Opinion – Food Served in Schools

By: Kaitlyn 

May 24^th, 2010

            Students are encouraged by their school teachers to eat healthy food instead of eating junk food. They are also encouraged to exercise instead of sitting around all day. But do the schools follow through with what they say? Not always.

            Junk food such as pizza, candy, and chips has become more available in schools across the nation in the past 5 years. If schools allow these foods to be available to children, they are more likely to have health problems later in their lifetimes. Schools are supposed to make their students aware of what can happen to them if they continue to eat unhealthy things. Providing healthier options to students will encourage them to eat healthier food. To encourage exercise, schools can take their students outside for a brief 15 minutes to take a walk. It’s as simple as that.

            Schools are the easiest way for students to have a hold of junk food. Simply because that’s all that is provided! Even if a child wanted something healthier to eat, they probably would have a difficult time finding something. Parents need to know what schools serve their children. Most of the time, schools do not have a limit on how many bags of chips, or how many pieces of candy you can buy, which triples the problem. If there’s no limit, of course a child would want as much as they can get. A simple change could involve substituting pizza for a fresh salad, or pretzels instead of chips.

            If schools don’t start now, humans of the future will have extreme health conditions that they will surely regret.