Every day, millions of high school students around the country rely on their school lunches to provide them with necessary food. Most of these kids are tired, growing rapidly and going through puberty, which all require a lot of healthy nutrients. Unfortunately, according to The Explorer, it is clear that many schools in the United States provide mediocre and unhealthy food every day. It states that each school on average only gets $1.30 per student for food and the making of food. This super low cost contributes to the use of cheap unhealthy products. The students likely enjoy the unhealthy taste, but the long term benefit is very limited. School lunches in the United States have become a joke around the world for how unhealthy and bad it is.

For students, high school is a time to grow and mature. Puberty begins during those years, and it is very important for each and every student to get proper nutrition for their body to change. With bones growing, muscles developing and hormones being rapidly produced, food has a massive impact on puberty. If students start fueling this growth with pizza and fried chicken every day, they will start to affect their hormones and growth, and they will begin to put on unnecessary weight, as seen in the NIH. According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 16.3% of high school students are obese. Even though that seems like a small number, it is still way too high for the ages of 14-18. This daily consumption of unhealthy food can lead to numerous problems, which can develop into chronic health issues.

Not only does nutrition affect health, it also heavily affects school performance and mood. This fact is often overlooked, but it does make a huge difference based on what a person eats. According to wilder.org, students that consume less nutritious diets and fast food perform worse on standardized assessments. These are crucial to perform well on, as many of these determine your true level of performance. Another study in this article has shown that students who have a nutritious breakfast can have enhanced psychosocial well-being, reduce aggression and decrease disruptive behavior. 

Although it is wrong to provide mainly unhealthy lunches, there is an underlying issue on why it is unhealthy. The costs of food and providing healthy lunches has risen, and now there are only limited amounts of food to be provided. According to CBS, high inflation has caused many schools around the country to begin limiting their food products to sell, making them sell the same things over and over again. This can be seen at most average American high schools, where if you want to get something different you would need to spend more at the school store. If you wanted cafeteria food, it would likely be the same fried food each time. Even the sidebar which is supposed to include healthier options aren’t as healthy as they could be, and students rarely buy from there.

Students at The Village School have taken notice of these problems as well, and would also like a change. “I personally don’t think the meals are healthy. Usually people make fun of American school lunches, even my friends from Mexico did. It’s mainly because they sell unhealthy carbs and not enough protein and vegetables for students.” Said sophomore David Lozano after being asked if he thought American school lunches were healthy. Lozano was not the only student; after sophomore Olek Syzdlik was asked, he said “I think American schools have pretty unhealthy food overall. Even though all the schools aren’t bad, there are way more schools which do serve unhealthy options.” Both these students agree that American school lunches have a problem with unhealthy lunches, and that there should be a change.

Healthy habits should start young and should continue throughout life. As school is where a child will spend most of their growing years, it should provide the correct balance for lunch. Foods like vegetables, fruits and whole foods should be implemented more, and food should be much less processed. Right now, schools just continue serving unhealthy foods because they are cheap and easy to cook. If we want a generation that grows up knowing how to take care of their diet and mind, we should teach them in school.