Could you eat a school lunch every day?

The first two years of my teaching career, I spent 40 minutes standing in the cafeteria watching the students eat. Lunch duty was not my favorite, but it did allow me to get to know some of my coworkers and see how students treat their peers and their school. I have many a memory from those two years, with most of them involving two things:

1- Improper use of the microwave
2- French fries

The microwave only lasted part way into the school year, which was fortunate, because many a fire could have been started with the cooking times the students were selecting for their pop tarts and honey buns (and the fact that they walked away, expecting me to watch it cook... which I did... because obviously I don't want to watch a fire start).

The french fries on the other hand, appear every day. Students return to their tables with their trays loaded with fries. Pizza and fries, chicken fingers and fries, burgers and fries... and the worst offender of all, cheese-filled bread sticks and fries.

The thing that gets me is that there are healthier options. Our school offers salads and fruit every day. They have switched from white rice to brown rice. I truly am proud of my district for the steps they are taking to provide healthy, balanced meals. Unfortunately, the structure of a high school cafeteria allows students to make poor decisions each day. They have chips, cookies, ice cream, pop and of course french fries available each day, and that is what I see my students eating. Worst of all, they buy extra chips, cookies and candy and eat those as snacks later on in the day. (Considering the first lunch is before 10am, I can't blame them for needing a snack.)

This post was inspired by this article I saw on CNN.com, about a teacher who ate and blogged about her school's food for almost an entire school year. 162 days of school lunches. I don't think I could have done it... and the food at her school made ours look gourmet. Yikes. Well, if one thing is certain, if I ever have kids of my own, I think I will pack their lunch. And make sure they know how to properly use a microwave, even if we do not use one too often at home.