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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

#571

Post by titzer »

socalgal2 wrote: post #341
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Isn't this also the tragedy of the commons problem though? It only takes a few bad actors to not take care of their own area and over time, those that are doing extra to make up for them eventually feel like they're being taken advantage of. I feel like in Japan it works because the culture adds enough social pressure that those not doing their part fall in line - or something. I don't think most western culture has…

The only thing that changes behavior is consequences. Thus fines and a functioning justice system are born. Somehow shame doesn't work anymore.

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

#573

Post by vidarh »

lukan wrote: post #445
taurath wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’ve ever considered going on disability, or needed to, you’d be very quickly enlightened. It’s hard. You have to have documentation, you will get denied. Even then the benefits are pretty shit. It’s not a thing that you can just accidently get. There’s a lot of people who are just disabled. What happens if the parents who should be responsible, aren’t?

"What happens if the parents who should be responsible, aren’t?" Normally, child protection service? (But what I know, they don't always improve things)

Which do you think is cheaper: Involving social services because someone isn't paying for school lunch, which would involve the state either paying foster parents or providing other costly monitoring, possible court cases, and/or support, or simply covering the cost of school lunches?

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

#574

Post by 1970-01-01 »

mtnGoat wrote: post #343

As someone who experienced this first hand growing up. I consider how someone feels about free school lunch, a basic test of their humanity. If you think kids should go hungry or be embarrassed at school because of their parents finances… we can’t be friends, nor acquaintances. IMHO, you are subhuman at that point and not worth my time. My dad believed that because he paid taxes he shouldn’t have to pay the school to…

>I consider how someone feels about free school lunch, a basic test of their humanity.

I'll bite (pun alert).

It isn't about free handout, it's about ROI. The valid counterpoint to free lunch for children is any program can become grossly mismanaged because of "think of the children". There are recent stories of unhealthy and expired food being served to children that made them sick. Moreover, what they are getting can be something that puts more bad-calories than good into them (processed, high in corn-syrup). While I agree that no child should go hungry, can you both understand and not disagree this isn't a fire and forget problem? Taxpayers need their hard-earned income only going into high nutrition food; food that will not exacerbate the nationwide obesity problem!

https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/expired-food-served-...

https://wchsinsight.org/33581/opinion/school-food-causes-com...

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood-obesity-facts/childhoo...

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

#575

Post by pnutjam »

ethbr1 wrote: post #303
x-complexity wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 first time I felt like a big part of my childhood had been sold to the lowest bidder. ....I share the sentiment, but I also see the chasm between the requirements to get to what's desired, & what's actually given to meet those r…

Kids don't go to all schools: they go to their school. So by fixing things in one school, any school, you're really fixing things for all the kids that go there.

This is why the wealthy should be required to use public schools.

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

#576

Post by acdha »

mbreese wrote: post #503
hombre_fatal wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile, in Texas (~2005), we weren't even allowed to leave the building to eat on the patio outside in high school. Something I thought a lot about when I moved to Mexico and saw kids leaving school at lunch to wander out and eat lunch together in the surrounding part of the city. Too much dangerous liability to allow going outside during lunch hours in a wealthy part of Texas, but not in Guadalajara, Mexico and n…

In Indiana (mid 90s), we had an open lunch policy in high school. This meant we could all leave campus, so long as we were back by the start of the next class. It was great and we had many choices for quick lunch nearby. I remember picking up something fast, but eating lunch at a park with friends often. The small amount of freedom (and trust) was very nice. Sadly, I think they stopped allowing that the year after I…

I had that in Southern California. It lasted until two years after I graduated, when a student brought a gun to school and started shooting. The school administration which had ignored multiple warning signs with that student decided open lunch was a security risk.

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

#577

Post by vidarh »

b2w wrote: post #481
0xDEAFBEAD wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People really think there are, but every time we look we find practically no freeloaders. I don't believe that is true. You didn't provide any support for your claim at all either. Let's just consider a single example: >In the past three decades, the number of Americans who are on disability has skyrocketed. The rise has come even as medical advances have allowed many more people to remain on the job, and new laws h…

The kid is starving and child protective services isn't a free lunch program. Is the effort of potentially displacing the kid to foster care really solving the immediate problem?

Foster parents are also paid most places. Even purely in financial terms, for each child in foster care over something like this you could feed a lot of children instead, and avoiding the harmful effects of unnecessary interventions.

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

#579

Post by blueflow »

amelius wrote: post #566
homebrewer wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's absolutely right. As someone whose society suffered very heavy losses from the Nazis, this is the first thing that came to my mind when I read the root comment. It's like posting swastikas online and then dismissing concerned replies because "it's a Buddhist sign, what are you on about?"

Except in this case the victims (the hungry children) are not the ones being labeled that. Also the word subhuman is in the dictionary (I checked Webster's) with zero reference to the war.

And "n*gro" is the Spanish, non-slur word for "black" but yet we can't use it because US people dislike it. Slavery and such. Cultural sensitivity goes both ways.

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

#580

Post by trelane »

mbfg wrote: post #30
msravi wrote: post #6

Do different kids get different meals in US schools? I mean for non-medical or dietary purposes? The article doesn't seem to be very clear on that... Is it that when the school's debt gets to a certain point, all kids' meals are replaced by "alternative meals"? Or do some kids' meals only get switched? If so what is the deciding criterion?

Only kids who can't afford the "regular" meals get switched to alternative meals.

Only in some places. In others (like ours) they can keep buying lunch when they've a debt. The kid just can't buy side items (junk food like cookies, ice cream, chips, soda)

This is not a universal.

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