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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

#331

Post by subarctic »

This article doesn't seem to really explain how this whole debt thing works. What I'm guessing happens is some kids go to the cafeteria and get food, and then their parents are supposed to pay the bill later, and they can't afford it so they don't (and maybe their parents told them they can't afford and they're supposed to bring a lunch to school but they didn't listen, or their parents didn't tell them). So then the lunchlady has to act like a debt collector and go take their food away and replace it with something cheaper (not sure why they just don't decline them the hot lunch food in the first place).

Does this sound right?

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

#332

Post by senectus1 »

lesuorac wrote: post #194
senectus1 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The US has discovered that there's a substantial portion of the population (which for this could be 1%, 10%, 20% whatever) who is really bad at raising kids, basically. I'm a center-lefty, but America appears to be mostly right and I find it fascinating that this is just "accepted". Why does America just accept that some (a large enough number that most schools have to feed them) people cant raise their kids?

Are you going to require people get a license to procreate? Or perhaps are you saying that the government should provide a nanny to everybody that can't raise their kid?

this is not the only alternative....

What I see is a cultural/community problem.

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

#333

Post by xarope »

pfannkuchen wrote: post #255
iandanforth wrote: post #232

On the off chance you're interested in school lunches I highly recommend watching videos of Japanese school lunches on YouTube. There's a bunch out there now and if you were raised in the American system it will probably blow your mind. The idea that lunches can be freshly made, on site, out of healthy ingredients and children are active participants in serving and cleaning up is just crazy. When I encountered it for…

> The idea that lunches can be freshly made, on site, out of healthy ingredients and children Excellent garden path sentence.

A friend who's a pre-school teacher has this excellent t-shirt (I LMAO the first time I saw it):

let's eat, kids.

let's eat kids.

punctuation saves lives.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/B1pppR4gVKL._CLa%7C2140%...

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

#335

Post by Supermancho »

giantg2 wrote: post #277
vineyardmike wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sounds like child services should take those children then? This is a HUGE, dangerous leap. > If they can't apply for the lunches, then surely they aren't getting food at home, nor the proper medical care. Plenty of parents (and plenty of people generally) just aren't aware of social services but are quite aware that they're supposed to feed and care for their children. Plenty more forget to fill out paperwork and…

"This is a HUGE, dangerous leap." If you're telling me they are "starving" then it isn't.

My wife was one of these kids. She knew then (and I know now) how and why she tried desperately to get into a state program and away from her drug addict parents. Living in the desert, in a broken trailer, 2 adults and 2 children, only a water tank (reuse that bath water), miles of flat hard (or wet slick) brown dirt in 120 degree heat in every direction. No money, no radio, sometimes TV rabbit ears.

Begging for food from grocery store clerks as her parents bought beer and toilet paper inside, drugs outside. She grew up thinking they were derelict because of the drugs. As they got older and had to quit the drugs or die, she found they were just unfit people.

Lots of people in the world are unfit to care for the children, but the children often persevere and society absorbs the damaged alongside the deaths.

This colors my views of the world, as much as anything I experienced.

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

#336

Post by lmz »

roughly wrote: post #291

> “That’s stupid,” she said with 7-year-old clarity. “Why don’t they just let them eat?” We’ll spend the rest of that child’s life convincing them that the answer to that is complicated.

I think she'll learn the answer after she gets a job and needs to pay for food.

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

#337

Post by osiriskang »

subarctic wrote: post #331

This article doesn't seem to really explain how this whole debt thing works. What I'm guessing happens is some kids go to the cafeteria and get food, and then their parents are supposed to pay the bill later, and they can't afford it so they don't (and maybe their parents told them they can't afford and they're supposed to bring a lunch to school but they didn't listen, or their parents didn't tell them). So then the…

I can only speak for my own schools in the USA, but this is not quite right. As a student, you were expected to pay for lunch at lunchtime. If you were privileged enough to afford it, generally your parents would give you enough money to fill your lunch account for 1-2 weeks.

If you did not have enough money in your account to cover the meal, which was a set price for staples with extras (i.e., extra side dishes, snacks, drinks aside from water/milk) adding to the price, you would be required to have no more than a ham sandwich and milk, or if the cashier was feeling nice allow you to accrue debt/take the lunch for free. From what I have heard, this is how it was generally when I was in school.

The movie stereotype of the bully "coming for your lunch money" while fairly anachronistic in my school years was not a completely unheard of scenario.

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

#338

Post by hiddencost »

yieldcrv wrote: post #302
kerkeslager wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stuff like this seems like such a dividing line to me. Like, in theory when people believe things that are morally wrong, I want to reach out to them with compassion and respect and try to gently persuade them to my side because we're all, in theory, on the same side. But if you don't want kids to be fed, I really am not sure we're actually on the same side any more and I really am not sure what to do with that.

People generally don't want the Federal government involved, thats where the consensus has been lacking. this is exhibit A of showing that these country sized states are fully capable of handling their own affairs and universal access to things, the same as the 21st century developed nations that do the same thing You and the other parties actually agree that it isn't controversial, there are many funding sources if…

Naw. Not true.

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

#339

Post by danans »

For anyone from places in the US or abroad who can't understand why a society would subject children to this sort of situation, here are some of the attitudes that give rise to it:

"I shouldn't have to pay to feed other people's kids"

"If you don't shame the kids, the parents will never take responsibility for them"

"A lot of those [poor] kids are overweight anyways"

I've heard all of these said in some form.

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

#340

Post by verisimi »

jaggederest wrote: post #249
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…

I find it really challenging to get people to notice these things, let alone actively take even small actions for positive change. I'm interested in what the community thinks are some of the methods I could use to improve these things, and why people quickly become inured to these kinds of problems. I'm thinking, specifically, about peeling paint, litter, dirty signs, the kind of thing that even a passing effort, a h…

If you pay government 40-50% of your income to government to manage common areas, you think you have already paid for this. You would feel foolish to spend even more of your resources on this. It is someone else's job, not yours.

In places where there is not such a strong governance structure, what you see is people doing more of what comes naturally to everyone. The communal idea arises naturally for things that people want to do. Sure, it's messier without town planning officers, etc, but the governance structure doesn't stop things getting done.

You say they are poorer but gdp, salary or whatever is not the only metric one can use to measure meaning in life. Time is the real money.

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