School Lunch Reform: Nourishing Education

Zoya Smalling

School Lunch Reform: Nourishing Education.

Five days a week, children go to school without too much thought about what they will eat. So a hamburger, greasy fries, cookies, and soft drinks are piled high on the plates of students nearly everyday. A pittance is given towards healthy eating in the form of milk, and in some schools, a salad bar. This is not enough when the main part of their diets actively undermines good health and academic success. Foods that work directly against the health of our young people should not be allowed in schools.

Providing nutritionally balanced meals for school children was the intent of The National School Lunch program when it was founded in 1946. In signing the act, President Harry S Truman said, "Nothing is more important in our national life than the welfare of our children, and proper nourishment comes first in attaining this welfare."
However, the current school menu is far from reflecting the required standards of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Children are habitually served the refuse of the food industry. The parts of the pig that no food company will venture near are processed into meatballs and other forms of mystery lunch meat. Despite the fact that “processed meat increases the risk of colerectal cancer, on average, by 21 percent for every 50 grams of processed meat [the typical size of a hot dog] consumed daily.” (Expelled, 7) Processed meats supply the main course in school cafeterias, with limited and equally harmful alternatives that lead students down a path of dietary destruction.

Students buy sugar loaded soft drinks packed with caffeine, and various candy bars and salty snacks to accompany their midday meals. The food companies that profit from child malnourishment have thoroughly embedded themselves into the lunch programs. Schools have grown so dependent on these special interest companies that many “paid for special activities or other items not covered in the school’s budget with profits from vending machines and snack bar sales.” (GAO, 1). Through subsidized fast food style lunch menus and the vending machines, the young learner’s health has been sacrificed to corporate profit.

Even with mounting research verifying that greasy and high sugar meals lead to serious health problems, and that fruit, vegetables, and whole grain, are actually major preventative agents against these same life compromising conditions, schools turn a blind eye to the issue. Diets leading to poor circulation, heart problems, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes in children are maintained under the pretext of a tight budget.
If administrators appreciated how closely related meals are not only to good health but the ability to comprehend and retain knowledge, there would be as much attention paid to meal preparation in schools, as the choice of studying material.
“There are documented medical studies that show dramatic changes in children's behavior and learning capabilities from such things as small adjustments in diet or the addition of certain supplements. One recent study has found vitamin B6 to be more effective than Ritalin at calming hyperactive children.” (Wyman, Introduction)
Numerous studies have shown the importance of diet in academic success, including the highly commercialized study on how a balanced breakfast impacts classroom focus, capitalized on by several cereal commercials to recommend themselves.
There should be no choice between a school supplying healthy food for their students and buying books for a proper education.

A handful of schools around the nation have successfully incorporated meal programs that are nutritious. These schools have reported only a small difference in cost for the program. They have also recorded improvements in the classroom, towards the student’s academic success. Class attentiveness and participation improved, grades improved, and the children’s overall temperament was by far more agreeable.
The “Children’s Lifestyle and School-Performance Study,” … found that children—regardless of their socioeconomic status—performed better in school if they increased their fruit and vegetable intake and decreased their caloric intake from fat. (Whelan)
This not hard to imagine since we already know that sugar makes children hyper, unable to focus, and then as the sugar leaves their body, they become irritable. Ask any parent who has taken care of a child on a candy high.

We have a great role to play in the eventual lifestyles of their children by the habits which they allow them to form in their youth. By demanding that healthy meal be served in learning institutions, a positive difference will be made for the future of our children and our nation.

Smalling 2

Works Cited

“Expelled! Processed Meats Cause Cancer: So Why Do Schools Feed Them to Children?”

Good Medicine. Vol. XVII, Number 3. 2008: 6

United States. Government Accountability Office. School Lunch Program: Efforts Needed

to Improve Nutrition and Encourage Healthy Eating. Washington: GPO, 2003

Whelan, Debra Lau. “Let Them Eat Kale: Schools Get Serious about Nutrition” School

Library Journal. (1 January 2008). August 18, 2008.

