Teachers/principals Please Answer?
I’m doing a research project and we need to interview someone about our topic. My topic is banning soda and junk food in schools and I was hoping some principals or teachers could give detailed responses to these questions…thank you!
1) Do you believe childhood obesity is a problem today?
2) Do you think pop and junk food (especially that sold in schools) contribute to the high number of overweight children?
3) Should schools be involved in students’ health? Or just leave it for the parents to deal with?
4) Do you think banning the sales of all junk food and soda in schools would be an effective way of reducing the number of obsese and overweight students?
5) How much money would you estimate your school recieves from vending machine sales anually?
6) Would more health classes be as beneficial to students?
7) Should schools be more concerned with adding more gym classes?
Do you think test scores would improve if soda and junk food were no longer allowed in school?
Tags: Answer, Please...., Teachers/principals
October 21st, 2009 at 5:12 pm
I teach in an elementary school in BC.
1. yes
2. Yes, I think that pop and junk food most certainly contributes, but it is not sold in our school. In fact, in BC, we are not allowed to sell any kind of unhealthy food to the students. We’re not allowed to even hold bake sales. However, if children have access to junk food, and it is not being limited by their parents, it will be a big factor.
3. I think that schools should be involved, but I question to what extent. It is ultimately the parents’ job, but not all parents know enough to give their kids the right information.
4. I think it would contribute, but I think it is a small factor. Many of my students are not active enough. About half are involved in an organized sport, but the rest sit at home after school and play on the computer or play video games. They do not go outside and play. If you ask most of them what they did on the weekend, their response is video games.
5. My school does not have vending machines.
6. I don’t think so. The students already get the basics, and more and more things keep getting added into the cirruculum. There is already so much that we are supposed to teach that there isn’t time for it all. Even if more things were added into the cirriculum, it probably wouldn’t be taught anyway (sorry to be so negative).
7. It would be nice, but there are a lot of considerations. My students get 1 1/2 hours of gym a week, and with that, there are no free periods in the gym. Some of the classes have to share the gym with another class. Add to that the fact that there is not enough time to cover everything else we are supposed to cover, and it might not be a good idea. I think that PE is important, but I think parents need to make sure that their kids get exercise outside of school. The onus shouldn’t be on the school to do so. I try and work more physical activity into my daily classes. I send the kids for runs to give them brain breaks, or we jump rope. I try to incorporate physical games into Social Studies, Math, or Science. I sometimes bribe my students with going outside to play if they work well.
8. Yes, but with a caveat. What do we mean by junk food? Many parents think that drinks like Sunny D are good for their kids, but it’s just as bad as soda. If there were very strict guidelines, it might make a difference.
9. No. I think that many students will learn to like healthier foods and so they won’t go for the unhealthy stuff if they are given a choice.
Sorry, I’m not comfortable givng out my name and school on the Internet.
October 21st, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I teach first grade. I’m happy to help you.
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Schools should educate about healthy eating. Parents, however, hold the ultimate responsibility for what their young children eat.
4. Yes, inasmuch as children will eat junk food if they have ready access to it.
5. My school has no vending machines accessible to children.
6. Yes
7. No.
8. No.
October 21st, 2009 at 9:25 pm
I teach high school health and science. Here are my answers:
1. YES!
2. YES! YES! YES!
3. Yes, sometimes we feed the students two meals per day. The meals we give our students are of such low quality. The teachers do not and will not eat school lunches because of the poor nutritional values.
4. It would be a great start but it would not solve the problem.
5. 20000
6. It depends on who is teaching and what they are teaching. Kids don’t like to be patronized.
7. Yes, but maybe we should think about changing the typical gym class to something more interesting to today’s student.
8. YEs.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:12 pm
okay i am not a teacher/principal i am actually a High School student (11th) and found this question very interesting and believe that students should also have an opinion on this matter as well.
yes because caffine/sugar can make most children jittery, even more nervous, and by the end of the test they are becoming tired because of a caffine/sugar crash.
1) Yes!
2) Yes
3)the schools should teach the students and hold meetings with parents (PTAs) about health and children
4) No, but i would decrease the amount of soda machines and junky vending machines and add more healthier food to be introduced to the students. a lot of the students never had a pasta toss salad with itlain dressing or let a lone a properly made salad.
5) too much
6) Yes, but it should be more detailed and not so redundant. there should be more hands on activites on each subject not just here’s a vocab list memorize it for the test on monday. but a food journal for the full month or something like that
7) schools should be concerned to add more gym classes bc the vast amount of overwieght students and health problems that this excess fat is giving them why teach them math/english if they have no chance on living to be 20 or 30
9) refer to answer 4
October 21st, 2009 at 11:55 pm
1. Yes
2. Yes…plus students lead a much more sedentary lifestyle than they did a generation ago. If students live in a high poverty/crime area, they also may not have many opportunities to go outside and ‘play’ like we did as kids. Not to mention budget cuts in school often cause physical education to be either seriously neglected or completely cut
3. Yes….because we’ve left it to parents at this point and look at the results.
4. No….we ate SOME junk food as kids…but in moderation. The real problem has to do with a lack of physical activity.
5. Nothing…but I’m at a k-8 school
6. Of course…but good luck with NCLB…not on the state test? Then not a priority! (sigh)
7. Yes, yes, yes! Lots of brain research shows a high correlation between improved brain function and learning with increased physical education in school. That and of course, basic heath benefits.
8. N/A because we don’t have any soda or junk food. However, it is interesting to note that in many urban public schools, lunches (and breakfasts for that matter) are actually padded with extra calories in case that’s they are the only meals that a student gets. When students go home and eat doritos and soda for dinner, this extra padding becomes extra ‘padding’ on the kids.
Other comments…I did a survey of my kids and asked how many of them sat down together most nights to eat dinner, and only about 2 kids out of 30 raised their hands. Kids are either eating fast food or junky instant dinners that are laden with calories and sodium. It’s a sad commentary of our times when people don’t have ‘time’ to eat together for 15 minutes.
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:50 am
1. YES
2. Yes, I think that pop and junk food clearly contributes, but I don’t think that they buy a majority of it at school.
3. Yes, schools should be involved.
4. No, I ‘ve seen what they bring to school for their lunches and how they eat outside of school. School vending machines are just a very small piece of the puzzle.
5. A lot.
6. No…I don’t think this is due to lack of knowledge.
7. I think kids need to have gym on a more regular basis, but again, I do not think that it is going to change the kids who have adopted a sedentary lifestyle.
8. Maybe.
9. My thought is why have it there in the first place??? I have never understood why the school has a policy of no food or drinks in class (unless it is a special event), but then leaves the stupid vending machines on all day.