Argumentative About Public School

Eating is a critical part of living. We are what we eat. If we do not eat nutritious food, it will affect our health. However, high quality and healthy food is often more expensive than other food. This essay asks whether public schools should provide expensive high quality healthy food for children. I agree that schools should and in this essay, I will support my stand with explanations, elaborations and examples.

The first argument is schools teach us what is correct. Schools have always been regarded as initiators of best practices in the academic, moral, social and lifestyle aspects of our lives. Therefore, where eating is concerned, schools should show good examples by providing expensive and high quality healthy food (Hartline-Grafton, et al: u.d.) Many people would immediately say no to this proposal because finance is always a problem with public schools. Neither they nor the working-class families from where their students come from can afford expensive food. However, we must ask ourselves which costs more, expensive food or medical expenses? The latter is definitely more expensive because nutrition affects health. When people are sick, they cannot work, thus affecting themselves, their families and their countries. In view of this, it is wise to spend more on food and less on medical costs. Therefore, by providing expensive and high quality healthy food, schools are educating people on what they should eat. It is part of basic life-education and therefore is the schools’ duty.

The second argument is schools should reinforce what they teach. Health science is a core school subject. The children would be confused if their teachers teach them to eat nutritious food and yet their canteens are full of junk food. A 2009 study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that 94 percent of school lunches failed to meet the U.S. Agriculture Department's health standards (Christensen: 2010). Often, school canteen food is high in oil, salt and sugar. This is also why another study in 2009 found that children who eat school food were more likely to gain weight than other children. As such, when schools provide expensive and high quality healthy food, they are practising what they teach and helping to reinforce good eating habits in the children.

In conclusion, this essay has argued that schools should provide expensive and high quality healthy food to children. The first argument is schools should be the role model of healthy living of which eating is a basic part. The second argument is schools are responsible to practise what they teach. Since they teach healthy eating in the Health Science subject, they should also provide such food in their canteens. Schools could start on a small scale first and work towards the ideal.