SWA #12: A Healthy Constitution

Waters, Alice. “A Healthy Constitution.” The Carolina Reader. Southlake, TX:      Fountainhead Press, 2012. 327-328. Print.

Waters’ article gives alternative reasons in support of implementing healthy in support of implementing healthy foods in public schools. Waters gives the example of a school in Appleton, Wisconsin for troubled youth and the progress they made in terms of discipline after implementing a healthy menu. Waters also makes the case that allowing students to be involved in the preparation of their own food through an “edible education” program teaches them democratic values. By working to pick their own food and cooking it, students are learning the principles of responsibility, sharing and independence.

            One way that food can be used to teach values that are central by democracy is by letting them prepare their own food. By preparing their own food, students become more independent. In a truly free democratic society, one must be independent and work to provide sustenance for themselves in their family. Food can also be used to demonstrate the capitalistic nature of most democratic economies. Students have to exchange and work with other students with different jobs in the food process in order to make the finished product. This is much like the product cycle in business where a product goes from cultivation to it’s final assembly.

            The main link that Waters makes between healthy meals and learning is the improved attitude that students have as a result. The first example is the case with the students at high school in Appleton, Wisconsin for students with discipline problems. Once healthier meals were implemented the discipline of the students improved dramatically. As a result the students began to make better decisions and in turn, perform better in school. Waters other example is that of the students who worked to help produce their own school food. As a result of making their own food, the students took greater responsibility towards everything in their life. One can also assume that one aspect that these students will take greater responsibility for is their schoolwork.

            I found that there are specific requirements that all schools in South Carolina have to follow for the food that they serve. For instance, all schools in South Carolina cannot serve soft drinks during the school day, cannot serve a food item greater than 30% calories from fat or 10% calories from saturated fat, and that low-fat milk, water and 100% fruit juice must be available to all students. I could not find much about schools in South Carolina having edible education programs. The most that I could find is that there is an elementary school in Columbia, Leaphart Elementary School, which has a school garden.