No Soup For You!

[Atlanticatia]

Poverty in America is not a cut. It is an amputation. A hemorrhage.

This program is the epitome of "band-aid solutions". And I think it shows how far America has gone, to the right that is, when "band-aids" against poverty start to seem like legitimate "surgeries", and issues that the American "Left" takes to heart and wants to defend.
Because they can only alleviate the pain of poverty, they cannot fight poverty.

And if you compare the cost of providing free school lunches to the cost of restructuring the whole economy, it's kind of like comparing the cost of a band-aid to the cost of a heart transplant. Just because something is small and only tackles a limited range of problems doesn't mean it's not cost-effective for what it does.

^ This.

Any progress, even if it's small, is progress. It's unlikely that the US would be (politically) able to invest the needed amount to tackle child poverty, which would probably be somewhere between an additional spending of 2 and 4% of GDP. Free school lunches reduces the effects of poverty, for not a large cost. It's a good "band-aid" - and a very helpful band-aid - until the political environment allows for the hundreds of billions of dollars of spending needed to combat child poverty.

[Nazi Flower Power]

I gave up on teaching too. It's a very demanding career and definitely not for everyone.

That's how I felt too, to be honest.

I just don't have the patience to deal with school stuff as a teacher.

In order to be effective you have to do a lot of lesson planning on your own time in addition to the time in the classroom, and it just kind of eats your life.

[Tlik]

And I am for subsidized food for those kids that are financially lacking and need it. I am not for a universal free food policy unless that is affordable.

If you're not poor, you shouldn't be too hungry to focus and learn.

Means testing incurs administrative costs. Putting that money into food instead of administrative costs is a better use.

Not necessarily. At least in the UK, means testing is done outside of the education system for a number of regions, and various parts of it affect everything from benefits to university loans. Giving free school meals to all children wouldn't necessarily remove the means testing. Even if it did, the cost of means-testing may well be less than the cost of feeding everyone, although I have no statistics and honestly don't know which is more cost efficient.

[United facist States of America]

That's probably true.

Although, France does it quite well. Those school lunches actually look good.

Damn,and american school children eat inedible lunch pizza,disgusting ham and cheese sandwiches,and soggy french fries.

Wow we're Fortunate in Sweden. We get 8 different vegetables, at least 2 salads, and 2 Types of Bread every School meal. The Main Food is okay ( Often something with either Fish or meatballs ) and occasionally we Even get foreign cuisine ( Even though most of the Time it is'nt that Good ).

[Salandriagado]

Means testing incurs administrative costs. Putting that money into food instead of administrative costs is a better use.

Not necessarily. At least in the UK, means testing is done outside of the education system for a number of regions, and various parts of it affect everything from benefits to university loans. Giving free school meals to all children wouldn't necessarily remove the means testing. Even if it did, the cost of means-testing may well be less than the cost of feeding everyone, although I have no statistics and honestly don't know which is more cost efficient.

The UK also significantly reduces the admin cost by requiring parents to register for free school meals, so that they only test those that actually need it, and having the parents provide all of the information, so they can mostly just check the numbers are in the eligibility range and put it straight through.

[Margno]

Fuck, what kind of an example are we setting for our kids when we can't even work out their basic needs without threatening each other?

[Trollgaard]

Heil NSG!

I stumbled across this article about a student who was sent home without a lunch because his parents owed the school money. Schools are supposed to waive fees for school lunches, field trips, etc. for low income families, but there is some bureaucracy (which means a potential for clerical errors), it can be a nuisance for families whose income is close to the cut-off for eligibility, etc. Sometimes kids just forget their lunch money or, for those who don't normally eat school lunches, forget their lunch.

The article mentions that some school districts have switched to a system where school lunches are just free to everyone. Considering that school lunches are very cheap anyway, I like the idea of offering them for free to all students. Kids should be allowed to focus on their classes without being distracted by their parents' financial problems or being hungry.

Do you agree? What is your opinion on free school lunches?

When I was in school, a decade ago, you got peanut butter and jelly sandwiches if you didn't have money in your account. And one of the little milk cartons.

Plus I remember you could go in the hole a few bucks and it would be no big deal.

Seems like schools are being dicks about a few bucks here and there.

[Tlik]

Heil NSG!

I stumbled across this article about a student who was sent home without a lunch because his parents owed the school money. Schools are supposed to waive fees for school lunches, field trips, etc. for low income families, but there is some bureaucracy (which means a potential for clerical errors), it can be a nuisance for families whose income is close to the cut-off for eligibility, etc. Sometimes kids just forget their lunch money or, for those who don't normally eat school lunches, forget their lunch.

The article mentions that some school districts have switched to a system where school lunches are just free to everyone. Considering that school lunches are very cheap anyway, I like the idea of offering them for free to all students. Kids should be allowed to focus on their classes without being distracted by their parents' financial problems or being hungry.

Do you agree? What is your opinion on free school lunches?

When I was in school, a decade ago, you got peanut butter and jelly sandwiches if you didn't have money in your account. And one of the little milk cartons.

Plus I remember you could go in the hole a few bucks and it would be no big deal.

Seems like schools are being dicks about a few bucks here and there.

It took me far too long to realise that "in the hole" was a euphemism for being in debt - I was really worried about your apathy to a truly barbaric punishment system...

[Geilinor]

Schools get money from the federal government for free school lunches, where is the money going if not to food?