Treatment of Children at the Border

Something I would like to discuss for the second reaction essay is the issue of immigration and the separation of families at the border. This is unethical and far beyond the true values of America and what we (should) stand for. We are supposed to welcome people into the country, not tear families apart. Though, yes, there should be guidelines on immigration, I feel what America has done was taken far beyond reason and to the farthest extreme. 

How can America be so welcoming of a country, yet be so inhumane to the ones that want to come here? Then, there’s the point of illegal immigration. Yes, we should not have illegal immigrants in the country, but there is a proper way to address the issue. The manner in which America has been treating illegal immigrants is disheartening.

In one of my previous classes from last semester, we read an account of a woman who had her son taken away from her. She fought for the custody of her son back, but he eventually was so malnourished and neglected that he died. Not only did this break my heart, but it infuriated me. Just because the mother was an illegal immigrant (her son was considered an American citizen), she had to lose her son and sit there unwillingly while her son dies. What kind of a country are we?

When reading the statistics, that saddened me even more. I learned that “almost 2,000 children have been separated from their families at the US southern border over a six-week period during a crackdown on illegal entries, according to the Department of Homeland Security” (Holpuch & Gambino, 2018). All because of the Trump administration and their zero-tolerance policy, they don’t allow illegal immigrants in the U.S., and if caught they are subject to “criminal prosecution”; their children are titled “unaccompanied alien children” and sent to the Office of Refugee Resettlement in cages to await further action (Holpuch & Gambino, 2018). 

Thankfully, I was able to see that there was at least some sense of humanity in the government, though it was very little. The senior children’s rights counsel at Human Rights Watch Michael Garcia Bochenek stated, “Congressional hearings are the first step in accounting for and addressing the enormous harms inflicted on children and their families in holding cells at the border…senior immigration officials should take this opportunity to acknowledge these serious concerns and announce an immediate end to family separation” (HRW.org, 2020, Par. 3). This gave me some comfort, but more needs to be done. 

This needs to stop. I know this wasn’t something we covered in depth in class, but it was something that was referenced and touched on briefly and I felt it needed some more attention and discussion. It’s so disheartening and inhumane there are no words to accurately describe and encapsulate how traumatizing and awful this is. 

References

Holpuch, A., & Gambino, L. (2018, June 18). Why are families being separated at the US border? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/18/why-are-families-being-separated-at-the-us-border-explainer 

HRW.org. (2020, April 3). US: Family Separation Harming Children, Families. https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/11/us-family-separation-harming-children-families 

Further Reading

Death Detainee Report. (n.d.). U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. https://www.ice.gov/death-detainee-report

Pompa, C. (2019) Immigrant Kids Keep Dying in CBP Detention Centers, and DHS Won’t Take Accountability.  Speak Freely Blog, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), June 24, 2019. https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/immigrant-kids-keep-dying-cbp-detention 

American Dirt

America is the land of freedom, opportunity, safety, acceptance. People from all over the world dream of coming here and I am aware of the turmoil their arrival causes. I have my own feelings about immigration and how our country should be handling it. Their arrival isn’t something that I think about often, if at all, and I’ve never considered what they experience in the course of running towards their dreams. Yet, in the last four months, I have been moved greatly by two very different stories about becoming an American. In the first, which I wrote about in my first reaction essay, the journey wasn’t planned and it was about a man who suddenly wasn’t anymore – wasn’t a citizen, wasn’t a border patrol officer, wasn’t trusted, wasn’t valuable.

Shortly after I turned that essay in, someone sent me a book suggestion. The book, “American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummins, was the most recent pick by Oprah for her book club and the person who sent it to me, did so knowing that I would check it out simply because Oprah picked it. I downloaded it on Audible and it sat there for a couple of months while I was busy doing other things. I am an avid reader and love using the Audible app so that I am often reading/listening to multiple books at a time. Before I started the book, I didn’t read a review, didn’t read a synopsis or anyone’s write up on the book so I wasn’t sure what the story was or what to expect. I assumed that it had something to do with migration and the border – I honestly wasn’t sure I would even be interested in it – and so I started it while I was cleaning one afternoon. It took a total of 2 ½ minutes to be completely sucked in and I have continued to listen with full focus and reverence. I admit that I have not finished this book yet simply because there are moments in the story that I have to walk away from and process. It’s not a quick read and it’s not simple.

