Cafeteria Reform in America's Schools
School Lunch Menus are Often Neglected by Health Advocates
As educators address the many crucial issues affecting every aspect of a school learning community from restructured curricula to recycling, the area most in need of reform is the school cafeteria. It becomes disingenuous when schools ban popular sodas because of their sugary content yet allow cafeterias to serve heaping portions of French fries, often covered with oozing cheese sauces. Few are the schools willing to make meaningful changes to school lunch menus, yet the costs may be higher than people think.
Heart Disease Begins in Adolescence
Dr. Thomas Yannios, an educator and clinician in critical care and nutritional support, writes that “Studies show that 10 to 30 percent of the surface areas of all of the aortas of fifteen-year old boys and girls are covered with this plaque” (cholesterol plaque). In his book The Heart Disease Breakthrough [John Wiley & Sons, 1999], he argues that incidents of heart disease are occurring much earlier in adulthood because of long-term poor eating habits.
Schools need to make this issue a priority, retaining nutritionists to suggest and develop healthy alternatives to current menu items often found in school cafeterias. Additionally, school communities should bring in professionals to facilitate seminars at both PTA meetings and faculty professional development sessions.
Obesity is a primary concern in American society. The national drive to eliminate trans fats and post nutritional data prominently on food labels and restaurant marquees demonstrates the national angst over expanding obesity among children and the dire threats that the current high school generation may not live as long as their parents.
Why Schools Resist Menu Changes
Serving quickly produced lunches, although unhealthy and perhaps even dangerous in the long-term, is less expensive and schools wish to keep the costs of meals as low as possible. Some schools make half-hearted attempts at a “healthy alternative” such as a chicken salad. This sounds good until the salad is actually presented: iceberg lettuce – which has little nutritional value, containing pieces of fried chicken tenders.
Other critics point out that students simply will not purchase healthy meal choices. Vegetables, particularly, are taboo to a generation brought up on fast food. Sadly, some parents actually pack healthy lunches that are then conveniently tossed away in favor of cafeteria selections. Pizza or tacos are far more appealing than a ham and cheese sandwich and an apple. Everyday in America, cafeteria trash bins are full of discarded home lunches as well as unfinished school lunches.
In many cases, all of this occurs at the same time students and faculty are busy collecting canned goods for soup kitchens, offering yoga classes, and developing recycle programs. Trees and bushes are planted in an effort to boost Earth Day as an everyday event, yet in school cafeterias the clock stands still.
Developing Momentum to Change the Menu
Developing an action plan that truly works should begin with students. Schools should create focus groups representing a diverse mix of the school population, charged with evaluating the lunch (and/or breakfast) menus, sharing nutritional data, and making recommendations.
Reforms begun by students and with student support have the greatest measure of success. In many cases, students will recommend solutions far more stringent than adults would. At the same time, the food provider must be brought into the deliberations because any reform might result in higher meal costs to students and affect production capabilities.
Are students willing to pay more for healthy alternatives? Can food vendors still make a profit without French fries, candy snacks, and potato chips? Before giving up, school administrators must assess the feasibility of initiating changes that, in the long term, may save lives.
Many Lunch Options Include Fries and Sugary Drinks
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Education & Career
Latest Articles