3 ms·

Good question. I once saw a documentary about this topic. They pointed out a lot of the kids went to school without breakfast at home, because their parents wer

Good question. I once saw a documentary about this topic. They pointed out a lot of the kids went to school without breakfast at home, because their parents were poor. After implementing a sponsored breakfast at school grades improved a lot. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the documentary.

robmcm 13y ago
Yes this seems to be quite a commonly reported "fact" there are even charities here in the UK that provide school breakfasts.
vidarh 13y ago
The poverty issue might very well mean that these meals might be beneficial primarily by counteracting chronic under/malnourishment and that this is a more important effect than any benefits of short-term fasting / hunger. But there are other potential effects as well: It is one thing to be hungry if you are able to decide yourself what to do. Another when dealing with authority. We can tell when my four year old son is getting hungry before he notices it himself because he starts getting cranky when we try to interfere with what he is doing. Purely guessing based on that anecdote, it might also well be these kids would perform better at what they want to do when hungry, but that they are more docile and find it easier to sit still and pay attention to the teacher when well fed. For my part, I used to prefer to go to school without breakfast for many years, but then again I was usually allowed to sit and work on whatever I wanted most of the time in many classes, as I was usually ahead. Of course this is all speculation.
- hmsimha 13y ago
  Your speculation definitely resonates with me. I always had a hard time sitting still and paying attention in class if I was hungry. For whatever reason, if I've gone a little bit too long without eating enough, I end up experiencing sharp pains in my stomach that are incredibly distracting, even though I doubt I ever went long enough without food to truly have an empty stomach.

robmcm 13y ago

Yes this seems to be quite a commonly reported "fact" there are even charities here in the UK that provide school breakfasts.

vidarh 13y ago

The poverty issue might very well mean that these meals might be beneficial primarily by counteracting chronic under/malnourishment and that this is a more important effect than any benefits of short-term fasting / hunger. But there are other potential effects as well: It is one thing to be hungry if you are able to decide yourself what to do. Another when dealing with authority. We can tell when my four year old son is getting hungry before he notices it himself because he starts getting cranky when we try to interfere with what he is doing. Purely guessing based on that anecdote, it might also well be these kids would perform better at what they want to do when hungry, but that they are more docile and find it easier to sit still and pay attention to the teacher when well fed. For my part, I used to prefer to go to school without breakfast for many years, but then again I was usually allowed to sit and work on whatever I wanted most of the time in many classes, as I was usually ahead. Of course this is all speculation.

hmsimha 13y ago
Your speculation definitely resonates with me. I always had a hard time sitting still and paying attention in class if I was hungry. For whatever reason, if I've gone a little bit too long without eating enough, I end up experiencing sharp pains in my stomach that are incredibly distracting, even though I doubt I ever went long enough without food to truly have an empty stomach.