Americans Hate Feeding Poor Children at School

[MountainLaurel]

Along with a story today about D.C. schools beginning a program to feed dinner to some 10,000 needy children at school, the Washington Post polled readers about whether they supported the move. Nearly half -- 46 percent -- said it's a bad idea. They wanted to know: Why should schools spend money -- some $5.7 million in this case -- to feed hungry children who should be eating at home?

If you're wondering whether racist stereotyping is alive and well in the nation's capital, just peruse some of the comments to this story:

"They might as well feed them dinner. And while they are at it, clothe them also," ranted one reader. "The year will be 2050 and blacks will still be complaining about being held down and not being able to handle life's requirements without ongoing, permanent government welfare. It's the black circle of life."

"I think a better balanced article should have included how many of the kids have cell phones and those $100+ sneakers," snarled another. "Having grown up on peanut butter sandwiches, I make choices as to what to spend my money on. If a person cannot afford to feed their child then maybe that person should not have become a parent."

http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-10-19-americans-hate-feeding-poor-children-at-school/

[kenny blankenship]

1. "Americans Hate Poor Children" - fixed it

Why multiply words needlessly?

[Starry Messenger]

6. Sad, but true. n/t

[WinkyDink]

50. Trumped: "Americans Hate Children."

Why else our high mortality rate? Early sexualizing?

[Stargazer99]

2. I've got two answers for the well-off of these two responses

#1 hungry children do not learn well...feed them and shut up!

#2 as to should not have had children comment-tell your anti-abortion and right to lifers to shut up!They are probably the source of many unwanted children, or if the children are wanted our society will torture the hell out of them in the process of growing up.

Maybe making sure adequate paying jobs for the parents might help...but that solution is just too damn simple for these "better than others" brains.

[CoffeeCat]

8. That's the ultimate in right-wing hypocrisy...

Oh do they fight to make reproductive decisions for women! These
self-defined do-gooders who say it's all for those poor babies. We
must allow the babies to live!

Then, the very same political contingent is the first to mock, ridicule,
scorn and even enjoy STARVING the same babies that they fought oh-so hard
to save!

People like that...I don't know how they live with themselves. They
are morally bankrupt. Their behavior is some of the worst evil I've
ever witnessed from human beings.

They are very, very sick people.

[tigereye]

26. it's like Barney Frank said, Reps believe that "life begins at conception and

ends at birth."


Sad to think of all those kids without enough food to eat. :( They have to get it somewhere, eh? The lack of compassion is staggering.

[Blue_Tires]

51. Those two comments in the OP are just trollery

We see it so often on news sites, now it just goes by unnoticed...

I'm betting the people who wrote those don't live within 100 miles of D.C.

[prolesunited]

3. So I guess if you had a job and had children

then lost said job, you should just dump the kids. Maybe that asshole will take them.

[MountainLaurel]

5. Apparently

Maybe that's Big Business's solution for finding cheap labor: having poor children pick lettuce, clean houses, and take care of rich children.

[mzmolly]

4. "....maybe that person should not have become a parent."

In other words, that person should have had an abortion?

Vile SOB's. Every one.

[tech9413]

7. I feel lucky I didn't have to grow up with neighbors like that

It's not what it used to be when I was 10, but there's still a sense of community and we take care of each other as much as we can.

[WolverineDG]

9. well, I object to the crap they feed them

but on principle, I think the school meal program is a good thing. Just wish they'd put more healthy options on the plates instead of fried crap.

dg

[msanthrope]

38. Agree on all points---

and I will add one point---

Teachers/parent volunteers/adults should be eating with the kids. Mealtimes should be a learning time.

[pipoman]

10. Really? 46% = All Americans Hate Feeding Poor Kids

Half empty much? Jeezuz..

[TheKentuckian]

14. How is that number not totally appalling? One percent seems too high on such an issue.

46% is a pretty toxic society that is poised to eat it's self alive.

On an issue like this the 46% may as well be having a similar percentage of cells in your body being cancerous.