The story is about a mother and her young son who are on the run from a cartel boss in Acapulco de Juárez. Knowing that there is no place safe and no safe way, the mother takes nothing beyond the items they can fit in a backpack and fades into the migratory community beginning the trip to El Norte. The goal for all of the characters that you meet is to get to the US, get over the border and build a new life. As I initially listened, I thought that this was going to be a story about cartels and power and corruption. There is some of that…but “American Dirt” is a love letter and a horror story about the journey that men and women in Central and South America make every day, over and over again while facing danger and uncertainty.

This story has been so eye opening for me and has, quite frankly, made me feel ashamed. I’ve always known about the people trying to get to America. I’ve educated myself on the legal methods of becoming an American, have read about and heard about the illegal ways that people attempt to cross our borders but have never thought about or considered or even cared about what those journeys looked like. As I have read the book, more than once I have googled the situations that the author writes about and in each case, the stories that she tells are true. Young women being taken by a man in their neighborhood or city who decides that she should belong to him.  Their families fighting back and being killed or, worse, not fighting back and allowing it to happen because they have no other choice. In the story, there are two sisters who are running because the older sister had been taken. She kept quiet about it and complied to keep her family safe – then they instructed her to bring her sister in. Understanding that wasn’t something she could do, she took her sister and ran. There were consequences for that decision for both the family and the girls but you’ll have to read it to know. ☺

I think more importantly to me, are the stories about the migrants and the journey they make. To say that it is dangerous is a true understatement. It is disturbing, terrifying, disheartening and something I don’t think I would ever be able to do knowing what could happen. At one point in the story, the mom and son are at a shelter specifically for migrants and are preparing to leave when one of the employees calls everyone together to talk to them about the trip they are about to take. He tells them that of the 25 – 30 people standing in front of him, 27 will never make it the border. They will be killed getting on and off the trains, they will be kidnapped, raped, murdered or arrested by the migration officers and returned to where they came from. The lucky two or three who make it to the border will have nothing left. They will have been robbed or will have to pay off someone to keep from being kidnapped or raped. He then tells them that those 2 or 3 people who arrive in America with nothing will then live in a country that doesn’t want them there and will do nothing to help support them. In the story, none of the migrants change their minds, no one decides to go back or find another way. They all just agree and get ready to move on. 

The migrants attempt to make their trips easier by jumping the freight trains that travel north to the border. They must get on and off of these trains as they are moving and ride sitting on top of the moving cars. Every part of this is dangerous. There are people who don’t make it on or off and reading those passages were really tough for me. There were people who fell off the moving train, were knocked off unexpectedly and some who jumped to just be done with it…but the migrants kept going.

I haven’t finished the book. I will…I have to see how it ends but I am afraid of what is going to happen to these two characters that I have come to worry about. I tell myself that they aren’t real but I think they are. I think that there are human beings out there right now experiencing these same things and taking these same risks all with hoping that there is something better here. But is there? Really? After all of that they come into a country that thinks they are less than and treats them with such disregard. We don’t acknowledge what these people have gone through, what they have left behind, the impossible choices they have had to make or the number of times they risked their lives. This country sees them as a nuisance, as villains, as free labor or as an argument to make or a brick in a wall that needs to be built. But they continue to come and risk it all to live in this country and have what I have right now – something that I didn’t fight for, didn’t risk my life for, didn’t even earn but was gifted by being born into the right place. Reading this book has opened my eyes to this life being lived – survived - by this entire community of people and the question now is, how do I live with that?

Similar works that I have seen/read or been told are good include:

Across a Hundred Mountains by Reyna Grande

The 1983 film by Gregory Nava & Anna Thomas: El Norte.

Signs preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

The 2009 film by Cherien Dabis: Amreeka.

Tell Me How It Ends by Valeria Luiselli

Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini's 2000 film: Well-Founded Fear.

