Opinion: Stop, Michelle Obama! The Children Are Hungry
The good news is that high school students don’t bow down to a liberal government and get pushed around without expressing their concerns – at least when it comes to getting their fill at lunch time. Their voice is loud and strong when they are rebelling for the right to eat. The bad news is that the United States Department of Agriculture and First Lady Michelle Obama may be a tough team for the young people to cross. But from reports, there is a sizable group of high school athletes expressing their concern regarding the food they are being denied every school day.
The high school students are complaining that their school lunches are just too small this school year, and they’re hungry. While reports have focused on students at a school in Wisconsin, it is now found that complaints are being voiced throughout the country at the start of this new school year. The new school lunch regulations being enforced by the United States Department of Agriculture via First Lady Michelle Obama’s healthy eating initiative are just not satisfying many of the nation’s youth.
Ironically, it has been reported that school lunches now cost 20-to-25 cents more per plate or tray, but students are tremendously dissatisfied with what is being put on their plates or trays.
According to various online comment threads, young people are fighting back by basically “going lunchroom rogue”. One Internet site reports that some students are sneaking in items that will liven up the lunches – items that are neither USDA-approved nor Michelle Obama-approved – such as chocolate syrup which students are selling on the black market by the squeeze.
Such entrepreneurs must be Romney-leaning, wouldn’t you think?
Reportedly, some schools are actually putting hummus and black bean salads on elementary school children’s trays and the lunch supervisors are not very surprised at all when they see the children leaving the food items untouched. By definition, hummus is a Middle Eastern and Arabic food dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. Obviously, it is something that most American children are not accustomed to and are going to try for the first time at school when their parents aren’t there to make them at least try it.
While the United States Department of Agriculture blames the young people for not eating things they are not used to eating at home, the bottom line is that the children are hungry all day. Data has proven in the past that hunger is a severe deterrent to the learning process and environment. In recent decades, the government has taken to feeding needy children to combat the negativity of trying to learn while being hungry. Now, with new Obama administration regulations on school lunches, we have a government that is causing hunger.
Of the many regulated-policies created in the past four years during the Obama presidency, this one should be the top of the “repeal-it” list. Scratch that – it ought to be number 2, after Obamacare.
Most adults would be complaining that they’re starving, too, if they had to eat hummus and black bean salad for lunch. And remember where the president has been stopping on the campaign trail. The owner of a pizza joint bear-hugged the president and picked him up off the floor two weeks ago, not the owner of a hummus and black bean salad establishment. Additionally, Sean Hannity on Fox announced that President Obama’s daughters were served pizza for lunch today at their school. How does that happen? Lucky them.
How about letting the president – or his daughters’ school – help decide what goes on the school children’s plates instead of the president’s wife. That way, at least the children will eat it.
About Scott Paulson
Scott Paulson writes political commentary for Examiner.com and teaches English at a community college in the Chicago area. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.