Feeding hungry children, really? Hell, we are a mess because we have an environment that makes the question worth asking. What kind of fucking monster would think feeding children these meager prison quality (or worse) meals is too generous?

I think such heathens are breathing my fucking air.

[LTX]

27. Appalling, sure. But 54% of the people in that poll apparently think

that feeding children dinner at school is a good idea. So why isn't the headline "Americans Support Feeding Poor Children at School"?

But I guess that doesn't fit one of the favored tropes around here, i.e., "all Americans are venal. Except me. And maybe a few of my friends."

[TheKentuckian]

48. 46% is a near plurality. Almost half of Americans aren't even human beings. 46% are monsters

4% less than half are in favor of hungry, suffering children. It's not a positive but a sign of anti-social collapse.

Yay! Slightly more than half of Americans have some semblance of a soul. They would at least not begrudge an innocent child a crappy meal. YAY

Don't trip over that bar.

[LTX]

49. Half the country is pure evil. Just ask anybody. n/t

[pipoman]

58. The truth is 46% didn't like this solution, to this problem.

Americans Hate Feeding Poor Children at School is the thread title here. Tell me how this title isn't completely false? Or tell me how it is true? A lie in fact, a complete fabrication or maybe parody?

[ProudDad]

52. I'll bet 90+% of USAmericans wouldn't vote to tax themselves to feed poor children... (n/t)

[pipoman]

55. Well, it seems the OP article would deem you a loser

USAmericans do exactly that in virtually every single election cycle. I'm sure glad I don't have such a low opinion of my friends and neighbors.

[LTX]

56. That's because Americans are evil. Except you. And maybe a few of your friends. n/t

[bluethruandthru]

11. And the tried and true "they all have cell phones and $100 sneakers"

line comes out again!
My sister uses this one all the time saying she personally knows people like this. She sees "welfare queens" all the time...they're everywhere! They're all right over there standing by the hordes of Canadians who are overwhelming our doctors offices and hospitals trying to get decent care that they can't get in Canada!
She's also on a steady diet of nothing but Beck, Limbaugh and Fox.

:crazy:

[Anser]

12. ugh!

It is scary how familiar that sounds. My life seems filled to the brim with dittoheads (family, co-workers) repeating the same lines as your sister.

Thank goodness for DU, amidst all our disagreements, if nothing else, rationality predominates.

[bluethruandthru]

16. It's another one of the right wing's talking points that has become

ingrained in so many people's minds!

[RobinA]

47. The One I Always Here

nowadays is the one about all the poor people with big screen TVs they bought with welfare money. I tell them, Well I work at a job where I am in poor people's houses every day, and I have yet to see a big screen TV. They don't believe me. It's like I'm in the wrong poor people's houses or something.

Can't say I haven't thought, Well quit with the children already. One does have to wonder why someone who doesn't have enough food has a bunch of kids, though.

[MattBaggins]

13. She sees welfare queens

Let me guess; anyone with skin darker than her own, is immediately suspect.

[bluethruandthru]

17. Not suspect...guilty!

She thinks darker skinned people are fine as long as they are doing her landscaping or cleaning her house...but if they have a cell phone, she must be paying them too much!

[LWolf]

15. I am lucky enough to work in a state that

has a FAN program to help students in need. And help they do. My school's fan advocate solicits donations, organizes them, and supplies any child who doesn't have school supplies, shoes, coats, medical care, glasses, etc. with what they need.

Just this week she personally took one of my students to a dentist to address an absessed tooth, and came to talk to me about another, loaded down with snacks: cheese and crackers, peanut butter and crackers. She keeps our classrooms supplied with snacks anyway, but these were in addition. For one particular boy, whose mother mentioned that they are doing better once school started, because he gets breakfast and lunch at school, but that meals at home are spotty. So our FAN advocate hooked her up with the local food bank and brought me a bunch more "snacks" to supplement him with, in addition to the two meals he eats at school already.

I'd like to see our school cafeterias serving higher quality, healthier, fresher, less junky food.

