Healthy Food in All schools D.A.N.D.A

•U.S Department of Agriculture Nutritional Deficiency Act by Jennifer A Kramer

Foreword:

It has occurred to me after teaching and traveling all over the United States, that one of the biggest problems in American Schools are a lack of performance. We have fell behind severely for a while now.

We are now falling behind several Nations when it comes to standardized testing, IQ scores and overall performance. I believe there is a direct correlation between nutrition,overall health, and performance for today’s American Students. I base this correlation off of Abraham Mas low’s Hierarchy of needs, which states that one cannot attain higher levels of success like learning and those social functions, if the basic human needs are not met.

At any given school in The U.S ,one hour before the children in class have eaten lunch ask them how many have had breakfast. It is heart wrenching , then ask how many ate dinner last night . The answers are shocking. It is a sad reality that for a large majority of students the food they receive at school is the only food that they will eat in that a 24hr period.

With today’s economy and the financial crisis, a vast majority families cannot afford to provide nutritional dinners at home let alone lunch. They rely on the school system to feed their child lunch and even breakfast. Even if this was not the intention of the original lunch program it is now a sad reality of the economic crisis we are in today. Even if Families are receiving state benefits such as food stamps and W.I.C buying the essential fruits , vegetables , proteins, and nutritiously filled foods are quite expensive to the average individual,and they are not accessible to the poor on the meager budget they have.

The current food guidelines in the school is an unacceptable standard for our American students be they rich, middle class, or poor . It unacceptable to accept another American that is Malnutrition-ed and especially when that American is a helpless child.. For an example in some states a package of Ketchup can be counted as a vegetable this is not acceptable and is of nature a standard which is sub standard and substandard is UN- American. Making Nutritional food accessible to children has become a problem. This is not acceptable as one cannot perform if their nutritional needs are not being met. This is a clear explanation as to why performance levels are below other nations currently. That is why I propose this act “ The U.S. Department of Agriculture Nutritional Deficiency Act”.

U.S Department of Agriculture Nutritional Deficiency Act

It is the Mission of this act to ensure that every American student will receive the highest standard of nutrition. It is the mission of this act to provide nutrition to enhance the performance and general well-being of all American students. It is in the spirit of this program to educate children and their parents in the ways of proper nutrition by incorporating agricultural sciences into the curriculum of every grade.

This will increase the learning in applied science by studying and performing agriculture and applying the science of biology and the earth sciences as well. It is an expected out come that this program will not only provide nutrition but will educate students and result in decreased spending by schools by implementing this program. This program will cut the expenses that schools are currently spending on Breakfast and Lunch programs currently.

Us Department of Agriculture Nutritional Deficiency Act

I. A. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946.Since then it is overseen by the Department of Agriculture…. In the spirit of the original intention of this plan for nutrition we will implement a new set of checks and balances to make sure students are receiving nutritionally balanced meals

1.This will mean re-evaluating some of the food suppliers that school are buying from and repealing some of the substandard guidelines that have come into acceptance of recent.

2.This will mean in the spirit of Truman’s intentions we will make it a standard to follow the guidelines of the new food pyramid. There shall be grains, fruit,dairy ,and 1protein as part of breakfast. An average lunch shall be served having at least one grain , and two fresh vegetables, with one protein of the highest fresh standard available.

3. This will mean creating a committee and an office that inspects all school cafeterias regularly and monitors the nutritional value of each meal being served to make sure they are up to standard.

II All food is locally grown and locally supplied .It is a fact that vegetables loose their nutritional value once they are canned , and reconstituted with additives. Some of theses additives are toxic and cause long term damage to the physiological systems and nervous systems of the consumers . A lack of nutrition and additives can contribute to low performance and behavioral problems in students .

A The Department of Agriculture will offer an additional subsidy to Farmers in America to supply school districts for the seeds to grow fresh produce, beans and grains.

1 There will be a n inspector to oversee the quality of seeds

2 Each year there will be a democratic vote that includes parents in each district on the seeds they would like to purchase for their schools

3 There will be a federal standard and minimum seed purchase requirement set by the committee that over sees nutritional standards as discusses in section I of outline.

B. Each School shall set aside a proportional amount of acreage for an Agricultural Program, with a portion dedicated to green houses, and some of that portion to the rearing of poultry.

1. There will be guidelines in quality of soil , fertilizer etc. set by the Department of Agriculture and field inspectors

2. There will be guidelines on water supply

3 There will be guidelines on local pollution surrounding that agricultural area.

C Each school shall be assigned instructor to teach farming,irrigation and poultry rearing methods to students and this will be incorporated into the science programs of all schools.

1. Each grade shall be required to participate in the growing of vegetables for at least 30 minutes a day during in-climate weather. This will be incorporated into the science programs as well as home economics and any other applicable subject. There are several ways to incorporate this into all curriculum as gardening is biological in nature , and is applicable to the earth sciences , to the economy , to physics, to philosophy and to the arts.

2 Gardening is said to be therapeutic and is suggested for behavioral students to engage in but not required or suggested as punishment.

3 Phys. Ed programs may utilize the gardening program as well.

III. Preservation of Crops

A The department of agriculture will assign people to teach preservation methods such as freezing vegetables. The method that they are to teach will only be that which include freezing, dehydrating or canning with sea salt, sugar or water . There are no methods which are to be taught or practiced using chemicals or additives that are unessential..

1The schools may keep the produce they have yielded to serve during breakfast ,lunch and provide extra supplement packages to students who are at risk for not receiving adequate nutrition at home

2.The school if they so choose and if they produce an over abundance of crops and produce as well as poultry products may donate to another school in need but not sell the supplies.

3. No school will be allowed to sell their produce and all produce must be preserved if not consumed or donated to another district in need . If there is an over abundance and storage is filled up they may choose to donate to needy families with students in their district or another districts in The United States

B .In Conclusion . This is a very attainable program that should be implemented immediately into American schools . The future of our students depend on it .Just to recap this is why:

1 It provides nutrition for the students , fresh food is the best nutritional source. Nutrition is needed to excel and perform.

2. It educates students in the arts and sciences, economically and is nurturing to the students sense of providing for their community.

3 Economically it will cut the spending in schools on food programs immensely while providing a better product at the same time. It perpetuates the American economy because the food produced will be produced here in the United States.

4 It instills thrifty economical values into generations that are facing a nation that is in financial crisis. If we teach a child to open a can of food they eat that one meal , if teach them to farm then we you have a nation that is self -sustaining,and healthy!