Wyman, Pat, and Sandra Hills. Introduction.. What's Food Got To Do With It?: 101

Natural Remedies for Learning Disabilities. By Wyman. California: The Center for New

Discoveries in Learning, Inc., 1997. August 18, 2008 <http://howtolearn.com/foodintro.html>

Sexual Predators: A constant threat

There has been a recent outcry from sexual predators about the abuse they face from society after serving their sentence. They, unlike murderers and other criminals, have to disclose personal information to the world. The discrimination Predators face extends beyond not being able to work in an environment catering primarily to children. They are classified for life as a sexual Predator and are mandated to register with their state or local law enforcement office. Once their status is revealed to the community they stand the chance of being isolated from social events as well as being limited to only certain areas since they are forbidden from living within a mile of any school or daycare.

Those that would sympathize with the plea of sexual predators ought to remember that the conviction of sexual predators often reveal a dangerous underlying habit. A sexual predator preys on children who are unable to protect themselves. Statistically, A typical predator will victimize 30-60 children before they are ever caught.[1] Even though the number of victims may vary before conviction, the pattern of repeat abuse is a commonality among predators.
Victims of any sexual crime often feel a sense of guilt believing they were in someway responsible. Children are even more susceptible to this coupled with the fear of telling on their abuser. This ease of manipulation allows predators to continue their pattern of abuse on our children indefinitely undetected.
It is society’s duty to monitor sexual predators in order to protect the most defenseless members of society.

Sexually abused children stand a great chance of becoming predators themselves perpetuating a vicious cycle. “An estimated 30 percent of adult sex offenders were sexually abused while growing up; the rate is even higher for those who sexually abuse young boys.” [2] When a murderer showed the propensity to reoffend to the degree of the sexual predator, we call them a psychopath or a serial killer, lock them up and throw away the key. Considering that the safety of our youth often remains in danger after the sexual predator completes his/her sentence, they are given considerable special treatment by using civil confinement instead of a permanent cell.

[1]http://www.goodknight.org/ 2007 Good Knight Child Empowerment Network. August 2008. http://www.goodknight.org/statistics_gk.html

[2]Mary Ellison. CRITICAL ISSUES IN SEXUAL ASSAULT. Minnesotta: Wilder Research. 2007

Meth: Starving a cold to feed an addiction.

You wake up one morning with the dreadful and familiar symptoms of a cold.
As you stumble out of bed, each cough, each sneeze jerks your already throbbing head. How will you make it through the day? Your aching muscles force leaden feet toward the medicine cabinet. You can barely see through your itchy watery eyes to reach for your favorite cold medicine. This is the only way.
As your sore throat swallows the pill, you get ready for work anticipating an end to your malaise.

That same morning, someone’s daughter wakes up knowing that something is crawling under skin. Before her eyes have fully opened, she can’t help digging at the imaginary bugs that leave deep open sores all over her body. She stumbles out of bed. Her hand shakes violently as she braces herself against the convulsions that rock her body. She is sweating profusely even though the temperature is mild. She stifles a cough that would have scorched her lungs. Her next meal will be through a small glass tube. It is expensive, but she must do anything to secure it. As her abandoned baby cries in the corner, she faintly remembers wanting to be a pediatrician.
She has new aspirations now. She will do anything for the next fix. Steal or kill. She is dying and cannot care. She is addicted to meth.

The main ingredient in cold medicines is destroying the lives of at least 1.5 million people in the United States. Pseudoephedrine creates the dangerous and intensely addictive drug Methamphetamine. It is quickly becoming the drug of choice alongside heroin and cocaine.
“According to the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, approximately 11.7 million Americans ages 12 and older reported trying methamphetamine at least once during their lifetimes, representing 4.9% of the population in that age category.”[1]
The spread of Crystal Meth addiction is facilitated by the availability of Pseudoephedrine to anyone willing to buy.
“In 2006, a whopping 15 percent of the population reported using meth as their primary illicit drug.” [2]
As the addiction to Meth spreads across the United States so does the violence and social unrest associated with the drug.
People addicted to the drug have been known to commit extreme acts of violence as well as burglaries, prostitution, and petty crimes. The 24 hour high produced by the drug severely lowers inhibitions which allow for a greater degree of social disturbance than other popular drugs.

