High Price for Free Lunch

I still can remember, growing up in the 80’s, being in the school lunch line. This was before kids could discretely punch their ID number in. It seemed like every other child shouted it but in actuality it was only about 5% of the line in the area I grew up in. It was mostly Black kids that had to say it. You had to say it loud so the cafeteria cashier could hear as she competed with all the other noise in the room. Those infamous words warranted you getting drug through the mud after school. Those words, that actually made you a baby welfare recipient. Those words that showed the wealth disparities and outlined the racial gaps that have always existed. Those words were, FREE LUNCH”. Yeah, back then they made you announce daily that you were poor and couldn’t pay the daily .75 cents. Such an archaic system that now seems trivial to some, has become a wasteful plan to make sure every child has the opportunity to eat or shall I say be shamed into eating. 

But long gone are the days of this type of public humiliation. Now, we spend $100’s on Jordan’s per year and $1000’s on McDonalds. These kids don’t want the lunch food and as an educator I watch them throw away unpealed bananas and apples that haven’t been bitten into. Some try to hide the food in there bag to take home but as educators in Title 1 Schools we are told to stop that. We are also told that we can’t touch the food. So we stand as observers of trash cans full of meals, uneaten meals. Milk that hasn’t been opened, sandwiches that haven’t been touched and our children are learning. They are learning the lie that food is not a resource but a choice. I find myself being mother hen telling the children to eat there vegetables because they will make you strong but that doesn’t help. 

An awesome program created by the Black Panthers, now has its hopes. The penalties are great if teachers stop this with schools being fined. At least they don’t have to shout out “Free Lunch” anymore. Now the majority is “Free Lunch”. They are not shamed by being singled out like they once was. They punch there code in and throw that food out. They throw the food back in your face as this epidemic of school lunch waste continues to grow.