day.
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