Free Lunch

I am one of those students who doesn’t find the school lunch all that appetizing, but would rather eat it than to risk my health by not eating anything at all, especially when I have marching band during fourth period. A lot of students and teacher may agree that whether or not a student eats breakfast and lunch affects their behavior in class.

As a nation we agree that education should be free to students and that taxpayers should take care of the costs because we are all eventually going to benefit from doing so. Why is it that we send children and teenagers to class “for free,” but do not supply them with the things they need to take advantage of these opportunities?

If you ask me, it’s quite strange that only a selected few students actually have to pay for lunch at a school where we ALL receive an education for free. Why are we being charged for food when we attend this school with no charge?  In reality you’re still paying and it’s not free at all.

My question is, why doesn’t the National School Lunch Program want to pay for my lunch? Do I not work hard enough in school? Am I not achieving the grades that I should be? If you ask me, that’s how the free lunches should be decided. I understand that many people may oppose these ideas because they’re the ones who have to actually the taxes that supply us with our meals, but if you can pay for the meals of most students, why not pay for the meals of all students?

I believe that we can agree that certain families need more help than others, but as a nation, if not then as a district, we should establish another way to decide whether or not a child is eligible for free lunch. If we could agree on a way for no child to sit in class hungry then eventually scores and grades would improve. Isn’t this the kind of improvement you want to see in the world? Because I know that I would benefit from that, in fact, we all would.

Many people say that school lunch isn’t that expensive and I should just pay so I don’t have to be hungry throughout the day, but you know what I have to say about that? I am a full-time student with no job and I shouldn’t be charged at school, which is free to me. As a student who pays full-price for meals, I ask you take into consideration how it feels to be hungry and especially how it feels to have a barrier holding you from your meal, whether it be the oven timer or the new employee at your favorite fast food restaurant. We all know the feeling and we can all agree that it’s the worst.