It's Lunch Time, It's Lawmaking Time

Lunch is probably many students favorite time of day at school. It's fun to relax with friends, take a break, and eat some good food. As most of you know, however, the food offered at  our school's cafeteria is less than appealing. It's not fresh, healthy, tasty, or even cooked at all, just reheated from deep freezers. For students who have to eat lunch in the cafeteria, their options are dismal, and too often, kids skip out on school lunches and buy a bag of hot Cheetos instead.

While reading through different articles, I found one entitled "How School Lunch Became the Latest Political Battleground" by Nicholas Confessore. It talked about the problem of school lunches that we see at our own school. Confessore described how political legislation designed to better school lunches has failed or simply been ignored by schools. School lunch ladies struggled to meet calorie limits and nutritional guidelines set by the government. Even when schools were successful in meeting the standard,  students wouldn't eat the lunches made, instead throwing away the fruit or veggies. I've seen this problem at our own school, and I'm sure you guys have noticed this as well. On top of kids not getting healthy, fresh food, kids also began wasting more food and going hungry. 

With the amount of control our government has over what we eat, it's sickening to think that they use their control over school lunches so badly. Attempts have definitely been made to improve lunches, but they have just been unsuccessful. Examples of legislation talked about in the article include Michelle Obama's healthy lifestyle campaign and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which sought to establish stricter nutrional guidelines on school lunches. Both were part of the Obama administration's attempt to wage a war against obesity. These political attempts to improve students health really are just drops in a bucket. We have so far to go. In Condessore's words, it will be a constant "battle" to make school lunches better, and it is a battle we all must wage. The food industry and Congress are too buddy-buddy right now to result in big changes; however, if we as concerned, informed, soon-to-be voting citizens seek to make a difference, we can hope for more smiles and more full stomachs for kids all across America. 

What do you guys think? How can we make school lunches better?