Pseudoephedrine facilitates our social harm far more than our profit, and should therefore be made illegal. Even when used as a cold medicine, it has illicit effects. It has been linked to infant deaths, increased blood pressure and arrhythmias, along with many other side effects. “It has also been reported that pseudoephedrine may be associated with stroke even when taken properly.”[3] Before we began using the current batch of cold remedies with this dangerous substance, we survived the common cold. We would be able to make it through a week of congestion and a runny nose without cold medicine. However the addiction of so many in our nation could be halted by discontinuing our nation’s consumption of Pseudoephedrine.

A cold passes in about a week. An addiction is the battle of a lifetime.

[1] http://www.crystalmeth-addiction.net/crystalmethaddiction.asp#usage
[2] http://www.healthcareprescriptiondrugabuse.com/wordpress/?p=22
[3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12791938

Murderball: They Play The Way They Live

Men charged across the gym, colliding into each other with such violent force that one man instantly hit the floor head first. The victor had barely a moment to gloat before he swung his steel chariot into another opponent. The ball went flying into the air towards a member of the opposition while the rival skillfully twisted his chair away from the furious wheels of the aggressor. This is the game of Murderball. A competitive sport played by Quadriplegic men who, as the name suggests, try to murder any member of the opposite team in possession of the ball. There is only the helmet of bravery to stand between these men and a collision that could lead to a broken neck, complete immobility, or death.

Our society views disability as not only a physical disadvantage, but as prevention from having a full life, and realizing the human potential. Yet while watching the passion with which these men played, loved, and carried out personal vendettas against other, this misconception is easily refuted. The players were in many ways a testaments to fortitude and nothing to be pitied. At the end of the film, when grown men sobbed liked babies after losing the yearlong dream of the world cup, we empathized with them and it had nothing to do with the wheelchairs.

The documentary Murderball suggests that although a disability challenges the way an individual navigates their environment, the handicap does not define the person.
Each player faced a turning point in their lives that left them in a wheelchair.
The film’s focus was on how they individually adjusted to life as a quadriplegic and how they took on obstacles as a team.
They took different routes of recovery and rebalancing their lives. The sport was a new way of expressing pre-existing drive, passion, and a general love for competition. Their characters were not shifted by physical disability. Competitors competed, the compassionate sympathized, and the ladies men used their wheelchairs as a pickup innovation.
They lived as men with a handicap, not as handicapped men.

Autism: Teaching Through a Different Lens

Children with Autism face many challenges as they learn to navigate the world around them. The difficulty faced in articulating their vivid thoughts readily is further frustrated by the lack of a teaching structure with techniques adapted to understanding the way they process information. These potential young scholars are often relegated to learning how to complete menial tasks such as how to push a broom across a store, and the proper way of folding napkins. Their educational experience does not prepare them to be fully functional beings in their community. However, if the current educational system developed programs to gradually incorporate them into the mainstream classroom, they would be able to participate in the conventional classroom.

Wyatt is a 11 year old boy. He enjoys playing with friends, and has a knack for analyzing people. His fondest wish is to have a friend to play with who will not bully him. He also shares that he is often lonely not having someone his age to talk and have fun with during the day. Wyatt also has Autism.
Children that view the world like Wyatt need exposure to their peers to become fully functional members of their community.
As they grow older, this necessary contact with society teaches them the social structure that once understood, allow a degree of autonomy.
This company of their peers will also help them recognize behaviors that endanger them, such as Wyatt’s current skill of identifying bullies.
Schools teach more than reading and Math they teach us how to become social beings, adapting to the mores and customs of our society.

Autistic pupils should have a program that focuses on breaking down the communication barriers associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder, while progressively introducing the techniques and subjects taught in mainstream classrooms.
Even if an autistic student falters in the majority of mainstream classrooms such as chemistry and biology, they should be allowed to participate in the areas that are well suited to their learning style such as art, music, and any environment that call for a hands on experience versus the lecture structure of most classrooms.

