There has been some discussion in the news over the last few years as to whether or not high schools, and even middle schools, should offer healthy alternatives during lunch.  Some schools now offer salad bars whereas other schools have gone as far as to replace all vending machines that sell junk food and replace them with ones that offer healthier options.  To me the answer as to whether or not schools should see healthier alternatives is an easy one: Healthy foods should be sold in schools, but that does not necessarily mean schools need to take everything they deem as unhealthy out of their premises. 

 

Kids should be able to make the decision of what foods to eat on their own.  Surely one could argue that kids are not to be trusted in making the right decisions and therefore the decision should lie in the hands of the school systems, but in doing so schools are taking out all temptation out of kids' lives.  By taking out temptation schools are setting up a world where when kids are able to make their own decisions they will not know what to do with their new found freedom and succumb to temptations pressures. 

Instead, in addition to making the shift to healthier food choices perhaps schools could incorporate nutritional education into the 9-12 curriculum.  If school days cannot accommodate such an addition why not use parts of health class to teach basic nutrition (if most school systems were like mine not too much was taught in health to begin with so adding such a component would be a valuable upgrade).  Furthermore, if a school has inevitably decided to do away with pizza and fries and only serve salads and fish then that is the school's choice.  The argument that kids would just throw away their food so schools should just give them what they would eat is a cowardly response.  Schools should do what my mother did when I was growing up: You are to eat what is served and if you do not like it you can go to bed hungry!