Hopefully so.
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Or, more importantly, what if it makes them lazy?
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Yeah, it seems like such a no-brainer. The sort of thing that should make people say, “Oh weird, that’s something we haven’t been doing… unlike every reasonable country that’s been doing this forever?” But I’m sure there will be a certain amount of Republican mouth-frothing in response anyways…
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“Food’s free in most universes, actually. It’s weird you guys have to pay for it."
—America Chavez, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
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The good news: lunch is free
The bad news: they have to eat it
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I don’t think this will end well.
These children who would otherwise not eat lunch need to “have some skin in the game.” Without the ever-present, gnawing pangs of hunger motivating them to achieve, they will instead be in a passive state of satiation, all thanks to the administrative state-supplied food: these children are being set up to fail. “Giving them food,” the all too easy answer, is just throwing money — well, food — at the problem. Simply put, student hunger cannot be solved by adequate amounts of healthy food.
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I know you think you don’t need a /s, but somewhere out there there is at least one Libertarian making exactly that argument, and at least one other agreeing with them.
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Lunch was affordable when I went to school (a buck) and my high school had a unique… custom? I guess? where it wasn’t uncommon for students to buy a ‘double lunch’ which is like how it sounds… two helpings of whatever was being served. I’d be interested in knowing if this sort of thing was happening or does still happen elsewhere. I don’t even know if it’s still allowed at the school I went to.
More on topic, I don’t know that kids who were on free or reduced lunches ever had a stigma attached to them in my time in school, I myself was a recipient of this for a time. But I know it’s a thing and eliminating that stigma by just providing lunch for free to all is a great move.
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If you’re being sarcastic, how about indicate that.
It depends on the school. Kids in more affluent areas who are on free or reduced lunch will be stigmatized, while kids who are in more working class areas will not.
But how about we just feed kids, no matter their parents wealth, because why the fuck not?
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Moussaka
Personally, there is no way I’m ever having kids, but I am ecstatic to be able to subsidize school lunch for the kids of California through my taxes.
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You’ve just admitted that you’ve never been truly starving in your life.
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But it’s just a joke… not like real children are going hungry right now… /s
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I’m 99.5% sure that’s sarcasm. Almost indistinguishable from the genuine “starve the poor for their own good” libertarianism, though.
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Maybe people need to realize that we can’t see faces or hear tones, and indicate when they’re being sarcastic in text, since poe’s law exists. 
I’m REALLY sick of having to differentiate dudes being “ironic” in a time when ACTUAL FASCISTS are out to kill ACTUAL PEOPLE.
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Yep, they were. I was a recipient for most of my school years, and even our working class town treated the poor like shit. It wasn’t so much the other KIDS, though there was some of that, too. It was the ADULTS who made it so fucking unbearable. Having to listen to the right wingers all day long crying and moaning on television and in person about handouts for the poor. Refusing to let us eat if we didn’t pay the dollar or buck fifty we had to fork over for the “privilege” of not starving.
Yes, let’s eliminate all chance for stigma and just offer the damned food to all the kids. If they don’t want it, deliver the extra to homeless shelters. Win, win.
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I just wish I could use
whenever stuff gets too abstruse, obtuse, nonsensical, or mean in meatspace, too.
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There’s another couple of second-order benefits of this policy as well. As with all other universal services, it will now be politically harder to get rid of free school lunches, now that you would be taking something away from everyone. It also broadens the number of people who care about the quality of school lunches, which will hopefully make it easier to campaign for them to be improved.
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And cost and labor savings on the administrative side.
A lot of households that qualify for free or reduced lunch are exactly the ones who have trouble proving their income or have difficulty with paperwork. This will help those kids
A lot of households that don’t qualify still have food insecurity. This will help those kids
A lot of households that are food secure nevertheless have caregivers who are human and sometimes forget lunches or refilling the account. This will help those kids
Some households have guardians who are abusive. Withholding food or certain kinds of food. This will help those kids too
Sounds like a win
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Do not, my friends, become addicted to water. It will take hold of you, and you will resent its absence!
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I don’t mind all kids getting free lunches. I just wish they could eat real food, not what passes for “nutrition” in many school districts.
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