Bakkal 1
Monica Bakkal
Hargrove
English 1520
25 April 2018
Should junk food be sold in schools?
Junk food should unquestionably not allowed to be sold in school for many reasons.
Without a doubt, the biggest issue is the health of children. Children go to school to learn and
grow and are taught at a young age about being healthy and taking care of their bodies through
exercise and nutrition. When a school offers to sell unhealthy snacks to kids it could be
undermining the hard work the student is trying to achieve to stay healthy but also, everything
the school has taught the child about choosing and eating healthy foods.
At the high school level, students start their day very early and might not have a chance
to eat breakfast before they start their school day. Most often, they can be forgetful or even too
lazy to remember to grab something to eat on their way to school in the morning. Students
usually have a few dollars in their pockets and often eat unhealthy because they rely on the
convenience of the snacks that are available to them in vending machines at school. Although
being a high school student may seem like a responsible age for kids, they still need guidance in
the choices they make, and healthy nutritious foods should be their only option to start their day.
If children develop poor eating habits at a very young age, it could lead to a lifetime of
health issues. These can include obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, to name a few.
These consequences that children might face as adults can be avoided if schools took the time to
follow through and educate children about making a healthy snacking decision as well as
offering them too.
Bakkal 2
Chocolate bars, candy, Soda Pop and various types of salty chips are flooded within our
schools. These types of snacks are labeled as “junk food”. Regrettably, these foods have affected
schools by threatening the school’s lunch programs standards for nutrition that call for them to be
sound and balanced for children to learn and grow. These are requirements that must be met
according to the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) National School Lunch Program.
Without the USDA overseeing school lunch programs, it would be difficult to monitor what
children eat. Unfortunately, the USDA has no control over what types of foods or snacks that
could be bought or sold in vending machines in schools today.
There is no denying that kids love to eat junk food. With vending machines in school
hallways and in cafeterias, it can have a negative impact on the choices students make. Schools
aren’t the only place where kids can buy junk foods, but studies show they are a major source.