Everyone Knows You Go Home by Natalia Sylvester

Food Insecurity and What to Do About It

In class, we read about food security in America. We learned that food insecurity means that households were uncertain or unable to acquire food for all of their family members because of a lack of money. Around 11% or 14.3 million homes in America were food insecure sometime during 2018. Although food security has risen, it is still sad to hear about children going without food. According to the article also, 6.0 million children lived in food-insecure households where both adults and children are insecure. It also disproportionally affects minorities: 21.2% of Black households were food insecure, and Hispanic households were at 16.2%. Also, 29.1% of families who made incomes under the 185 percent of the poverty were food insecure as well.

When looking at these statistics, I am not very surprised that many of the people who were food insecure were minority and poor. I related a lot of this article to the book $2.00 a Day. After reading that book and hearing the experiences of poor people, I was able to relate their experiences to these facts. I could not help but think about policies that could help these people who were food insecure. Even though there are programs like SNAP, WIC, and National School Lunch Program, I think there has to be more we can do to make sure not only children, but people in general are food insecure no more. In my opinion, I would not mind spending more on social programs that expand assistance for organizations such as food banks and soup kitchens. Also, as a citizen, I am for having higher taxes, so there is more money into SNAP and WIC.  

If we are going to fight child food insecurity, we should maybe expand the school lunch program. I know all the schools in Springfield, IL, have free lunch and breakfast, but I wonder how many schools in the United States have free lunch and breakfast? According to the School Nutrition Association, 20.2 million children receive free lunches, and 1.8 million children receive the reduced price of .40. 7.7 million pay the full price for their lunches. Also, according to the School Nutrition Association, 11.7 million children receive free breakfast, and 0.77 million pay a reduced amount of 0.30. 2.17 million children pay the full price for school breakfast. By my calculations, that is 31.9 million children total that receive both free breakfast and lunch. There are 56.6 million students in the public schools of America. The school that I work at has a pantry for students; they can take home food over school breaks. I also know of other schools that have pantries outside of their buildings that people voluntarily put food inside. It is for the community, not just for the students. I have also heard of school programs that wrap the unused food and send it home to students so they have a meal there. Maybe those programs could be universally applied across the board at all public schools. Not only would it benefit the children, but it would also help the parents. It would cut down on costs that parents have to pay to feed their children. It is a group effort to make sure that no child in the United States in Food Insecure. Schools and the Federal Government and fellow citizens can join together to provide for the children and people across the country that are food insecure. 

These reaction papers are only free-writing exercises, but the fact that you would find a fact sheet on food insecurity at the Department of Agriculture and go over the statistics it provided to muse over what we ought to do about a problem impresses me.

A student is fed up with discrimination

Throughout the last few weeks, in most of classes, we have been talking about the unfair treatment of African Americans in America today. In particular, the classes have been discussing the over incarceration rate of African Americans in prisons compared to White Americans along with police brutality issues. This is a very significant issue in todays society, and is one that makes me very upset because the inhumane treatment of Americans still happening in 2020 is just not right. Hearing the facts about how African Americans were treated in the 1950’s time period, and surrounding time periods, and how similar they are being treated today in some areas is just dumbfounding and infuriating to me. 

I feel as though there needs to be more restrictions and a stronger watch on certain states where authorities are still blatantly discriminating against people of color. There have been states in the past few years, and possibly still this year, that have laws and actions in place to prevent people from voting at polls during election times and going into certain parts of town because of police brutality. There are states and cities all over the country that have areas where police brutality is a major problem, and these places are allowed to get away with this brutality without any consequences. There are areas where police get away with using excessive force on certain people, simply because those people have Black/dark skin. The police claim that Black people who even ask why they are being pulled over are resisting and therefore using unnecessary force and get away with. Police also harass and pull over Black people more than white people simply under the excuse that the Black person was “suspicious.” Many cops also have a tendency to pull a gun more often and sooner when dealing with Black people, regardless if they are kids or adults, than they do or would with white kids and adults. This is not right that in the county that takes pride in its citizens having freedom, a large percentage of its population lives in constant fear of those who are supposed to, and swear to, defend and protect all Americas from harm and danger. 

