Healthy school lunches, promoted by First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama, are now the target of lazy students, teachers, parents and congressmen. Conservatives derided the initial changes as nanny government interfering with the nutrition of school students. Michelle Obama originally advocated the switch to less sugar and fat in the subsidized school lunch program as part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. It is a small step to combat childhood obesity and Type II diabetes that robs children of their health and costs the nation’s health care system millions of dollars.
Lazy Students
Under the guise that the new lunch menu of the National School Lunch Program left the students starved and lethargic for class and sports, students at a high school in Kansas, with the help of their English teacher, created a video called We Are Hungry depicting the evils of the new nutritional guidelines. In reality, these students are just lazy and would rather eat chips at lunch than fruit. Since the caloric change to the lunch menu is relatively small, I can only assume the students just aren’t eating the lunch and pocketing the money their parents give them.
WATCH (story continues below):
The lame video was posted by You Tube account holder blk5348 which has an odd assortment of poorly produced Christian videos. Allegedly, the students don’t just want the nutritional and caloric guidelines changed; they want them repealed according to the information posted on the You Tube description. There is even a Facebook account called Nutritional Nannies dedicated to stopping the starvation of students under the new lunch menu.
The Facebook page looks to have been created by Congressman Steve King (R-IA) and Congressman Huelskamp (R-KS) in support of their bill “No Hungry Kids Act”, H.R. 6418 which would (hold your seat), “… repeals the USDA rule that created the new standards, prohibits the USDA’s upper caloric limits, and will protect rights of parents to send their children to school with the foods of their choice.”
Old white guy attempt at a cool video.
This is actually good news. The only explanation for a student video lacking anything remotely considered creative, like in We Are Hungry, would be if a couple of old Republicans from the mid-west produced it. If you go to either of the respective congressional websites you’ll see the video prominently displayed on the homepage. They are pretty proud of their pathetic attempt to build a groundswell of support against nutrition.
Real athletes can be vegetarian.
I have proof that a balanced lunch, low in sugar, fat, salt and carbohydrates will not cause a student to starve or under perform. My son, Walker, has been making his own lunch since elementary school because, in his words, the lunches I used to pack for him “sucked.” A typical lunch he makes includes yogurt, hard-boiled egg, fruit and a cheese stick.
WATCH (story continues below):
My son packs his own nutritious lunch.
His lunch sustains him enough to achieve straight “A’s” in school and average 8 miles a day running for the high school cross country team. As a sophomore he made varsity with a respectable 5K time of 17:45 at the Stanford Invitational this past September. Oh, did I forget to mention he has been a vegetarian for 5 years? Ever since he saw how they treat animals in a slaughter house, probably in Kansas, he has eaten no meat. If those lazy Kansas high school students have enough time and energy to make a video, they certainly have enough time to prepare their own school lunch.
As a way to increase the consumption of green leafy vegetables at school, and make some money, my son also sold futures of organic spinach last year he grew in our back yard. It was a lesson in agriculture and business. Even though I can’t get him to clean his room or put the silverware in the dishwasher, he is nonetheless motivated to take charge of his own food and nutritional requirements. Kansas high school students should stop being lead around by a bunch of dead-end Republican congressman and go start a business.
Lazy Teachers
High school teachers have a rough enough time dealing with students on a regular basis, but when they come to class grumpy and tired because they skipped lunch, it makes the class that much more difficult to teach. I can empathize with teachers who want alert and happy students. However, supporting student’s grievance that the school lunch food is not tasty enough to eat, like English teacher Linda O’Connor who wrote the video, is just plain lazy and selfish. If the teachers want attentive students they should demand the teenagers eat lunch to pump up the blood sugar levels.
The link between hunger, learning and attitude is nothing new. The USDA web site quotes from the book Their Daily Bread:
“Seventeen out of my 36 children are either not getting any lunch or an adequate one. I see definite personality changes when a child doesn’t get lunch.” 49
“Since getting free lunch she has shown a marked improvement in attitude. Last year she was a major discipline problem.” 50
Their Daily Bread was written by the Committee on School Lunch Participation, Florence Robin chair, in 1968. If the Kansas state teachers had a backbone they would tell their students not to come to class until they have eaten lunch.
If the teachers would actually look into the workings of the National School Lunch Program they would read in a USDA bulletin:
“While school lunches must meet Federal meal requirements, decisions about what specific foods to serve and how they are prepared are made by local school food authorities.”
So if the kids don’t like what the cafeteria lady is serving, don’t blame Michelle Obama or the federal government, talk to the cook.
Lazy Parents
Good students and good grades start at home. Parents who don’t educate their kids on the importance of a good breakfast and lunch are lazy. If you want your child to excel and the kid doesn’t want to eat lunch at school either make them a sack lunch, have the kid make their own lunch or tell the whiny student to grow up and eat at school because there are starving kids in Africa. It is a favorite American past time to blame our entire child’s lack of achievement in school on the government. Obviously, it is the whole wheat pizza crust that causes our kids to get D’s in math strike out in the ball game.
