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Natalia Gumma

Dr. Andrew Cavin

PS1010-519 Honors

30 March 2017

The National School Lunch Program

It is around noon, and I am starving. It is becoming hard for me to focus in class because

I have begun thinking about what I will be eating for lunch after class is dismissed. Should I get

Panda Express or Subway today? A turkey breast sandwich sounds delicious, but I am also

craving orange chicken. This is such a hard decision to make. My mind is wandering and my

mouth is salivating as I think about the meal that I will eat soon. I think I will go with Subway

today because the turkey breast sandwiches are cheaper on Wednesdays. Finally, class is over,

and I can eat. On my way to Subway, I pass by an older woman sitting at a corner with a small

cardboard sign, explaining that she is homeless, hungry, and appreciates any help. I glance over

at her, and I am suddenly overwhelmed with guilt. I could not get my next meal off my mind,

while there are people on the streets wondering when their next meal will be and where it will

come from. Although it is common, it is not just homeless people who are hungry; hunger exists

everywhere and affects several different types of people. People of color, especially

undocumented immigrants, are at least two times more likely than the general U.S. population to

suffer from hunger (Gamblin). Those who suffer from hunger tend to fall into one of two

categories: acute hunger, which designates undernourishment over a definable period, and

chronic hunger, which designates a state of long-term undernourishment ("Why hunger?").

There are a variety of causes associated with hunger in the world. Poverty is a main contributor

to the endurance of hunger, especially in developed countries, such as the United States. Other
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factors contributing to hunger are poor infrastructure, natural disasters and weather disturbances,

war and displacement, unstable food prices, and food wastage ("UN World Food Programme).

Each factor either causes a lack of food in a community or difficulty in obtaining food by

individuals. Hunger is problematic because of its contributions to undernourishment and

malnutrition, causing extreme physical and mental impairments. On the bright side, there have

been and still are substantial efforts from different spheres of action in the fight against hunger.

Volunteers from the civic sphere of action are constantly distributing food to those who need it,

sometimes even with help from corporations from the market sphere ("Chase Workers Combat

Hunger). On the other hand, the governmental sphere contributes greatly with food assistance

to low-income families from the U.S. Department of Agriculture ("MDHHS Assistance Programs

Food Assistance"). Another government effort, more aimed toward specifically feeding needy

children, is the National School Lunch Program, or the NSLP. This is a federally assisted meal

program operating over schools to provide low-cost or free lunches for eligible students based on

their distance from poverty level ("National School Lunch Program). The National School

Lunch Program has proved to be a great success to solve the problem of hunger because of its

administration by the government, distribution of food to disadvantaged children, promotion of

higher educational attainment, and other follow-up programs that have secured food for these

children even when they are not in school during the summer months.

The National School Lunch Program is administered at the federal level by the Food and

Nutrition Service and at the state level by state education agencies. The program is operated

through agreements with school authorities ("National School Lunch Program). Administration

by the federal government proves to be an effective way for the program to impact millions as

the government works on a tremendously large scale. Another reason why administration by the
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government impacts the programs success is the process by which eligible students begin their

involvement with the program. There is direct certification for free school meals by the NSLP,

meaning that districts automatically approve students for the free food without requiring an

application process (Gleason). This unbiased and easy approach to certifying students for the

program would likely not be possible if it were not for the scaling provided by the government.

However, because the program operates on such a large scale, it is unlikely to respond to local

concerns. Julie Zorb, manager of policy and research for Catholic Charities USA, explained that

an appropriate reform would be one that improves the ability of school-based meal programs to

respond to local needs (Zorb). Despite this, because the NSLP is administered by the

government, scaling plays a major role in its success.

Of course, considering the main goal of the National School Lunch Program, an indicator

of its success would be the supply of nutritionally balanced free or low-cost school lunches to

eligible children. In a cross-sectional study that considered the correlation between free and

reduced price school meals and fruit and vegetable consumption, it was found that students

receiving free or reduced price school meals ate less fruits and vegetables at home when

compared to the richer students, but they ate more fruits and vegetables at school compared to

the richer students (Mednik-Vaksman, Lund, and Johnson). At first glance, this seems unfair to

one group or the other. However, because the NSLP cannot control food consumption at home, it

proves to be beneficial in this case as the children lacking food at home, especially the nutritious

fruits and vegetables that they need, are provided with it through this program.