I believe that the federal government should step in and put a stop to this brutality and racism, as it is infringing on these people’s lives that are being affected by it. Innocent people are still dying because of their skin color, or at least experience violence in some form or another, and this is a huge compromise to their safety. If state’s government won’t do anything to stop the racist actions still happening, or worse are even the reason for it, then I think the federal government needs to implement policies and actions that will stop these practices from being allowed. I also think that society as a whole needs to grow up and move on from the old ways of thinking, and stand up for the injustices that are taking place and realize that all lives matter. No one should die or be hurt because of their skin color, and even more is the fact that in the land of the free it should not be tolerated and allowed to still continue happening. I also do not feel that white people should be allowed to get away with claiming self-defense when they have murdered an innocent Black person, including the cops who shoot and kill unharmed people because they were black. The laws and biases that allow for a grown white person to claim he shot and killed a black child under self-defense because the white person felt the kid was “dangerous,” even though he was unharmed and minding his own business, and got off with this claim even after a police dispatcher told him he needs to leave the kid alone is just not right. 

For me, knowing that kids are not getting a good education, if any at all, because of their skin color, and are instead being thrown out on the streets or straight into jail is just not humane. America is still abandoning its own kids because of a centuries old thought that skin color makes someone a monster and not a human. The prison systems are overflowing with inmates, most of which are Black Americans, as a result of the system that is currently set up to help White American kids and adults succeed but make Black American kids and adults fail. The system from the bottom is still racist in way to many areas of the country, and is designed to make Backs fail and therefore push them towards a life of crime and prison. In 2020 America still suffers from the same problems that it had 100 years ago, even after all the progress that has been made and all the fighting for the rights of blacks over the last 50+ years. It is time that it stops, and I truly hope that enough people will it see it this way and stand up for what is right; even if it is only little by little.

Comment

Around the time you wrote this, we had to read portions of the Justice Department’s report on the police and courts of Ferguson, Missouri. That report, and your essay, report on the very real problem we have. There are many persons in law enforcement and the courts who are unbiased, who are idealistic, and who work against prejudices and racism. But, as they are not causing problems, we give less attention to those, and focus instead on the transgressions that need correcting.  That report on Ferguson should inspire anyone who reads it to take action to improve community relations with police forces.  More people ought to read this report.  Here are excerpts—sentences and notes I took as I read it:

Ferguson’s law enforcement practices are shaped by the City’s focus on revenue rather than by public safety needs.

The result is a pattern of stops without reasonable suspicion and arrests without probable cause in violation of the Fourth Amendment; infringement on free expression, as well as retaliation for protected expression, in violation of the First Amendment; and excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

City and court officials have adhered to these court practices despite acknowledging their needlessly harmful consequences.

This evidence of bias and stereotyping, together with evidence that Ferguson has long recognized but failed to correct the consistent racial disparities caused by its police and court practices, demonstrates that the discriminatory effects of Ferguson’s conduct are driven at least in part by discriminatory intent in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

Restoring trust in law enforcement will require recognition of the harms caused by Ferguson’s law enforcement practices, and diligent, committed collaboration with the entire Ferguson community.

City and police leadership pressure officers to write citations, independent of any public safety need, and rely on citation productivity to fund the City budget.

There is no indication that anyone considered whether community policing and public safety would be better served by devoting five overtime officers to neighborhood policing instead of a “revenue pipeline” of highway traffic enforcement. 

Ignoring the central fact that they had handcuffed a man and put him in a police car despite having no reason to believe he had done anything wrong, a sergeant vigorously defended FPD’s actions, characterizing the detention as “minimal” and pointing out that the car was air conditioned.

When the man then extended his identification toward the officers, at their request, the officers interpreted his hand motion as an attempted assault and took him to the ground.

FPD’s suppression of speech reflects a police culture that relies on the exercise of police power—however unlawful—to stifle unwelcome criticism.

FPD officers seem to regard ECWs as an all-purpose tool bearing no risk. But an ECW—an electroshock weapon that disrupts a person’s muscle control, causing involuntary contractions—can indeed be harmful.

The punitive use of force by officers is unconstitutional and, in many cases, criminal. 

The video makes clear, however, that the man never tried to stand—he only writhed in pain on the ground.

Finally, FPD does not perform any comprehensive review of force incidents sufficient to detect patterns of misconduct by a particular officer or unit, or patterns regarding a particular type of force.

Alongside its divisive law enforcement practices and lack of meaningful response to community concerns about police conduct, FPD has made little effort in recent years to employ community policing or other community engagement strategies.

When implemented fully, community policing creates opportunities for officers and community members to have frequent, positive interactions with each other, and requires officers to partner with communities to solve particular public safety problems that, together, they have decided to address. 