Free and reduced meals for low-income families are a key safety net. That way we KNOW the kids are getting at least 2 meals a day.

[kickysnana]

18. I think that DC should charge all people coming into DC a toll.

This is our nations capital. We are really a sick, sick society.

[vim876]

42. They can't.

Congress won't approve it. It'd be nice if they could, though.

[Bunny]

19. Who can begrudge food to a hungry kid?

Who is that cold-hearted? If we got to choose how our taxes are spent, this would definitely be first on my preference list.

[Mika]

20. Corporate mission accomplished!

Jamie Oliver - Nugget experiment epic failure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9B7im8aQjo

---

[Baalath]

21. I don't support it

go ahead yell at me, but I don't support feeding children breakfast or dinner at school.

School food is notoriously unhealthy, prepackaged garbage. More of that plastic crap will cause even more damage than it already does. Money is wasted paying people to prepare, serve, clean up after, order, etc. That money is better used if given directly to the parents to feed their own children better meals.

Schools have their hands full teaching. They aren't restaurants nor should they be forced to become what they are not designed to be. They will only do it poorly.

I won't even get started on the importance of children and parents spending meal time together.

[Bunny]

22. Oh for fuck sake...

[cynatnite]

23. The lazy parents should get jobs and spend more time with the brats!

:sarcasm:

[Bragi]

24. Spoken like a well-fed person

But thanks for highlighting the kind of ignorant biases the poor are up against.

[Dappleganger]

25. Not yelling at you, but urge you to read this scientific study

which supports giving children breakfast at school: http://www.sodexofoundation.org/hunger_us/Images/Impact%20of%20School%20Breakfast%20Study_tcm150-212606.pdf

That FACTS are that most poor children and MANY working-class children do not get ANY breakfast, much less a good breakfast before they go to school. The facts are that most parents/caregivers have to be at work and don't have time to make breakfast a "family time", if they can make it at all. Also, not every school only makes non-nutrititious meals--there are many which have tried to offer healthier fares and with a degree of success.

And I'm not even going to address your little rant about pre-packed food, litter or money "wasted paying people". :eyes:

[uncommon]

28. You are right about the quality of the food, which is a separate issue altogether. But schools need

to put students in the best position to succeed academically. A hungry child is a distracted child who is not going to be able to concentrate on his/her schoolwork.

If anything, communities should be pushing for healthy food in the schools AND helping to support these programs by giving freely.

[Baalath]

32. Think some of you are missing my point

I am not saying to not help. I am saying that putting the school in the middle doesn't help. Give the parents the damn money and stop messing around with schools. Yes, I know it is hard to find time to eat with our kids and every other reason you all mentioned so...give them the damn money directly.

[Bunny]

33. I would love to see the uproar created by your proposal to give

cash to poor people. That wouldn't be controversial. :eyes:

[Baalath]

34. Could well be uproar

but I am not going to prance around what I REALLY want and gift wrap it and make it look like something else.

What the hell is speaking truth to power if it isn't truth? It is just noise that distracts from truth.

[Lars39]

39. You're not backing the truck up far enough...

the economy should be such that there would be no need for a 2nd or 3rd job or insanely long hours in order for a family to make ends meet. Giving the money to the parents directly won't necessarily give them the time to prepare a meal or eat a meal with their children.

[Baalath]

41. or do the laundry

or comb their hair
or check on their homework
or teach them to not take candy from strangers

You want to feed kids in school for the ultimate reason because us poor families don't have time to spend with their kids so you need to save me time and feed my kids crap food?

Honestly, I think that sounds like bs that I am poor so I obviously don't spend time with my children. Screw off.

Give the family that need it the money they will find the time to feed their children.

[Lyric]

44. What makes you think that you're the only poor person here?

Or that YOUR experience is somehow valid for ALL poor people? Who the hell do you think you are? You're certainly not speaking for ME.

