School Lunches Research Paper

Imagine coming to work everyday, and you have to buy whatever your company decides to serve. When you go to the cafeteria, you are given a soggy piece of packaged pizza, a rotten apple, and some brown mush. Would you tolerate having to eat food like that on an everyday basis? One recurring problem that students face on an everyday basis is the low quality of the nutrition and taste of their school lunch. While it is still important for schools to place most funding into education, paying attention to the quality of the lunches is just as important. Public schools should be encouraged to use locally grown foods from farmer’s markets for school lunches to promote healthier and more sustainable eating habits in children. The issue of low quality school lunches is important for the local government to solve because it affects the health of the growing youth and helps improve the eating habits of teens. According to Rochelle Davis, Executive Director for the Healthy Schools Campaign, a major problem in the food school serves is that, “One of the biggest deficits is the lack of fruits and vegetables and whole grains”. (citation) If students are not eating the right kind of food at home, then the current school lunch will not help in their habits. Another issue with the school lunch is with the funding because schools typically receive $2.68 per meal

For example, eating healthier can improve academic performance and mood of students because naturally grown foods can give students more energy compared to a bag of chips and old spaghetti. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found a direct relation toward the general health of students and their academic performance, being that the healthier a student is the better they do, and vice versa. If a student can at least eat healthier everyday during lunch, then they may perform better in