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If I'm reading this correctly they're considering kids "in poverty" if they qualify for a free lunch. That's not the official definition of poverty by a long s
by gozur88 10y ago
If I'm reading this correctly they're considering kids "in poverty" if they qualify for a free lunch. That's not the official definition of poverty by a long shot - not only can you qualify for a free lunch even if your family isn't official below the poverty line, but in some districts every child qualifies for a free lunch because they don't want the poor kids to feel singled out.
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/05/when-all-kids-eat-for-free/481806/ http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/05/when-al...
- mc32 10y agoInstead of giving all kids free lunches, why not just have everyone scan/swipe their ID, those of means get charged, those who qualify either don't get charged or the tally gets cleaned at the end of the year?
- protomyth 10y agoBecause the equipment / procedures cost more than just giving everyone lunches. Also, the people with means are probably the ones paying the majority of the school's taxes so they might as well give their kids lunch too.
- gohrt 10y agonon-parents pay taxes too, so your proposal does shift more of the burden from students (even wealthy students) to general population.
- protomyth 10y ago"non-parents pay taxes too" - yep, all taxpayers pay for education. Its not my "proposal". Its how I have heard some school districts talk about their school lunch programs. I'm answering a question not advocating some opinion.
- tropo 10y agoThe kids who most need the free lunches are most likely to lose the ID. (and books, and pencils, and...)
- toomuchtodo 10y agoLunches are so cheap (a little under $3/lunch [1]), we might as well just give them away for free to all school age children. For some of them, its the only real meal of the day they'll see. [1] https://schoolnutrition.org/AboutSchoolMeals/SchoolMealTrendsStats/#5 https://schoolnutrition.org/AboutSchoolMeals/SchoolMealTrend...
- rayiner 10y agoWe should give them breakfast and dinner too.
- Spivak 10y agoSarcasm is difficult to convey over the text so I'm not sure if you're serious, but you should be if you aren't. Forget about morality, ethics, or any of that think of the children bullshit, paying the cost of about $2.50-$5/student/day is downright cheap for the returns we get down the line: from not having to pay to fix the medical problems they acquired as kids from malnourishment or shitty TV dinners, the welfare they wont be collecting because their grades are better, the reduction in crime, the increase in GDP, etc.. It's a really small thing, but it really does keep poor kids from getting stuck on the C student/underachiever track when their parent's get a break an don't have to worry about food. Source: This is one of the programs the local food bank I volunteer at does for poor families in the city.
- brudgers 10y agoThe article uses qualification for the Federal lunch program as the reference standard not the price students actually pay for lunch.