Although ASD requires new methods of teaching in order to reach the student, they can be taught. People with autism have shown great skill in mastering various artistic disciplines. Additionally, with all the new and various methods available such as typing on the computer, or a small handheld device that sounds out the words they type, children with autism are able to overcome many communication barriers.
Incorporating autistic students into mainstream learning environments may be a challenge, but it is a challenge worth facing for the future success of so many of our children.

What Are We Feeding Our Children?

Walk into a crowded room of people, and say “Our children are our future” or simply “children are so precious” and every head in the room is bound to nod amid a chorus of hearty and thoughtful whispers of “yes, yes”.
Yet somehow we ship our precious futures to school everyday without too much thought about what they will eat. So a hamburger, greasy fries, cookies, and chips, soft drinks are piled high on the plates of children nearly everyday.
A pittance is given towards healthy eating in the form of milk, and in some schools, a salad bar. This is not enough when the main part of their diets does so much to undermine good health. Foods that work directly against the health of our young people should not be allowed in schools.

Every day scientists find some new use for whole grain, an added benefit to eating your spinach, or uncover details of just how the lycopene in tomatoes benefits our eyesight. However, I have yet to hear of any health benefits of salt, margerine, and sugar.
Even with mounting research verifying that greasy and high sugar meals lead to serious health problems, and that fruit, vegetables, and whole grain, are actually major preventative agents against these same life compromising conditions, we turn a blind eye to the school diets that are leading to poor circulation, heart problems, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes in children.

There should be no choice between a school supplying healthy food for their students and buying books for a proper education. If we can see how closely related meals are not only to good health but the ability to comprehend and retain knowledge, there would be as much attention paid to meal preparation in our schools.
A handful of schools around the nation have successfully incorporated meal programs that are nutritious. These schools have reported only a small difference in cost for the program. They have also recorded dramatic improvements in the classroom, towards the student’s academic success. Class attentiveness and participation improved, grades improved, and the children’s overall temperament was by far more agreeable.
This not hard to imagine since we already know that sugar makes children hyper, unable to focus, and then as the sugar leaves their body, they become irritable. Ask any parent who has taken care of a child on a candy high.

Parents have a great role to play in the eventual lifestyles of their children by the habits which they allow them to form in their youth. By preparing healthy meals for their children while insisting that the school system do the same, a positive difference will be made for our precious futures that will echo our “yes, yes” into their future.

Our Healthcare System

At sometime in our lives, we all need medical care. The access to that care will often be determined by whether or not we number among the Americans with or without health insurance. As the gap widens between the quality of care among the insured and uninsured, the Healthcare system draws unprecedented scrutiny.
The question becomes, should the government offer health insurance to every citizen for free?
When our current system leaves so many of the countries faithful citizens without access to lifesaving care because of their financial status, and medical conditions, how can we ask for anything else?

Whichever stance a person takes on the health insurance debate, we must all admit that our current system leaves many Americans without access to health insurance. When a person is born with any of a host of inherited medical conditions such as a heart murmur, asthma, autism, the list goes on and on, they may eventually find themselves among the uninsured when they seek medical coverage. They will face repetitive denial, being seen as too much of a risk to most insurance company’s prospective profits. The exorbitant rates they will be offered by a few will make it impossible for them to maintain coverage, if at all.
Should such a person be discriminated against because of medical condition with which they were born, over which they have no control?

Many Americans, who work 40 hours a week or more, live just above the poverty line.
Very often because of their environment, stress, and insufficient nourishment, these same people acquire a host of medical complaints and are in desperate need of care. The current system has no place for these people. Yet so many of us fall into this category.
One of a countries greatest asset is labor. If the work force is sickly, who shall turn on our cities in the morning, cook the meals in our favorite restaurants, cater to our children in school, sanitize our bathrooms, sweep our streets, and who shall defend our country?
Let us take care of those who work so hard to take care of us.

Our government can eradicate the inherent discrimination of our current system by offering free healthcare to its citizens.
It is time we recognize that discrimination against those with inherited medical conditions and the poor who can not afford health insurance is a crime of injustice.