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I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

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Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#221

Post by lmz »

jaggederest wrote: post #187
bombcar wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the "don't say the quiet part out loud" with transit fares (which would NOT apply to school lunches) is that transit fares are a convenient way to remove unwanted transit enjoyers. It is somewhat hard to define "being disruptive on the subway" but it's easy to define "doesn't have a ticket".

We need votekick, but in real life. Clearly this is a concept that could have no practical downsides...

Don't you already have that? They get kicked to El Salvador IIRC.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#222

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

brundolf wrote: post #196

Many people, especially in our subculture, tend to feel like if they can't solve an entire problem forever, if they can't Change The World, what they're doing is futile and pointless But most people can't change the world. Most individuals shouldn't have the power to change the world. What we can do is be a force for good in the lives that are proximal to us. If we can make a few people's lives better, we should rest…

One of my favorite quotes:

> "I was in the Air Force a while, and they had what they call 'policing the area,' and I think that’s a pretty good thing to go by. If everyone just takes care of their own area, then we won’t have any problems. Be here. Be present. Wherever you are, be there. And look around you, and see what needs to be changed."

-Willie Nelson

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#223

Post by _AzMoo »

mylesp wrote: post #216

As an Australian, I find it crazy that getting food from a cafeteria at school is the norm in the US. In Australia you bring food from home 90% of the time. On special occasions or every now and then you order lunch from the canteen. It seems almost against American individualism to have a communal meal where everyone is served up the same food and sit indoors in a dining hall. Maybe it is just strange to me but I ca…

In Australia this is actually an issue for low-income/underprivileged children in schools. Some parents don't give their kids breakfast or lunch, because they can't afford it or they just don't care.

Some schools run a "breakfast club" that everybody's welcome to attend, where they provide things like toast or cereal to kids that don't get breakfast at home, and it's couched in shame-softening language, though most kids know that if you go to breakfast club it's probably because you can't actually afford breakfast.

Schools will often have some bread and spreads available in the office for kids who are sent to school without lunch. I'm not sure how widespread it is, but I know that in some schools this is just funded voluntarily by some of the staff who will pick up more bread or whatever when it's required, because they don't want to see kids go hungry.

I think the idea of having lunch provided as part of your school fees is actually a good one. No kid should go hungry, or be subject to humiliation and shame, because their parents can't afford or can't be bothered to provide them lunch.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#224

Post by two_handfuls »

internetter wrote: post #34
M3L0NM4N wrote: post #4

Is the overhead in deciding who gets free lunch and who doesn't and then managing the debt really saving more money than just giving all public school kids free lunches with no strings attached?

Without reading into lunch specifically, I'd very much be inclined to say yes. The reason is, I spent many hours researching the fair structure of my transit agency. Fares that have, obviously, been in the news for being harming to low income citizens. What I found was that the city spent almost 1 billion on upgrading their collection systems, whereas the yearly revenue from those same systems amounted to 1/10th of t…

Did you mean no? The question was about whether the bureaucracy was worth it and you said yes, then show an example where bureaucracy is not justified.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#226

Post by AngryData »

andreicap wrote: post #25

My poor country (Moldova) just implemented free lunches for kids in primary and middle schools. What is the reason US doesn’t have this already at federal level?

Because the US is run by wealthy people and highly corrupt. If it isn't a problem for those with money, nothing will change. Look at all the major problems the US has and nearly every one of them can be easily walked around if you have a lot of money. Expensive healthcare? Well I got money. Overzealous police force? Well in an expensive neighborhood cops don't dare harass/extort random citizens. Harsh and exploitive justice system? Money will bleed to courts dry until they give up. Shitty local schools? Private education. Shitty infrastructure? Buy large SUV and generator. Polluted water? You can get good water delivered or run a whole-house reverse osmosis system.

It is highly inefficient, but if you are on top of the wealth pyramid none of that matters to you. Average citizens however can't afford all of that.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#227

Post by AngryData »

rufus_foreman wrote: post #202
mproud wrote: post #63

I love living in Minnesota. Walz passed the Free Meals for School Kids Program[^1] at my elementary school, no less! about two years ago. I’m happy that other states are finally realizing, gee, this is such a straightforward issue we could actually solve. [^1] https://education.mn.gov/MDE/dse/FNS/SNP/free/

>> gee, this is such a straightforward issue we could actually solve Shifting the cost from the parents who had the kids onto the taxpayers is not solving the problem. It's making people who didn't cause the problem subsidize the people who did cause the problem. That's not solving the problem. It's making sure there will be more problems.

Without kids living and being born and learning and becoming productive members of society your lifestyle would not exist and current economic models would collapse in a handful of years.

You are shooting everyone including yourself in the foot because you personally don't need to walk places.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#228

Post by inetknght »

lmz wrote: post #221
jaggederest wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need votekick, but in real life. Clearly this is a concept that could have no practical downsides...

Don't you already have that? They get kicked to El Salvador IIRC.

That's not VoteKick, that's AdminBan.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#230

Post by Brybry »

gedy wrote: post #219
mylesp wrote: post #216

As an Australian, I find it crazy that getting food from a cafeteria at school is the norm in the US. In Australia you bring food from home 90% of the time. On special occasions or every now and then you order lunch from the canteen. It seems almost against American individualism to have a communal meal where everyone is served up the same food and sit indoors in a dining hall. Maybe it is just strange to me but I ca…

It seems to have changed in past decades. When I was in school in 70s/80s, everyone brought their lunch. And we weren't in a well-off area or anything.

As a sibling comment noted, the National School Lunch Program started in 1946. [1]

The School Breakfast Program started in the 1960s/70s. [2]

More recently, in 2010, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act was passed which enabled the Community Eligibility Provision which lets low income area schools offer free food to all kids without individual application/qualification. [3][4]

Various schools I went to in the 90s/00s had some kids bringing their lunch, some kids paying the school for lunch, and some getting free lunch (because they were poor enough to qualify).

[1] https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp

[2] https://www.fns.usda.gov/sbp/factsheet

[3] https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2014/05/...

[4] https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/cep

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