Tuesday, March 21st, 2017
Stephan: French kids get full course meals, just as they would receive at home, and the cost is a fraction of what it costs in the U.S.. Why are they so much better and cheaper? Because French school lunches are planned for wellness, American public school lunches are planned on the basis of profit. And France is not alone in this. Nordic countries also feed their kids well.
This is also true of Japan, as this report describes, once again for a fraction of what American school lunches cost. And these good meals affect them in a positive way throughout their lives.
As a country we can't even muster the will to see that our kids are fed properly in school. Why is that? Because as a culture we have brainwashed ourselves into believing that only profit matters. It is the only way to organize something. Do we have the moral courage to change? Do you?
Students serve each other lunch at a Tokyo elementary school.
Credit: Toru Takahashi/AP
A typical American public school lunch
Do efforts to feed students help improve their performance in school? Mick Mulvaney, director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, grabbed headlines Thursday when he argued in favor of cutting federal funds to programs that provide food to poor students. His justification: There’s “no demonstrable evidence” that the programs help them do better in school.
Tell that to Japan, where more than 10 million kids receive delicious, fresh food every school day, in large part because the country considers lunch part of a child’s education, not a break from school. What students there receive is a far cry from the processed, reheated meals you’d find in American schools. Picture a tray filled with fish with pear sauce, mashed potatoes, and vegetable soup. The ingredients come from local farmers or […]