Argumentative Essay Prompt
Should the federal government require healthy school lunches?
By Jeremy Quattlebaum, Student Voices staff writer
When the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) implemented its new guidelines for school lunches in August –
increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables and curbing fatty foods like French fries – some complaints were expected.
But in several schools across the country, full-blown student boycotts have been started to protest the reduced-calorie
lunches.
Under the new federal guidelines, portions shrank, and many students were upset.
The reduction in serving sizes comes in response to USDA guidelines that aim to curb childhood obesity. The USDA,
which decides what's on school cafeteria menus, has made it a priority to educate students about healthy eating habits. It
was required to update its nutrition guidelines by the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 passed by Congress.
“This year you’re eating lunch and you’re like, ‘Did I even eat?’ You’re not even full,” said Parsippany High School senior
Derricke Dennis of Parsippany, N.J. Dennis’ comments have been echoed around the country, and some students are
boycotting their schools’ lunches, bringing lunch from home instead.
At Plum School District in a Pittsburgh, Pa., suburb, student Sean Doyle started #BrownBagginIt, encouraging his fellow
students to bring their lunches instead of paying $2.50 for the cafeteria food.
The guidelines require schools to serve twice as many fruits and vegetables and limit proteins and carbohydrates. The
total calories for lunches had to be cut to 750 to 850 calories. The restrictions have many students, and their stomachs,
grumbling.
“If someone is obese, why should someone like me who’s not obese have to suffer, and eat a small meal when I’d rather
have a bigger meal?” Dennis said.
Government officials understand the students' complaints, but they cite the growing threat of obesity as a greater concern.
“We understand that change is difficult,” Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said. “Some folks love it, some folks have
had questions about it, but that’s to be expected when you’re dealing with 32 million children and you’re dealing with over
a hundred thousand school districts.”
Vilsack said snacks would help curb students’ hunger pangs in the afternoon. He said the Obama administration is
working with school districts to set up snack programs.
Kristi King, a pediatric dietitian and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, said the increased amounts
of fruits, vegetables and whole wheat should make the students feel fuller if they eat them. The foods are heavy in dietary
fiber, which takes longer to digest, King said.
“It should be making kids fuller if they are actually consuming the whole product,” King said. “If children are not picking the
entire meal available to them, they are obviously going to be hungry.”
Childhood obesity is one of the leading threats to the health of the nation’s students, and obese children are more likely to
carry obesity into adulthood. With the nation’s waistline expanding, health care costs increase. A group of retired military
leaders, Mission: Readiness, says obesity has become a national security issue because the readiness of the U.S.
military is threatened when one out of four adolescents is too obese to serve.
What do you think?
Do you agree with the USDA’s guidelines that increase fruits and vegetables and reduce calories and unhealthy food?
Should the government have a role in deciding what’s on the school menu? Is obesity a problem that the government
should address?
Student Responses to Article
Pro Government Control of School Lunches Responses
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I agree with adding fruits and vegetables to school lunches. I think that it is a great idea so that obese children
don’t become obese adults when they grow up. It’s also better to eat some fruit and vegetables then eat cookies
or candy. If someone ate candy and cookies they couldn't run very long. The kids could too much sugar they may
have so much energy they couldn’t focus on their school work. I believe that the government should have a
limited amount of force to take some school lunch menu foods away. Yes, because if some people eat way to
much they could not control their body. However you still can go buy your own at the story instead of the
government taking it away and never seeing your food again. Obesity is a problem in because some school
lunches have fatty foods. Now if the government puts a block on big portions then there will be less obesity. Yes,
the government should address this problem by having healthier school lunches but government shouldn’t
regulate on what is outside of school.
In my opinion, the government should provide healthy school lunches. You are what you eat, and healthy food
means a healthy body. I think that the foods should be made healthier, but maybe in addition increase the
portion sizes and quality of the food. Kids need to be eating freshly made, nutrient rich foods that are also
delicious. This will help kids focus in school. Right now, some schools lunches are made from frozen foods, which
don't have as much nutrition. We are learning all day, and many kids are just eating vast amounts of junk food. If
the options are healthier, then these choices may carry over into other healthy choices. Many kids don't know
how to eat healthy, and if one meal out of their day is put into the governments' hand then it should at least be
a healthy one.
People need to see that promoting healthy foods will benefit kids in the long run. They may hate it now, but will
be thankful in the end. Healthy can be tasty at the same time they just need to make sure they promote it right.
I don't understand why people would prefer their children to grow up with too much greasy foods.
I believe the government should have a say in what is being served to children is school. Increasing the amount
of fruits and vegetable is a wonderful idea. Not only does it promote healthier eating in school, it exposes
children to a better life style. However, I do not think that the amount of proteins should be cut. keeping protein
could help with the issues of children not feeling hungry. Another idea would be not serving seconds on the
higher calorie and fatty foods. If a child wanted seconds, it should be of fruit or vegetables. There should also be
a wider verity of fruits and vegetable available to widen the chances that there would be something that each
child likes.
I think that school's should DEFINITELY require healthy school lunches. When students have rules or
requirements in school, the more likely they are to take those rules and requirements home with them. Schools
should be a gateway to healthy living for students. If a school requires that most grades have a gym class, they
should also make lunches healthy. I don't think they should make the lunches any smaller. They should just
make them healthy foods that students will eat. This will also teach them to like healthier foods if they're around
it.
Con Government Control of School Lunches Responses
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My personal take on government requiring a healthy school lunch is that everyone's eating habits are different.
