I’m sitting in the school library, killing time until my epidemiology final. By epidemiology final, I mean a 2-hour multiple choice endurance trial with tricky story problems + math. I just hope my hands don’t shake so badly that I have trouble pressing the tiny buttons on my calculator. And that I actually fill in all the scantron bubbles this time. Don’t ask.
I could look over my note for the kajillionth time, but instead I think I’ll write a little blog post while enjoying the fact that there are so many medical students around me, and that they are even more stressed out than I am. Hee! See, always a silver lining ;-)
Anyhoo, my ever-astute husband sent me a link to this article this morning, about how the Seattle School District is considering relaxing their ban on junk food in high schools because, golly, those vending machine profits just aren’t rolling in like they used to, and that’s hurting student government.
I think I’ll file this one under Disgusted but not Surprised. It’s no secret that budgets for student government, student activities, student sports uniforms, etcetera have been built on the backs of candy bars, snack cakes, potato chips and sugary soda. What I find tragic is that school officials, parents and kids now know that these foods are unhealthful and that their ubiquitousness in schools is a public and personal health problem. So whereas we could previously blame ignorance for the cupcakes-to-school uniforms connection, the parties involved in making those decisions today are making an informed choice. They are saying that it is more important for students to have a student activities than it is to be healthy. And that is sad.
I’m not claiming that this is an easy issue, especially, as the article points out, some schools that don’t have wealthy parent groups to support school activities. I’m hoping this is a three-steps forward, two-steps back sort of situation. After all, students have been buying and eating junk food at school with impunity for decades (I shudder when I think of the crap I bought at my high school’s cafeteria snack bar…so many trans fat-laden muffins, with a side of whipped butter). Habits don’t change overnight.
30 minutes until my final. Ack!