Another officer told us that officers cannot “get out of the car and play basketball with the kids,” because “we’ve removed all the basketball hoops—there’s an ordinance against it.”

Considering Race In Adoption Placements

This reaction essay is a response to an article in The Independent, a British newspaper. Article Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/adoption-parents-children-ethnic-match-video-boy-orlando-clark-a9236981.html


As I was searching the internet (the SWK 355 Website) for potential articles to look at and research for ourselves, I came across quite a few articles that caught my eye. As I am interested in becoming an adoption specialist with my degree, I am drawn to articles that contain adoption information. The article I came across while browsing the site was, Children waiting for adoptive parents need love, not a perfect ethnic match. I think this article mainly got my attention because I believe that this is a major issue with adoption around the world today. Although this article and case took place in the UK, this is a situation that occurs all over the world. This article made many great points about what should be looked into when finding a potential adoptive family. As I progress in my education, and in one day, my career, I hope that I can help make a change to the discrimination that comes about when adopting. 

This article starts out by stating that a family in the UK was awarded £120,000 ($148,524 in USD) when a judge found that they were racially discriminated against when trying to adopt a child. This family was rejected because of their Indian ancestry. The adoption agency told this family that only white British pre-school children were available for adoption in the area and they should instead look to adopt from India or Pakistan. Although the couple had successful careers and had secure incomes and a nice home, their ethnicity is what prevented them from being able to adopt. Their ethnicity is what trumped the fact that these individuals were great potential matches to be adoptive parents. This couple has also undergone several rounds of IVF and was unsuccessful and also lost an early pregnancy. The did eventually adopt a child from the US. 

This article also added a case that happened in the US in Michigan as a five-year-old invited his entire kindergarten class to celebrate his adoption with him. Some of his classmates even made statements about how they felt about this child. This case became a viral video and this video shows that the young boy is African American and his adoptive parents are white. This shows that ethnicity is not important to a family and community, it is more important that the boy feels love and security from his parents and other siblings. That is what is important for these children that are being adopted into families. 

It is obvious that adoption agencies would prefer to match ethnicities between children and parents, but to only focus on matching ethnicities could potentially impact that child’s opportunities to be adopted. When agencies try to do this, children are not given the chance to go to a happy, safe, and loving home. That is what is most important for the child, one needs to think about what is best for the child as opposed to matching ethnicities. 

One final point that I would like to add is a quote from the husband. He said, “However matching cultural values and beliefs is just one of many areas that should be assessed when looking at the suitability of adopters to ensure that child’s welfare. It should never be the overriding factor to stop you even being considered— which is what happened to us” (Mander, 2020). 

Overall, I have I always known that discrimination in adoption was very possible and even common. What I want to possibly change about this in the future is to stop making ethnical reasons the main priority as to where a child belongs. I understand that it is important for families to understand the culture that could potentially be added to the family dynamic. I believe the most important aspect is that the child is placed in a home that can provide love, stability, and a safe place. 

Comment

 With more blended families, it is becoming not too uncommon for children of one racial/ethnic identity to have step-parents with different identities. Interracial marriage is also creating more blended families. And as always, there are thousands of international adoptions. All else being equal, as a tertiary consideration, placing children in families with similar ethnic and racial backgrounds may be better, but it rarely makes sense to make this a primary consideration, if we are prioritizing the child’s best interests. There is, however, the interesting case of small groups of indigenous peoples, who may be especially concerned with preserving their culture and identity, and may be especially worried about having children adopted out of their group and into the hegemonic wider society. One issue worth emphasizing is that culture is not in our blood. In some times and places, groups have supplemented their population growth through natural increase (having children) with taking in refugees or even kidnapping young people and young women from other groups and bringing them into their own culture. The idea that you could steal or purchase children from a different group and make them part of your own group was normal. Shared experiences and emotional bonds and social cohesion made tribes and clans, not some shared DNA. In the United States, partly because the culture here incorporated the concept of slavery and the resulting dehumanization of the families that were enslaved, we became obsessed with our genetic heritage and whether we had sub-saharan African ancestry. This continuing obsession with our biological heritage is a cultural attribute that continues to infect our society, and I wonder how many generations must endure this until we have outgrown it.