Yes, we should provide healthy school lunches but that doesn't mean the lunch will provide enough. Limiting the
calories in a school lunch also means (in some cases) less proportions. A student may buy a lunch at school but
then will still be hungry after a couple hours. Being on a budget, a student will just go to the local McDonald's
and order a burger which is higher in calories but more satisfying for the student. With school lunches, maybe it
would be more appealing to students if the government provided the school with fresh foods that are never
frozen and high in protein. This will keep a student more energized throughout the day and they will be less
likely to get a more fattening food choice after school.
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Personally, I think that the new lunches are a terrible idea. The administration is assuming that every child
should be under the same diet, which is a ridiculous assumption. While obesity is an issue, changing everyone's
diet isn't the way to go about it. There are still plenty of children, such as myself, who are unfortunately
UNDERweight. More specifically, I have a lack of protein in my diet, and because of this have often come close to
fainting when I stand too quickly. If I were to eat the school lunches, I would be consuming even LESS protein,
and my health would be drastically at risk. A one-size-fits-all diet isn't going to solve anyone's problems; it's
going to help maybe a dozen kids lose weight, and everyone else with a diet problem that doesn't fit the
restrictions will suffer. What I would suggest is a meeting each year with a nutritionist, who could help to
educate students on what they should be eating to be healthier. But forcing them to just eat less food isn't going
to help them, because they'll just eat more when they get home. Rules don't help kids; education does.
I think that the government should not limit what is sold at schools. First, most cafeteria fruits and vegetables
aren't fresh, and mostly come frozen, therefore, they are not as high quality as ones you may eat at home. This
may discourage kids from eating these foods because they think they taste worse than they actually are.
Secondly, healthier foods tend to be more expensive, and lunch prices now are already quite high. Buying
quality healthful foods, fruits, and vegetables would be a lot more expensive. I agree that something must be
done to fix the obesity problem, so lets take a look at some alternate solutions: 1. Teach kids what they SHOULD
eat (not only cafeterias develop a kid's eating habits) 2. Encourage kids to exercise, and not only that but tell
them HOW (workouts, best cardio activities, etc.) 3. Also, many people don't like to go out of their way to be
healthy, so possibly coordinating healthful choices into their daily routine. 4. Talk about the benefits of staying in
good shape, and give the truth. 5. Sell unbuttered popcorn at lunch- makes a great food to munch on to replace
chips and is healthy. I know that there may be some problems with the solutions and I know that we are already
doing some, but these are general ideas other than eliminating certain cafeteria foods.
The USDA's guidelines in increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables while reducing the calories seems
wrong. Even though obesity is a serious issue in this country, the school serving healthier foods is going to deter
a lot of students. They could simply go to a restaurant, such as Burger King, and get something that they're going
to enjoy, not what the school wants. The government should pay a very small role in deciding what is on a
school menu because the town that the school is in should play a bigger role in this kind of situation than the
government. Obesity is recognized by the government and should be treated seriously, but they should go a
different way of solving this problem.
Mixed Responses
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Adding more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, milk, and juice is a great idea and needs to happen to shift the
country in the right direction toward making healthy choices. I don't think 750 calories is a good target though.
Many students participate in athletics or other after school activities and in many cases are likely to go from
noon until as late as 7 or 8 PM before eating again. Given the potential gap, allowing for an increase in calorie
consumption, combined with some sort of physical activity would probably have a greater impact than just
calorie restriction. It's not how much you eat, it's how much energy you use to burn it off.
I agree with the USDA's guidelines, but just because school requires “healthier choices” doesn't promise a
healthy lifestyle for anyone. At school, I've heard students complain that the food is nasty, and say, “I don't
know why they make us get these vegetables or this orange if we don't even eat them. We just throw them
away.” Increasing the amounts of healthy foods is a good idea, but enforcing it shouldn't be done. If obesity is a
concern, then it shouldn't just be addressed with just food choices. There are other components that can reduce
obesity, exercise, for example. If the government is going to interfere with school menus, then instead of
worrying only about the calories, the government should also focus on making “healthy foods” more appealing.
There are foods that can taste good and be healthy at the same time. It is also understandable that the
government might want to get involved with addressing obesity, but we live in world where fast, fat, and
unhealthy food is everywhere. The government dealing with obesity would take a lot of involvement and
interfering. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it's best to not let the government get involved. In the end, it
could end up fixing one thing but messing up another.
The idea of smaller lunches may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it really isn't working. So much
food gets wasted everyday because not everyone wants to eat, or can eat what is served. It's really hard for
those who need a high calorie diet, because quite honestly they're not getting the energy they need. Sports are
suffering and it's hard to perform your best when you're starving because all that's being offered to you at lunch
are fruits and vegetables.
I believe that rather than cutting everybody's serving size and amount of calorie/unhealthy food intake, simply
offer healthier choices. I don't think that it is the Government's/school's responsibility to monitor its students'
health. If a student feels that they are obese, or unhealthy, they should take the initiative to change it
themselves. Changing serving sizes and foods can help a little, but if you're already unhealthy or obese, one
lunch a day isn't going to make a substantial difference.
I do agree with the USDA's guidelines of increasing fruits and vegetables and reducing unhealthy foods and
calories. I dont necessarily agree with making meal portions smaller. Just cutting back on the size of the meal,
will only leave kids hungry and aggravated. Cutting back on the fries, pizza, etc. will lead to healthier eating
habbits therefore cutting back on Americas obesity problems. I do believe that the government should address
obesity. Obesity is the number 2 cause of preventable death in the United States; 9 million teens and children
are overweight. Obesity is 100% preventable. Having options such as pizza, fries, and cookies as meal choices in
school lunches aren't helping Americans obesity rates. Giving kids healthier options at lunch is definitely a great
way to get kids eating habits back on track!