Are You For or Against The Sale of Junk Food and Soft Drinks in Public Schools, Why?

Answer 1

Schools are supposed to be a place of learning, not a marketplace. They should provide good, nutritious food for students if they are going to sell anything at all. It may make students think about their diet, if nothing else.

Tea is a better source of caffeine than coke because it isn't laced with all that sugar and bubbles. No calories, and good antidioxants.

Instead of a vending machine, maybe a corner of the cafeteria should be stocked with tea, fruit juice, fresh fruits, cheeses and whole-grain crackers. Students could buy from a clerk (and they could also sell things like notebooks, pens, sanitary supplies). The clerk could be a study-hall student who is doing this for work-study. This way, it would be educational, students could still quench their thirst and fill their hunger, and not putting a lot of sugar and preservatives in their bodies.

If people need the junk, they can buy it in their own time and bring it to school. I knew people who kept candy in their locker. At least this way, it teaches people to plan ahead!

Answer 2

In my school, they took out everything like that. Soda and stuff like candy or stuff with chocolate were taken out. I don't get the effect on it because kids can still bring their own snack. Also, it doesn't always matter how they eat at school, i think alot of the impact takes on at home. Anyways i am for the sale of junk food because if selling healthy food does have an affect, its a very little affect. Thats what my opionion is. Sometimes, i don't think it was a smart idea. Also, that food gets us going, like for gym and other activities. Also, that food helps us think. If the teachers wonder why kids are falling asleep in class, this could be part of it. I bet in our whole school about 75 out of like 800 kids will fall asleep in their class.

Answer 3

Against, What a bunch of whimps we have become . School is about Education and yet we ignore the education we have on the effects of junk food and soft drinks . Schools are at risk everyday because of the constant conflict to make it a place to "hang out". Stop making "Nice" and get down to business .

Answer 4

For high schools, I think it is kids choice. If they want to junk food and caffeinate, that should be their choice. Younger kids, no. High school is a time for creating your own boundaries and becoming your own person. If you are completely regulated by adults, how will they ever become your their own person and form their own beliefs. If you teach your children proper eating habits early, junk food in high school will not be a temptation. And if they do eat it every so often, what is the damage? The problem comes from the parents who didn't teach their children to eat properly and now they are out of control and obese. It is a problem of parenting not what is being offered. We expect our kids to be responsible and yet we don't do anything to help them become that way. I am the parent of a 15 year old son and we are all vegetarians. If he chooses to eat a cheeseburger (which he doesn't) it is up to him. I have taught him the karmic consequences and he makes his own decision.

Answer 5

If students want to eat junk food, then they pack it themselves. Only healthy food choices should offered in a school. A school lunch program should set the environment for what is a healthy diet. I cook at a university, for a company called Bon Appetit. We offer healthy choices to our students. Yes we have pizzas, hamburgers and chicken breast sandwiches. But we also now only serve brown rice and half of our pasta is whole wheat pasta, because of the health benefits. We also have a vegetarian menu, and stir fried dishes. Our seafood is primarily all wild caught, milk and chicken has no hormones or antibiotics, and beef is grass-fed no hormones, or antibiotics. We also cook from scratch. We have a captive group of people in which to educate and mold a healthier lifestyle. That is what public schools should do too.

Answer 6

Take all that crap out of school! What's the point of Phys Ed? You're not going to burn off all the calories in a Big Mac in a class period.

I remember parents getting bent out of shape because there was an ice cream machine in the cafeteria. But all the other stuff was decent food....so what's an ice cream sandwich gonna do? It's not like any kid was eating 6 of them for lunch.

Have a lil something for dessert......other than that can the crap!

Answer 7

when i was still in school due to the price of the healthy lunch that the school supplied it was easier for me to buy a bag of chips and a pop rather than pay for an expensive lunch. so if they are going to take junk food away then they need to lower prices so people can afford the healthier foods. or they will probably just bring in thier own junk from home.

Answer 8

i really feel for the people that can control themselves and eat
things that are good for them and only on occasion indulge in "junk" food because of the ones that cannot control their lust for junk food (which in my opinion is the parents fault for not teaching proper nutrition to the children) they are the ones penalized. so in the interest of the child that has not been taught proper eating habits i would have to agree with the schools setting up a program to limit the sale of "junk" foods and make available only foods/snacks/drinks that are healthy in nature.

Answer 9

Mark this one down under "common sense". If you're a teenager, stop reading because you're only going to get angry, and I'm not going to pretend to care. I read the comment above, by some alleged high school student, who felt that the kids should be free to make their own dietary choices, most of which would probably come in the form of happy meals, I guess. I wouldn't dispute the popularity of McD's among the kids, or even be surprised by it. I just don't believe in giving the tykes what they want. Yes, I'm an ageist monster. Deal with it.

If you're an another adult, let me ask you a basic question. When did we get to be such a pack of wimps? We aren't supposed to be our children's and students' friends, we're supposed to be their parents and teachers, and sometimes, in fact fairly often, that means forcing them to do what they don't want to do, for their own good. They may sulk, they may scream, and we might not enjoy hearing them do so, but that's tough. I don't know where some of us got the idea that being an authority figure was supposed to be fun, but it's not. It's about ... blasphemously nonpostmodern word about to be uttered ...

Responsibility. In case some of have forgotten, in the absence of restraint from their elders (that would be us), kids do stupid, self-destructive things, in large part because they haven't mastered the art of self-control well enough to move beyond the desire for immediate gratification, so they really aren't competent to make all of their own decisions. Freedom is something they have to acquire, in bits and pieces. It's not something we should give them as a free gift at their Bar Mitzvahs or Confirmations.

That part is normal. What isn't normal is that the adults are hardly any better in this regard, these days, seeking shortcuts to winning the love of children whose respect they are in no way earning. How pathetic is it that a grown man or woman is so concerned with winning the approval of a child? Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?

My God, are we seriously having a discussion about whether or not the kids should have to eat nutritious, healthy food? Because McDonald's surely doesn't qualify, as much as the kids in grade, middle and high school may prefer it to, say, Pot Roast. A few years back, when I wrote a rebuttal to some of NAMBLA's "it's about free choice" propaganda, I held out something like this very scenario as an example of the absurdities that the Libertarian ethic could lead to when applied to the very young, and what do I see now? Satire becoming reality.

What's next? Asking the first graders whether they'd rather go to spelling class or have another recess? Maybe the kindergartners would like to skip McD's and go straight to the Cold Stone Creamery? Or maybe tie on a few at Mother's? I understand jello shots are one for a dollar this week. If the rule is going to be " it's a free country, so give the little monsters whatever they want so they don't get mad at us", where do you draw the line?

No, I don't think this should be allowed. Present the kids with a Hobson's choice - decent food or nothing. As much as they may squirm and fight, hunger will get the best of them, and they will eat. In the long run, their health will benefit, and they may have the chance to mature with mind and body intact in a way that malnutrition would make impossible.

Answer 10

For the sake of discipline NO ! They are in school to learn...save eating junk food for the Circle K after school !