Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

1. Healthier School Lunches
   
   
2. Kids today aren't being served healthy enough meals from schools for lunch
1. Who: Elementary School Kids
2. What: Are not being served healthy meals by their schools
3. Why: School's neglect the importance of healthy foods and resort to cheaper/easier options
3. Hypothesis
1. Testing the who: This problem can expand beyond just elementary school kids. Middle schools, high schools, and even college dining halls can have this issue, as well. It impacts younger students the most, however, because they are the ones who most need the nutritious value, and they are in less control of what foods they eat.
2. Testing the what: There is an argument to be made that this country has issues with unhealthy food. My counter to that is that schools absolutely have the ability to serve healthier options, but they openly choose not to for financial or convenience reasons. Also, again, other people have options in terms of what they eat; kids stuck at school do not have a choice and must eat what they are given
3. Testing the why: This is an issue for kids because they need to be given healthier food in order to grow up healthy. If they are forced to eat unhealthy food, this not only hurts them physically, but it drains their brain power and makes them do worse in schools. The  schools do this because they are most likely trying to save money by using cheaper options, but they either don't realize how much this hurts kids or don't care.
4. Interviews
1. I interviewed a parent who's kids are now in high school and college. She said was extremely disappointed in the lunches her kids were served a school. She wanted to send her kids to school with food to avoid them having to eat that, but it became too inconvenient, and she had to rely on the school lunches. She did notice that they provided more healthier options like salad as her kids got older, but she said, "How many kids would go get salad over chicken nuggets?"
2. This interview was with a college kid who grew up in the public school system eating school lunches. He said he never minded the taste of the food as a kid, and there were even certain meals that he looked forward to eating. However, he said that reflecting back on it now, he realizes how unhealthy the food was and said in an "ideal world," they would serve kids better, healthier food.
3. This interview was with a private school first grade teacher. She said she absolutely believes there needs to be a change in school lunches. She noticed that of her students don't even eat the school lunches because their parents send that to school with their own lunch. When asked if she believed if this was an issue only applicable to public schools, she said every school she's ever worked at has issues with unhealthy lunches, and that there were always parents who wouldn't let their kids eat it. But at the same time, there was always a large contingency of students who relied on the lunch provided, and that, "even if it was only one kid," there needs to be a change.
4. I talked to a kid I know in fifth grade at a public school who says he always eats the school lunch. He said overall he doesn't really like it and that only certain days they have food he likes. I asked him if he ever gets anything he'd call healthy, he said that he likes to get salad sometimes because he doesn't want to eat the other hot food they give. I asked him rate the food he gets there 1-10, and he gave it a 4.
5. The last person I interviewed was a family friend who served on the school board for his son's school. He said that other parents and faculty on the school board absolutely recognized the problem, but they were very limited in the actions they can take. He said within the constraints of the school's budget and the options available for approved food services, they really couldn't do much to fix it. He said "as a parent it was beyond frustrating to know my son's health was being pushed aside like that."
5.   Write-Up
1. My interviews provided me with a lot of information I already knew, but also a lot of interesting perspectives I had not thought about. The first interview didn't surprise me as it made sense that parents were still wining to use school lunches out of convenience, but her last quote really jumped out at me. Even if the school provided the healthy the options, would the kids even eat it? The teacher also gave interpreting answers. She confirmed that this wasn't an issue of public schools versus private schools, and showed that plenty of opportunity exists for change in all types of schools. I also found it interesting that the kid I talked to said he willingly got salad on occasion. This showed to me that kids are at least somewhat aware of the health crisis they are facing, and some even try to put in a little effort to combat it. The last interview was both good and bad for me; it was positive in that it confirmed that an average school board is aware of the problem, bit rusted me in that they weren't able to do anything about it. Overall, this assignment confirmed my belief that the oppurtunity exists for a company to provide healthier school lunches to schools at a better price.