Analysis Of Heroines: The Lunch Ladies

Heroines: The Lunch Ladies On a sunny day in July sits an elementary school in anywhere, USA. In the cafeteria’s food line, Tommy tells the lunch lady, Mrs. Williams, that he is still hungry. He ate the cheese sandwich, which was authorized by the school policy for poor children. Over half of the students are on the program and all of them know that those who get cheese sandwiches are poor. These students were only reflecting the deep-rooted negative stereotypes about those living in poverty. This puts a negative label on them, even though poverty is not their fault. Mrs. Williams gives children extra food when they ask her. However, word gets out to the school administration that this has become her common practice. Subsequently, she

These students’ proper nutritional needs were undermined. Studies have found that low-quality nutrition during childhood can be detrimental to the development of cognitive abilities like learning, problem-solving and memorizing. In other words, brain-based skills needed to carry out any task from the simplest to the complex. Students who have nutritional deficiencies may: doze off in class, interrupt the class, daydream, have hyperactivity and have limited abilities to focus on tasks. Early malnutrition can lead to limited vision, fine motor skills, language and social skills and chronic illnesses. These deficiencies can cause anemia, obesity, eating disorders and cavities, also more serious illness such as heart disease, cancer and strokes. Students who consistently have insufficient protein score lower on achievement tests than their classmates who had adequate nutrition ( ). Thus, unhealthy diet options during childhood can have lasting consequences for poor children’s minds, bodies and

Steps need to be taken to make a difference in the longer term and even within the current systems. Lunch ladies risked their jobs to bring attention to the nutritional needs of hungry children. They were change agents, whether they wanted to be or not. Their advocacy of their students spawned the school districts to reexamine the scope of the problems, their policies and policy making. Hunger and poverty have been staggering issues for many years without solid resolutions. As educational institutions, schools are in a pivotal position to accept responsibility in meeting these students nutritional needs. Poor students likely do not get regular healthy meals at home, so schools can make an important impact on their situations. Left unchanged, these poor students will continue to experience the myriad of life struggles. Will you make a commitment to be a change agent in making a difference in the nutritional health of this population, which can have a lifetime positive