Child Hunger In America
English 2A
November 9, 2013
“Feed Me. I’m Starving!” Ending Childhood Hunger in the United States It is hard to imagine a child crying over school getting out early for a snow day; however, for children whose only meal is a school lunch, this is exactly what happens. Childhood hunger affects one in every five children in the United States (Felling). The children affected by childhood hunger could be found in neighborhoods, on sports teams, and even in the classroom. Childhood hunger is a crisis in the United States that has several causes, and has several adverse effects on these hungry children, but the problem is solvable. The first step in ending childhood hunger is finding the cause. Poverty is one of the main causes of childhood …show more content…
Those facts reveal that the United States produces enough food to feed every single person, but each day nutritious and edible food is being wasted and children are going hungry. Every day Americans throw away about 263 million pounds of food, most of it being healthy and good food to eat. This ends up being almost 1.5 billion tons of food every year that is wasted. “No matter whom they are, or where they live, or why they are impoverished, there is no excuse for anyone to go hungry in America when so much food goes to waste” (“Hunger in America”). This food is being wasted while there are millions and millions of people struggling with hunger, half of which are children. Because more than enough food is produced to be able to feed everyone in the United States, childhood hunger isn’t an issue of producing more food. It is an issue of learning how to decrease waste and distribute the food to the people that need …show more content…
“When children don’t get enough to eat, their health, their brain development-their very futures- are imperiled” (Lubrano). Hunger is a very serious obstacle to learning in children. Hunger makes it difficult for the children to concentrate. They often are concentrating more on going to lunch and being able to eat, than what is going on in the classroom. Test scores have also been shown to decrease in hungry children. Many of these students who are hungry tend to show behavioral problems and are often rowdy or disruptive. Hunger is also leading these children to miss class time because they need to go to the nurse for their stomach aches (Felling). These adverse effects have long term consequences as well. “Hunger affects long-term health, academic achievement, and economic prosperity – leading to a less competitive American workforce and higher national health care costs” (Felling). These adverse effects of hunger are greatly affecting the future of
November 9, 2013
“Feed Me. I’m Starving!” Ending Childhood Hunger in the United States It is hard to imagine a child crying over school getting out early for a snow day; however, for children whose only meal is a school lunch, this is exactly what happens. Childhood hunger affects one in every five children in the United States (Felling). The children affected by childhood hunger could be found in neighborhoods, on sports teams, and even in the classroom. Childhood hunger is a crisis in the United States that has several causes, and has several adverse effects on these hungry children, but the problem is solvable. The first step in ending childhood hunger is finding the cause. Poverty is one of the main causes of childhood …show more content…
Those facts reveal that the United States produces enough food to feed every single person, but each day nutritious and edible food is being wasted and children are going hungry. Every day Americans throw away about 263 million pounds of food, most of it being healthy and good food to eat. This ends up being almost 1.5 billion tons of food every year that is wasted. “No matter whom they are, or where they live, or why they are impoverished, there is no excuse for anyone to go hungry in America when so much food goes to waste” (“Hunger in America”). This food is being wasted while there are millions and millions of people struggling with hunger, half of which are children. Because more than enough food is produced to be able to feed everyone in the United States, childhood hunger isn’t an issue of producing more food. It is an issue of learning how to decrease waste and distribute the food to the people that need …show more content…
“When children don’t get enough to eat, their health, their brain development-their very futures- are imperiled” (Lubrano). Hunger is a very serious obstacle to learning in children. Hunger makes it difficult for the children to concentrate. They often are concentrating more on going to lunch and being able to eat, than what is going on in the classroom. Test scores have also been shown to decrease in hungry children. Many of these students who are hungry tend to show behavioral problems and are often rowdy or disruptive. Hunger is also leading these children to miss class time because they need to go to the nurse for their stomach aches (Felling). These adverse effects have long term consequences as well. “Hunger affects long-term health, academic achievement, and economic prosperity – leading to a less competitive American workforce and higher national health care costs” (Felling). These adverse effects of hunger are greatly affecting the future of