When I was in middle school, I was trying my best to eat healthy. It was probably one of the hardest things to achieve in my life, considering I was around junk food 24/7. Every day, I was surrounded by greasy pizza, sugary cookies, and salty chips. When I would come to lunch with a bagged lunch full with a sandwich and veggies, I would be left tempted to ditch the nutrition to fat and sugar. As you can guess, I often caved and traded up for cookies and grease. With junk food always being at my disposal at school, eating healthy was out of the question.
Although selling junk food in school vending machines brings in additional revenue, it is only detrimental to the health of students and should be an eliminated choice. If students have junk food at their disposal over the course of the whole school day, they will end up consuming more than they need. Students are only going to eat what’s at their disposal and it is the job of the parents and school adults to get kids the nutrition they need so they know how to make healthy choices in the future. Kids don’t always know what is best for them, which is where parents come in. Having vending machines full of junk food is only contributing to the rising rate of obesity in this country, when it can easily be prevented.
Providing junk food in vending machines only contributes to child obesity.
Going through middle school, I was surrounded by certain students who would eat every chance they got and all the sugar they could get a hold of. Once I saw those same people later on after middle school, they looked completely different. Middle school seemed to be the heaviest years for them. According to Gary Ruskin in The Fast Food Trap, between 15 and 24 percent of American children are overweight—a threefold increase since the early 1970’s. And obesity continues to grow today. As this all shows, child obesity is a growing problem that needs to be addressed. Gary Ruskin goes on to explain, that “of these occupational illnesses of childhood, obesity is probably the greatest. Certainly it is the most apparent, as a visit to just about any elementary school of mall will confirm.” Even asking opinions of my high school peers, they can all agree that schools are the main source to blame for this growing epidemic.
“The increase in soft-drink consumption has been similarly damaging to children’s health. Between 1977 and 1996, soda consumption among 12 to 19 year olds increased 75 percent for boys, 40 percent for girls.” (Ruskin) Kids are learning that abnormally high sugar intake is okay, when kids need to be taught how unhealthy that is. Kids don’t know how to make the wisest decisions from the beginning, we need to teach them and teach them while they’re young. This illustrates how sugar consumption is rising and taking a toll on the kids in today’s world. Junk food is available at every student’s fingertip: nearly 19 out of 20 high schools have vending machines that sell soda, while nearly 60 percent of elementary schools do. More than 70 percent of high schools sell chocolate candy in vending machines. (Ruskin) Students only become more distracted and hyped up with the more sugar they have in their system, which makes it more difficult for them to learn. Providing junk food in school cafeterias and vending machines is only making it harder for kids to learn. I know from my experience, the more caffeine or sugar I have in my body, the harder it is for me to focus and concentrate, especially in school.
Kids don’t always know what is best for them; therefore it is the parents’ job to guide them.
“Many '80s parents, who were (sometimes consciously and often not) hoping that the duties they no longer had time for at home might somehow be fulfilled at school,” told by Greg Crister. As you can see most parents leave it up to the school to provide and watch over their kids, when all that is doing is harming their health. Kida are always going to be around junk food no matter what, but if they were taught how to make healthy choices, then it wouldn’t be a problem. In the early 1990s ... a group of enterprising Pizza Hut salespeople asked: Why not ... sell the pizzas outside of the federally regulated cafeteria, say, out on the lawn, or on the playground? (Crister) The media wants to be anywhere they can. Selling junk food in schools is detrimental to the health of these growing students and is only going to turn them off to healthy eating for the rest of their lives if they don’t learn now. "We feel that teaching kids to lead a balanced, healthy lifestyle and make smart choices is more important than restricting one category of food," says Jennifer Phillips, a spokesperson for the American Beverage Association. If kids are educated on healthy eating habits, then having junk food around won’t be an issue. “That sort of engagement has worked at Nettelhorst, which was part of a pilot project that put salad bars in three Chicago
Although many will argue that having vending machines full of junk food and sugary drinks will bring in revenue for the school, there are many other ways to achieve this. Schools could focus their time and effort into creating programs to teach kids about healthy eating habits. Schools could even allow students to manage and participate in bake sales. The list is endless on other ways schools can bring in revenue for themselves. It doesn’t just have to be from vending machines that suck students’ pockets dry of cash.
Middle schools and high schools should not be allowed to sell junk food in the cafeteria, vending machines, and athletic events anymore. It should be eliminated altogether. Eliminating junk food will put an end to numerous problems in the school systems today, such as these: childhood obesity being in the high percentages, kids eating more sugar than they need, and not being uneducated on healthy choices.
Everyone needs to work together on this or it won’t happen. People need to realize the problem that junk food being sold in schools is taking a huge toll on the students. Teaching schools other ways to being in revenue is one of the biggest things we can do. Also, creating programs to teach kids about healthy eating would be among the most affective ways to get across to students.
