• FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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    9 days ago

    I hate to break it to you, but the federal government doesn’t even pay for school lunches. A school child is fortunate and privileged if they receive that slop.

    • kowcop@aussie.zone
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      9 days ago

      As someone who isn’t from America, why don’t parents make lunch for their kids? I have seen school provided lunches in movies, but is it normal?

      • Washedupcynic@lemmy.ca
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        9 days ago

        In America, there are a subset of children that live in such poverty that without the free school meal, they would go hungry. 2023 statistics suggest that 14% of children come from food insecure households. I honestly believe that government published statistic is an an underestimate. Children from food insecure households can qualify to get free lunches, which are subsidized by state and local government. The federal government also subsidizes school lunches through the National School Lunch Program The logic behind subsidizing lunch for these kids, is that hungry kids are distracted and won’t be able to learn as well. Children that come from families with means generally will be provided lunch by their parents, or their parents can afford to give their kids money to purchase the lunch served by the school cafeteria.

      • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        9 days ago

        It is normal and mandated, but unfortunately is also underfunded and often low quality/small portions (for perspective, after including costs of labor and maintenance, schools have roughly $1.50 to work with at scale for each meal).

        For parents who can afford it and (crucially) have the time to prepare lunch for their children, they do so. Growing up, I always enjoyed making my own lunch or bringing leftovers from last night :)

        That’s not the case for many, many people though. The amount of children who count on the school meal as their only reliable source of nutrition each day is staggering. The meal program was expanded during Covid, but afterwards some conservative areas walked it back substantially in an attempt to “save costs for taxpayers”. It’s counterintuitive as all hell though, as my parents (who are/were teachers) would put it, “You can’t teach a hungry child”.

      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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        8 days ago

        I live in Massachusetts where we’ve had universal school lunch/no means-testing for a few years. We dont need free lunch by any measure, but it really takes something off my plate. That’s my big reason for using it…one less thing to worry about.

        For a lot of kids (too many), school lunch may be the best meal that they get in any given day.

      • As someone who also isn’t from US, our lunches, elementary up until high school we got full lunches. Oh, and in elementary there was even option for brunch!
        So you got the full

        1. Drink (Water/Tea/Milk/…)
        2. Soup
        3. Main meal
        4. Snack (cake/pudding/orange/banana/…)

        Oh, and in HS I could also choose between A/B based on preference for the main.
        I checked a few HSs now quickly, seems around €2.50/day for lunches. Though who knows about private schools.

      • FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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        9 days ago

        USA’s School System is a large number of decentralized districts funded by municipalities with some paltry state and federal funding. The public schools simply cannot afford to feed every child in most of them, so instead school lunches are offered on a meal plan that the parents can pay in advance if they can afford it. Many children simply wait to eat at home or go hungry.

    • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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      9 days ago

      That doesn’t change the fact that the US are spending ridiculous amounts of money on the police while neglecting everything else.

      • SanctimoniousApe@lemmings.world
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        8 days ago

        I wish memes stating “facts” like this would be required to include their source. Not saying it isn’t true, but what’s the point of spreading it if it can be so easily denied for lack of proof?

        • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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          8 days ago

          You can always just ask for a source.

          1. Police and sheriff’s patrol officers

          Fatal injuries in 2016: 14.6 per 100,000 workers

          1. Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

          Fatal injuries in 2016: 24.7 per 100,000 workers

          Not quite double but fairly close.

          Maybe it ought to be the thin garbage line, since garbage collectors face even more danger and are even more essential to society being able to function.

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    This is a little misleading. It’s my understanding that the original decline in US school lunches owes its start to farm subsidies. It’s one of the reasons they over use corn-- including syrup-- since the government heavily subsidies it by buying surplus and processing it. Then it goes to the school (I think accurately to say sells to the schools but I’m not sure?)

    Anyway, it’s partially true in that we’ve got only marginal improvements in school lunches since the feds and most state governments don’t give a shit about education or long term health. It’s easy to ignore since political office is short enough that you won’t ever get credit for significant gains you cause. Dems are the only ones who try since it’s more of an image thing, and only if enough people care (and they’ve got easier targets for that, unfortunately).

    • Deceptichum@quokk.auOP
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      9 days ago

      “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

      These are misappropriated funds of the people, that could be going towards improving their lives yet go towards defending the state from its people.

        • Nalivai@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          Unless you’re from the deep inner workings of Lockheed Martin’s corporate town, that’s probably not true. Even in the remote bear infested towns, if people have guns, they shoot each other and themselves at a rate comparable to the rate of using it against said bears

  • thelivefive@startrek.website
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    8 days ago

    “We don’t have money to pay teachers more”

    “Yes racist untrained Ice agent who will probably get us sued, you can have a 50,000 bonus”

  • nonentity@sh.itjust.works
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    8 days ago

    The police are just a state sponsored theatre troop, where arts funding is funnelled into security theatre venues, props, and performances; rewarded with participation trophies.

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    Our local police dress is solid black with silver highlights. They only lack the totenkopf.

    EDIT: Looking at that pic again, the local pigs are actually more blacked out that than.