Epidemic upon America’s Youth: Installing Fast-food Outlets in High Schools

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Schools with enormous food courts where students can buy meals and drinks from commonly known franchises, such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola, are the schools with the most health problems. Fast-food franchises are showing up everywhere, but do these businesses belong in high schools? No! Schools are here to enlighten students for life after school. If high schools promote bad eating habits by placing fast-food franchises in their cafeterias, then how can students eat right and healthy beyond high school.
“Children's current levels of fast-food consumption probably are even higher because of an increase in the number of fast-food restaurants and in fast-food marketing since the late 1990s (Holguin),” stated Ludwig at CBS. Ludwig is right, and this is outside of schools. Most students eat breakfast and lunch during school hours.Therefore, these fast-foods are their main meals… unhealthy meals. Also, where is the money from that allows franchises such as McDonalds to be in high school cafeterias?
Fast-food franchises are an important part of many high schools income. This money, provided by the students, goes towards extra academics, sports, even art and music programs. When high schools could just as easily serve the same portions of regular school cafeteria food, and make the same amount of revenue by charging the same price.
Fig. 1 A cartoon shows how students get caught up in junk food rather than school (Freedhoff)

Furthermore, schools have become a paradise for fast-food franchises . Vending machines stocked with candy and soft drinks are unacceptable: nearly 19 out of 20 high schools in the U.S. have vending machines that sell pop, while almost 60 percent of elementary schools do. More than 70 percent of high schools sell can...

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...ng Machines Raise Very Little Money So I Ask A Principal, "Why Keep Them?". 2013. Photograph. Weighty MattersWeb. 16 Jan 2014. .
H., Blake. Solving Childhood Obesity. 2010. Photograph. WellsphereWeb. 16 Jan 2014. .
Holguin, Jaime. "Fast Food Linked To Child Obesity."CBSNEWS. CBS Interactive Inc., 05 Jan 2004. Web. 14 Jan 2014. .
Kushner, Jason, ed. "Fast Food and Obesity Epidemic."Nutra Legacy. Nutralegacy.com , 12 Nov 2008. Web. 16 Jan 2014. .
Ruskin, Gary. "The Fast Food Trap." Mothering No. 121. Nov./Dec. 2003: 34-44. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.

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