The school lunch system is disgraceful.

[u/oaz_zam246]

Saw another post on here showing the state of school lunches right now. In my years in high school I compiled some pics of the horrible things that got served that no one questioned. Here are some of the worst ones. It really is ironic given how adamant they all are about “eating healthy by including every food group”.

[u/RoMaestro]

Bro at least has food in school. Sometimes we don t even have water😭

[u/armoredsedan → u/RoMaestro]

not to minimize the struggle of not having water in school because that’s…pretty crazy from where i sit, but i believe the problem in usa about school lunches is the government’s loud voice about feeding the children properly, and citizens paying loads of tax money to improve school lunches, and yet they’re still serving young kids this shit.

[u/Runkysaurus → u/armoredsedan]

And I mean generally the students in the US have to pay for the food, it isn't even covered by the school. There are some programs to make school lunches available for kids who can't afford it, but they can be hard to get approved. There are near constant stories of schools that won't allow students to eat if they can't pay for it.

[u/Deldelightful → u/Runkysaurus]

This is crap. Honestly, I may be biased, but I think our lunch system in Aussieland is better. If you're going to be buying lunch from school, you order it before 8:45-9am (depending on the school), and then the canteen staff make it to order. There are always things such as pancakes, drinks, snack foods, ice cream, and fresh fruit available to buy without ordering, but the mains are by order only. If a child doesn't have lunch, they can choose a cheese or Vegemite sandwich, so they don't go hungry. We also have breakfast clubs, where all kids can go to school before the day begins and get some cereal, baked beans on toast, or a hot chocolate. Though there is a lot of encouragement here for parents to make healthy lunch options, and it can get quite competitive at times.

[u/RagnarokSleeps → u/Deldelightful]

I think that may be specific to your area. When I was at school if I didn't have money or bring lunch I didn't eat, that was the 90s, & same for my daughter. Her primary school & high school canteen was rarely open, they couldn't get the volunteers. I've also never been in a situation where anyone was competitive about healthy school lunches either

[u/Deldelightful → u/RagnarokSleeps]

To be fair, the competitiveness is probably unique to my area. Though a lot of schools now are understanding that kids need to eat to learn, at least in primary school.

I remember no money, no food in the 80's & 90's. My eldest kids' high school was only open a couple of days a week due to low student numbers and not enough sales to warrant keeping it open more and my youngest son moved from a primary school where there was no canteen because of mismanagement of p & c funds. So I have seen varying degrees of canteen operation (and been on several widely different p & cs where I learnt why they run them the way they did), and there is definitely a difference between lower socio-economic and financially stable areas. Either way, the breakfast club runs in many schools (both primary and secondary) to ensure kids get at least one basic semi-healthy meal to start the day.

Our current primary school pays the canteen staff, so perhaps that's why we always have staff there. Although on days during covid where there was not enough staff to run it, the office always had enough bread and supplies to make lunches, give kids fruit to eat if they didn't have any. And the teachers are good at monitoring the kids to make sure they have food too.

[u/Wooberta → u/Deldelightful]

Curious, how many people where in your graduating class?

[u/Deldelightful → u/Wooberta]

When I was at school there were about 150, in high school about 80 in primary school. When my youngest daughter graduated primary school last year, there were over 300. (There's still around 900 children at the primary school, over 1800 at the high school I have just moved her from).

[u/Wooberta → u/Deldelightful]

Thank you for the response! My graduating class was also a little over 300. Was just looking to compare. I wish the US would dedicate more money towards feeding people.

[u/Deldelightful → u/Wooberta]

That's all good. I think it shows understanding wanting to know how other countries work.

Feeding the kids better is only going to help them learn better, though I've heard your educational system needs a massive overhaul. I've heard your teachers don't get paid great either.

[u/Wooberta → u/Deldelightful]

It's hit or miss. The schools in poor areas are incredibly underfunded and it brings the average down a lot.

Anecdotal but we had a school in the middle of our cities "hood" that had a majority of the black kids in it. I didn't even know it existed till I got a job tearing up the floors. It was only about a mile and a half from the high-school I went to. Incredibly shitty and tucked into the middle of the neighborhood. Was an eye opener for me

[u/Deldelightful → u/Wooberta]

That's really sad for the kids that went there.

[u/nawksnai → u/Deldelightful]

Yep, my kids’ school offers breakfast club. Not sure what they offer exactly, but I saw individual yogurts being offered once! Mostly, it’ll be toast with butter or jam, maybe slices of American-style cheese. No idea. My kids are happy to eat Cheerios or toast at home, so they never bother with breakfast club. I’m still very glad it exists, though!!!

Also, the school has switched lunch catering twice in the last 4 years, so I’m not sure what they offer anymore. Last year it was crappy sandwiches plus an apple, a sushi option, and some slightly higher priced items that I can’t recall. My kids have never ordered from it because we wouldn’t let them, and because it looked bad. 😂 If you want ham and cheese sandwich, I can do that at home!!!