Class Eats

A few weeks ago, I blogged about how some school districts were making their school lunches mandatory.  Well, private schools are also heating things up in the kitchen.  Most private school tuitions include lunch for their students, and schools in New York seem to be putting this money to good use to serve their student nutritious, gourmet meals.  Many schools are hiring private chefs who cook for students based on their preferences, and who make sure all of the food they use is fresh and local.

In the article, it says that lunches at private schools cost them 3 times as much as public schools, but with public school lunches only costing $1, this prive tag is still relatively cheap.  I know it is impossible to have the same high caliber lunches in public schools because of the sheer number of students, but if these schools would spend their money more wisely or even start spending just a little bit more, then student lunch quality could increase significantly.  Making sure students are well fed is a key ingredient to their success inside the classroom because it's difficult to work on an empty stomach.

The ABCs of Education

I found three stories today, each dealing primarily with a different level of education.

Elementary Nutrition:  School lunches are notoriously "interesting".  Some schools lunches seem more nutritious and appealing than others, but some school districts are pushing to make buying lunch at school the only option.  These districts argue that lunches brought from home contain too much "junk" food.  The problem is that lunches from home are often more nutritious and more appealing for the kids.  Forcing kids to eat school provided lunches is not necessarily a good fix because some students just may not eat or the lunches themselves may not actually be that healthy.  Plus, if you require that students buy their lunch, I believe that the lunches need to be free since students will have no other option, and families may not have the money to foot the bill.

High School Days:  Evidence has shown that teenagers need to sleep more, and need to sleep later in the day.  But, most high schools don't respect these needs forcing these grumpy teens to get out of bed at early hours, which is actually bad for them.  Some schools are even debating start their school days even earlier, but at what cost to students learning and well-being?

Cost of College:  Business Week just released their list of best return on investment schools by state plus the runner-ups for each state.  How does your school stack up?

As usual, feel free to comment on any of today's articles.