By lacking sufficient food, the health and development of children is threatened which

has overwhelming effects on their futures. When children come to school hungry, they are less

likely to focus, so they are much less likely to succeed educationally; this perpetuates the cycle
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of poverty ("The Problem). This idea is supported by a dissertation that explains the existence

of an academic achievement gap between children from poor families and the more advantaged

children (Grinion). One reason why the National School Lunch Program is so beneficial is

because of its counteracting effects on the academic achievement gap. Some people may say that

this gap is not about the hunger, but it is about other confounding issues in the lives of those

struggling with poverty. Nevertheless, it seems that providing the food is a step in the right

direction when attempting to increase achievement of these students in school. It was found that

the NSLP, by providing meals to the needy children, may encourage children to attend school

more than they usually would, and this facilitated much higher educational attainment by these

students (Hinrichs). Not only does this program work on a national scale, but it also works

directly the city of Detroit; every Detroit Public School offers free breakfasts, free lunches, and

free afternoon snacks to all students to assure that no child is too hungry to learn (Start School

Year Right). However, a structural barrier is posed to individual children if they suffered from

malnutrition in the womb. When this occurs, the child is unlikely to catch up on its

underdevelopment, and the physical and mental restrictions are extreme ("Why hunger?").

Therefore, there is little chance that the achievement gap would be overcome in a case like this

as this barrier is a difficult one to overcome with food for children alone. It would require

providing food to pregnant women who are lacking it. Despite this case, the National School

Lunch Program clearly satisfies both physiological needs and achievement as students,

contributing further to the success of the program.

Many Americans assume that the children who depend on free or low-cost lunches at

school are left to suffer with their hunger in the summer time, when they are not in school, which

would provide a structural barrier to the National School Lunch Program. However, that is where
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the Summer Food Service Program, or the SFSP, comes into play. The SFSP ensures that low-

income children obtain nutritious meals throughout the summer ("Summer Food Service

Program). The Michigan Department of Education is in full support of this program as it

searches for partners and sponsors to participate in running the summer food programs (MDE).

Children are not only helped by the Summer Food Service Program; there are also many

corporations and volunteers working to ensure meals for children in the summer. For example,

Hillers Market and the Charter One Foundation have partnered with Michigans leading hunger

relief agencies to raise money to provide meals during the summer ("Summer Hunger Pains).

Also, churches and community groups spend significant amounts of time organizing programs to

provide free lunch for metro Detroit children during the summer (Satyanarayana). Because of the

Summer Food Service Program and other local efforts to supply meals for the summer, it is

difficult to argue that the National School Lunch Program fails through the lack of summer meals

provided.

By analyzing the success of free and low-cost school lunches provided by the National

School Lunch Program, the benefits of focusing on children during the efforts to combat hunger

are evident. Helping the children with their physiological needs is likely to trigger increased

achievement in school, causing the students to succeed in the future and avoid the poverty trap

that they had experienced before. None of my group is focused on helping hungry children

specifically, but another portion of my analysis supports help of adults as well. By providing

poor pregnant women with food, we would be avoiding the malnutrition of the child, which is a

difficult structure to have agency in once the child is born. Although programs such as those

discussed for children would have to be accompanied by programs to help adults, we should

avoid focusing too much on one group or the other because both children and adults need help.
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Overall, the success of the NSLP teaches us a lot, especially about the link between child hunger

and academic achievement.

The National School Lunch Program is a policy that provides sufficient aid to children

suffering from hunger. It is relatively successful due to its administration by the government

which works on a gigantic scale. The program also tends to successfully provide nutritious meals

to students who would otherwise be lacking them. These nutritious meals satisfy the children

physiologically, but these children tend to show increased academic success by being provided

with the meals, as well. People tend to worry about the childrens suffering returning when they

are out of school for the summer, but there are many programs, mainly the Summer Food Service

Program, along with corporations and organizations that help to solve that problem by providing

meals in the summer months. The National School Lunch Program has been, and hopefully will

continue to be, a huge success in the fight against hunger in our society.
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Works Cited

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