State Lunch Carries Major Stigma
The New York Times has one of those "I bet this happens here, too" kind-of pieces online right now. It's a look at the social stigma around receiving free- and reduced-price lunches in school. Apparently it's uncool and many kids choose to skip eating rather than be seen in the free line. Awful, right?
From Carol Pogash's story:
"Lunchtime 'is the best time to impress your peers,' said Lewis Geist, a senior at Balboa (High School, in San Francisco) and its student body president. Being seen with a subsidized meal, he said, 'lowers your status.'
San Francisco school officials are looking at ways to encourage more poor students to accept government-financed meals, including the possibility of introducing cashless cafeterias where all students are offered the same food choices and use debit cards or punch in codes on a keypad so that all students check out at the cashier in the same manner."
Read it all. Interesting stuff.