[Lyric]

43. I understand your point, but you're not thinking it through completely.

Even if they had the money (say, in the form of drastically increased food stamps), low-income parents just don't have the *time*. They have jobs, and their employers are not the kind of people who pay salaries and forgive lateness. If they aren't at work on time, they get fired. Cooking and/or preparing a healthy meal takes time, and it's time that low-income parents just don't often have in the mornings.

I do agree that school meals could be healthier. I'd like to see a bigger variety of fruits instead of the endless canned fruit cocktail and plain apples, for example, and a LOT less salt and fat. But those are issues we can work on without discarding the program completely.

And frankly, as a kid whose healthiest, best meals were the free ones I got at school, I have NO problem with the schools feeding dinners to kids who qualify. There were too many nights when my Mom had to work until midnight, and we kids didn't get anything more than a mayonnaise sandwich with salt and pepper or a pack of ramen noodles for dinner. Whatever the schools are serving would HAVE to be better than THAT.

[Book Lover]

46. "They will only do it poorly."

I don't agree that poor performance is inevitable. All you need is a supportive environment: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6902333n

[ProudDad]

53. How about suggesting better food in Schools

preferably grown in organic school gardens by the kids themselves...

and end capitalism and relocalize so that folks have the TIME and food resources to spend meal times together...without being slaves to one or two or three jobs...

You do realize that most poor folks have NO access to healthy foods, right?

The real enemy is the class separation driven by corporate capitalism...

In the meantime, I'd vote to feed the kids, thanks...

[AmandaMae]

29. Why do so many Americans hate spending money on social welfare?

I don't get it. It's okay to spend trillions of dollars on war but not feed school kids breakfast?

[Bragi]

30. "Self reliance" is a founding American myth

Also, many Americans are bible thumpers who believe that a) it is god's will if someone is poor, and it is against god's will to interfere with this, b) charity creates dependence and morally weakens the recipient, and c) charity has nothing to do with redemption, which requires not good acts, but accepting jeebus as your personal saviour.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. You did pay attention is school, bravo

And it is not the bible thumping that's the problem, but the very strong Calvinist undertones in it.

[kctim]

31. Why do so many Americans

believe THEIR morals should be forced on EVERYBODY else, but the morals of OTHERS should not be forced on THEM?

[Obamanaut]

35. I would support an increase in my property tax in order to have all

school lunches free for all the students.

If a kid has parents who want to send a lunch with him/her, that kid doesn't need to eat the prepared meal.

For some kids, the meals at school may well be the only hot meal they get that day, and when school is out (weekends, holidays) they may do without completely.

[ProudDad]

54. I'd rather see a progressive property tax

keyed to one's ability to pay...

Of course, my property tax was just raised by over 40% while the fuckers who live just outside the city limits up in their MacMansions in the hills didn't get an increase.

Just about the time I'm forced to live on Social Security...so I guess I'm biased...

And, hey, just a thought -- less sales tax, more progressive income tax...

I'd vote for a 110% tax rate on anything over $250,000 -- income OR "capital gains" -- confiscatory, you bet your ass!!!

[SOS]

36. Right-wingers need to brush up on their history knowledge

The NSLP was enacted in 1946 for two reasons.
To address the shocking malnutrition and starvation among WW II recruits.
The Depression left many young Americans too malnourished to function in the Armed Forces.
The second reason was to prop up crop prices after the end of the war.

Given the real reasons for feeding America's kids, you'd think the teabaggers would be more supportive.

[One_Life_To_Give]

37. Why is it necessary?

There are other programs which were intended to address this among other concerns. Why is this additional program needed? Does this mean another program will be made in part redundant and should be scaled back?

I don't think most of the 46% want kids to starve. More likely most want an explanation of why the already existing programs are not continuing to take care of this?

[4_TN_TITANS]

40. "maybe that person should not have become a parent"

I think becoming a parent is a little more permanent than being able to find a good job these days. More of the 'I've got mine, screw you' crowd.

[AngryAmish]

57. When do the kids eat dinner?

Do they leave and come back at dinnertime?