Lazy Congressman
How could any teacher, parent or congressman not support a program that enhances the nutritional value of meals for students? Perhaps the folks in Kansas just don’t like someone who they perceive as at one time being “The Help”, Michelle Obama, telling their children what to eat.
Congressmen King and Huelskamp are certainly lazy for not trying to get the program to work. They are quitters. Instead of promoting health they would rather repeal the guidelines and let the kids go back to eating more sugar, fat, salt and carbohydrates subsidized by the American taxpayer. (Real Republican values at work). If the congressman would spend half as much time promoting the healthy school lunch program as they do creating lame videos and sucky Facebook pages denouncing government, they would see higher test scores and better athletes at their local schools.
About Kevin Knauss
There is a local site on FB here where I live in East Tn. You wouldn’t believe how these parents and children are complaining about the lunches! They are saying the same thing as this article, except they are blaming the teachers here also. We just got hit with a huge property tax hike after being blackmailed with school closings, so to these people, everything is the teacher’s fault. It’s truly pathetic. The kids are so spoiled, really that’s what’s wrong, they are used to eating junk all day long. I have six grandbabies in school and I am glad that they are having to eat healthier. We try at home, but everybody just doesn’t get it. They carry on about “the president taking away more of our rights”, but I am used to this silly stuff, I do live in East Tn, a republican bastion.
Where has the respect and gratitude for our daily bread gone? Food, a meal, was once held with special admiration when going without was common place. Truly, some folks feel entitled “their” type of food. Conservatives an Republicans need to take a hard look at their core beliefs. A meal, even when you belly is full, must be accepted with the humility, gratitude and respect in which it is offered.
Is it really a Republican Senator who is trying to change the healthy school lunches? Why do they stick their noses into everything instead doing anything constructive in Washington?
It is my understanding that they are both members of the House of Representatives from very conservative districts. My take is that they are more interested in scoring points with their base than a real attempt at repealing the guidelines.
The problem I have with it is government control. We are a republic, and our government does not have the right to regulate food supply. The government serves us, and we control it- not the opposite way around! It is scary that this is happening, and wrong. I’m glad they’re standing up for something important. They did the research, and worked to create a humorous video that disagreed with the policy without insulting anyone. That, I think, deserves enough respect not to be called “lame” or “lazy.” Where is the research and basis? How is this a story? It’s an attack, and a poorly stated one.
No one is forcing these students to eat the subsidized school lunches. The students, like my son, have the option to pack their own lunch. They are being disrespectful to the government and elders who have provided a nutritionally balanced lunch that any kid in a less developed country would gladly accept.
However, the students only starred in the video. It was written by a teacher and, it looks likes, produced by 2 Republican congressman that are more interested in stirring up anger at the First Lady more than the actual nutritional value of the lunch. Talk to any nutritionist and they will tell you the revised lunch menu is far better than the old menu. I look forward to your properly researched and well written rebuttal to my post uncovering the real intentions of the video.
i am a high school student and my school lunches are terrible. There isn’t enough food, it tastes like crap, and the meat is pink half the time but what do i know I’m a lazy high schooler. before your critize students about being whiney how about you try to eat garbage for everyday.
Have thought of making your lunch? My son does it every day because, like you, he thinks the food is not so tasty. The meals that the United Nations prepares for displaced families in war torn parts of the world are not gourmet either, but the people graciously accept the nutrition because it is the difference between life or death.
Perhaps you can get involved with your school district and recommend ways the lunch program could be made better while adhering to the nutritional guidelines. If all we ever do is complain about government programs nothing will ever change. You have the opportunity to make change happen by getting involved.
I am divorced, my children who live with their mother, are actually forced by her, to eat school breakfast’s and lunches, they complain to me non-stop about the terrible quality of food that actually is forced upon them, ages 5,7,9;when I picked them up last Friday, they were famished from lack of food. From what I understand, all of the meals now aren’t even cooked in the school, but are assembled somewhere else? shipped in and warmed up. My daughter told me last Friday’s meal was meatballs, no sauce, nothing, and macaroni and cheese. I was a bit amazed by their stories, when it was explained to me by my friend who is a teacher in another state that the meals are basically shitty microwave meals, is really terrible to hear, because the portrait that has emerged of school lunches in my area, is that our school lunches have taken a step back in quality and care for our children
Not all schools participate n the federal school lunch program. Our son has attended schools where the meals were brought because the school didn’t have a kitchen. You need to investigate the actual status of the lunch program. Remember, these lunches are for those children who qualify for reduce or free lunch meals. No student is under any obligation to purchase the lunch if they don’t qualify.
Update on my son: he is up to 8 miles a day and running sub 5 minute 1500 meter races…all on a vegetarian diet and he still packs his own lunch.