I have been in school all my life.
I started at age 6 in a small elementary school, moved on to a large county middle school and finally the local high school.
After high school, it was college for 5 years (including two stints in summer school; had a little too much fun the first couple of years!).
After college, I began a long career as a teacher, coach, and administrator.
So, I feel qualified to speak on pretty much any topic related to education, including school lunches.
School lunches have been a hot topic lately with an emphasis on better choices and following guidelines such as the food pyramid.
However, with a brief look at my history of eating school lunches, I feel I can debunk that theory.
When I was a youngster, we were never fond of the school lunch.
The one day we looked forward to was Friday as it was the perpetual hamburger and tator tots.
However, looking back every meal the other four days consisted of a main course, vegetable, fruit, and a carton of milk.
Honestly, you could do much worse.
We had no soda or snack machines and merely ate when we were supposed to, never any other time.
In high school, the pattern continued with Friday being pizza (which we affectionately called cardboard) or hamburger day.
The whole milk trend continued although we could now drink chocolate.
After graduation from college, I took a job at a very small country school in the middle of rural Kentucky.
The first thing I did was walk down and make friends with all the cooks in the cafeteria.
(I am not dumb!) I was a single man who couldn't cook and was starving for good meals.
And let me tell you, it was good!.
These were country women who could all cook up a storm.
We had home cooked meals like lasagna, liver and onions, meatloaf, etc.
They even baked fresh desserts every day.
I gained twenty pounds the first year I taught.
My next job consisted of a school which had only four choices: fish sticks, pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs.
So you got one of them twice a week.
The only thing that resembled a vegetable was canned corn that always came with the pizza.
The one thing I remember is that they would count out seven french fries and put them on the plate.
Everyone was starving.
My final job was more of the same.
They were now required by law to serve two vegetables with lunch, so guess what they did? They counted ketchup as a vegetable! They also sold ice cream for a hefty price tag and made a fortune while ensuring the kids grew fatter and unhealthier every day.
So my final word? School lunches are not healthy regardless of any guidelines you may have read about.
Send your child to school with lunch from your home and teach them now how to eat in a healthy manner.
Good habits start young.
I started at age 6 in a small elementary school, moved on to a large county middle school and finally the local high school.
After high school, it was college for 5 years (including two stints in summer school; had a little too much fun the first couple of years!).
After college, I began a long career as a teacher, coach, and administrator.
So, I feel qualified to speak on pretty much any topic related to education, including school lunches.
School lunches have been a hot topic lately with an emphasis on better choices and following guidelines such as the food pyramid.
However, with a brief look at my history of eating school lunches, I feel I can debunk that theory.
When I was a youngster, we were never fond of the school lunch.
The one day we looked forward to was Friday as it was the perpetual hamburger and tator tots.
However, looking back every meal the other four days consisted of a main course, vegetable, fruit, and a carton of milk.
Honestly, you could do much worse.
We had no soda or snack machines and merely ate when we were supposed to, never any other time.
In high school, the pattern continued with Friday being pizza (which we affectionately called cardboard) or hamburger day.
The whole milk trend continued although we could now drink chocolate.
After graduation from college, I took a job at a very small country school in the middle of rural Kentucky.
The first thing I did was walk down and make friends with all the cooks in the cafeteria.
(I am not dumb!) I was a single man who couldn't cook and was starving for good meals.
And let me tell you, it was good!.
These were country women who could all cook up a storm.
We had home cooked meals like lasagna, liver and onions, meatloaf, etc.
They even baked fresh desserts every day.
I gained twenty pounds the first year I taught.
My next job consisted of a school which had only four choices: fish sticks, pizza, hamburgers, and hot dogs.
So you got one of them twice a week.
The only thing that resembled a vegetable was canned corn that always came with the pizza.
The one thing I remember is that they would count out seven french fries and put them on the plate.
Everyone was starving.
My final job was more of the same.
They were now required by law to serve two vegetables with lunch, so guess what they did? They counted ketchup as a vegetable! They also sold ice cream for a hefty price tag and made a fortune while ensuring the kids grew fatter and unhealthier every day.
So my final word? School lunches are not healthy regardless of any guidelines you may have read about.
Send your child to school with lunch from your home and teach them now how to eat in a healthy manner.
Good habits start young.