Debate
Should Schools Allow the Sale of Junk Food?

YES
Margaret Johnson, aka Mrs. J., is in her fifth year teaching English and French at West Las Vegas High School, Las Vegas, New Mexico. She served in the Army Signal Corps in Germany and taught college English before switching to high school.

Yes, junk food should be sold in schools--along with other food. Students will buy anything that costs under a dollar, is portable, flavorful, visually appealing, and gives them a quick pick-me-up. They like traditional candy bars, nutrition bars, pickles, lemons, sodas, fruit drinks, and water. I'm sure milk would be a top seller. Above all, students like freedom of choice.

Students often do not recognize cafeteria fare as food. The nutritionally correct meal in the garbage can has no nutritional value. Our politically correct cafeteria offers a wide variety of meals, all as well prepared as regulations and mass production allow. The bread is made on site.

But some students will not eat tomatoes, meats, spices, or other ingredients. Others cannot deal with the noise, long lines, and short lunch periods. Some don't have time to get seconds.

Junk food provides quick energy, substitutes for missed meals, and supplements inadequate meals.

My learned colleague in biology says teens need munchies to keep them alert. I found this to be accurate when I grounded classes for not disposing of their trash properly. Without snacks, those who weren't antsy were asleep. Most were not focused.

I do not claim any medical expertise, but I am a teacher and a mother, and I have observed that caffeine is, for some, a better drug for hyperactivity than what is sold at the pharmacy, and a cola can help the student whose pharmaceutical wears off at noon. A school that bans colas and candy can cause a medical hardship. Also, denial, even for as short a time as a school day, can cause bingeing.

On the economic side, junk food can provide a steady income for school organizations at a better price and profit margin than the fund-raiser companies offer. Recycling cans is a profitable byproduct.

I do worry about where students get so much disposable income, but that is a matter for their parents to monitor.

Yes, we should teach and model good eating habits. Yes, we have health problems brought on by poor nutrition. But no, we should not ban junk food. Our schools are restrictive enough as it is. They do not need to resemble prisons any more than they do already.

Voting Results

NO
Judy Stewart, wearing her milk moustache, is known to all as Nurse Judy and has been a school nurse for 18 years, the last five in the Hemingford public schools, Hemingford, Nebraska. She was the Nebraska School Nurse of the Year in 1999.

Junk food should not be sold in schools. We teach students good nutrition and then sell them junk food--what a double message!

Childhood obesity and its consequences are of epidemic proportion. Dentists are seeing massive tooth decay in the mouths of young adults, which they attribute to increased consumption of pop. Osteoporosis is a growing concern in the aging population, and this problem is effectively solved only during the teenage years.

How do we deal with poor nutrition? In two words, "Got Milk?" Get a milk vending machine. Children will choose milk if they can. Once they feel the positive health effects, they will keep choosing milk over pop.

At Hemingford High School, we bought a milk machine with support from the Nebraska Dairy Council and the phone company.

We have seven flavors: regular white, chocolate, fat-free chocolate, strawberry, banana, French vanilla, and cafe mocha. We sell 200 to 300 bottles a week.

Students were a driving force behind this.

As the school nurse, I took the opportunity to teach about the importance of calcium intake during the growing years. After about the age of 18, kids are done building bone mass and only maintain what they have.

Some argue that junk food sales support school activities. Well, student health is more important than making money. Had any dental work done lately? Costly! Osteoporosis is even more expensive, especially when you consider the bone fractures.

When kids refuse to eat cafeteria food, its because they're used to junk food. If we stop vending junk food and teach good nutrition, they will begin to appreciate nutritionally sound cafeteria meals.

The trick is to have them learn to eat the food that is served. This can be accomplished by making school lunch fun!

The other component is parents. With our busy lifestyles, our society has focused on "fast food." Parents can make meatloaf and potatoes look as appealing as hamburgers and fries. Let's help parents learn to feed their kids a healthy meal, sit down together, and then shoo them out to play!

Do teens need a sugar pick-me-up? Not if they eat according to the Food Pyramid. Let's guide them to life-long healthy eating habits!

Voting Results

32% = Yes 68% = No Votes have been collected for printing. Last vote was accepted Feb. 22, 2002.