Cold cheese sandwich anyone?Follow

This makes me doubt humanity

Here's a better idea, lets make these poor kids wear a sign saying, MY FAMILY IS POOR PLEASE MAKE FUN OF ME.

Lazy parents are lazy.

As far as I'm concerned I think the parents should be thankful their children are provided a nutritious meal of sandwich, fruit, and milk when they could be given nothing at all. Some kids don't even get that.

Wait, you get meals at school in the US? We have to send a lunch everyday.

Grilled cheese, maybe.

No, Nexa. I'd probably have pocketed the money and taken the cheese sammich.

I used to eat mustard and cheese sandwiches as a kid, but they're not substantial enough for me anymore.

It is when your supporting 5 kids by yourself.
Also, depends on what part of the US you are in.

Edited, Feb 25th 2009 4:32pm by toohotforu

And it depends on where you live too. I got free and reduced lunches at different times during my elementary school year. When we really struggled-- there was a couple of years, at least, where I remember my mom's ability to afford groceries on a consistent basis was iffy, I appreciated the meals which were filling even if they weren't exciting. I think if my mom, who was overwhelmed anyway with work and all the other **** going on in our lives, hadn't had it together enough to file for free lunches, it would have been a significant loss.

Most schools I went to, you'd be lucky to even be allowed to go into debt. If you didn't have the money, and the lunchlady wasn't feeling merciful, then you didn't eat that day.

I've seen a couple of systems.

In elementary school, the kids who got free lunch would have their names on a list, and each kid would have a little roll of tickets, which they would peel one off each day and present it in the lunch line. Reduced lunch I think was on a list that the cafeteria workers had, but I don't remember for sure (I was always on free).

In middle and high school we had PINs for our lunch accounts, so we'd just enter them into the number pad and whether lunch was free or reduced would automatically be in the computer. I'm guessing this is the system that will be most widespread in the future, though I don't know if they'll incorporate it for younger students. It's definitely a lot less embarrassing than standing in front of everyone and having to announce it, though I think your example is rather badly exaggerated.

Are you implying that Pikko rents out for less than $1.70/day?



As to the topic. I guess I'm not getting the problem here. If your parents are unable to afford to provide you a lunch, and can't even afford the incredibly cheap lunches the school provides, they're upset that their kids are still getting a free sandwich because it might be embarrassing to the child?

If you are poor, you are poor. No amount of secret lunch concealment is going to prevent people from noticing this. I think in the grand scheme of things that poor kids might be embarrassed about, eating a cheese sandwich has got to be amazingly far down the list.