Death Penalty Policy

The death penalty is a federal punishment that is given to a criminal that has committed a grave crime. Crimes such as murder, extreme, malicious torture, and/or rape cases whether or not the victim survives are some examples of this (HG.org Legal Resources, 2020). More than half of America still support this form of punishment, though a growing number of the American population is no longer in support. Many find it unethical, though others feel it’s the most justified way to appropriately punish one for committing such horrid crimes. 

Though it used to happen pretty often within the last century (with varied ways of execution, such as electrocution and gassing), now, only “about 60 prisoners are on the federal death row…three federal executions have been carried out in the modern era, all by lethal injection, with the last occurring in 2003” (Death Penalty Information Center, 2019). Also, a court ruling was issued after Furman v. Georgia in 1972, where the number of eligible offenses for the death penalty, which was declared unconstitutional, was expanded to about 60 in the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 (Death Penalty Information Center, 2019).

There are varied opinions about the death penalty in the United States. Some people feel the death penalty helps give some sort of consolation and ease for the victim’s loved ones with a death sentence as opposed to the criminal on parole and still a potential threat. In other cases, some feel it “serves the ends of justice and acts as a deterrent” (HG.org Legal Resources, 2020). Some, rather, feel the potential risk of executing an innocent person falsely accused of committing a heinous crime, which, sadly, has happened many times. 

With this being said, there have been significant modifications. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty cannot be given to mentally disabled offenders in Atkins v. Virginia, 2002, juvenile offenders in Roper v. Simmons, 2005, or to “those convicted of raping a child where death was not the intended or actual result” in Kennedy v. Louisiana, 2008. In addition, the court has mandated that “juries and not judges find facts that make a defendant eligible for capital punishment (Ring v. Arizona, 2002), and impose a sentence of death (Hurst v. Florida, 2016)” (McInnes, 2020).  

In conclusion, there is much controversy and criticism in regard to the death penalty, whether or not it should be a form of punishment given, to whom it should be given and for why, and so forth. The death penalty has long been present in America, and though modifications to ways in which people are killed have been made and criteria have been adjusted to make it more just and ethical, many still feel it should not exist at all.

References

Death Penalty Information Center. (2019, December 7). Federal Death Penalty. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/federal-death-penalty 

HG.org Legal Resources. (2020). Capital Punishment Law - Guide to Death Penalty Law. https://www.hg.org/death-penalty.html 

McInnes, K. (2020, March 24). States and Capital Punishment. https://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/death-penalty.aspx 

Free Universal School Lunch

Introduction

As everybody is aware, it is virtually impossible to create a policy that pleases everybody and has no flaws and/or controversies. This is because of an issue known as inevitable error, which is the idea that there will always be errors or problems with a policy that cannot be solved. Clearly these controversies about policies must be taken into serious consideration and weighed heavily, but they do not always need to make it to where policies are not enacted, but hopefully the cons can transform the policies to better suit as many people’s agenda as possible. In the following paper the basic overview of what Free Universal School Lunch will be addressed, along with the pros and the cons of this policy. 

Basic Overview of Free Universal School Lunch

Poverty in the United States is a serious issue that impacts hundreds of thousands of children every single day. These children oftentimes go hungry while at home because their parents cannot afford to feed them adequately, which is why school breakfast and lunches are extremely important for so many of these children to have at their disposal. Free Universal School Lunch allows for all children to have access to free school lunch, and sometimes even breakfast, which eliminates many issues. One key issue this eliminates, on top of ensuring hungry children are fed, is the segregation of poor children from their peers. There is much evidence that children who receive free or reduced lunches at school are separated from their peers in the lunch line, or the other children are able to see their balance and know that they are either getting their lunches free or reduced, which can cause a lot of humiliation amongst poorer children. This humiliation and segregation amongst children can lead to bullying, low self-esteem and shame.

Arguments in favor of Free Universal School Lunch

Through the free and reduced lunch system already in place, families must meet very strict and specific criteria in order to qualify for these lunches. This has recently become a bigger issue because the Trump Administration enacted a policy that would “...tighten eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that could result in hundreds of thousands of the poorest children losing automatic eligibility for free school lunches” (Chaney, 2018). In other words, hundreds of thousands of children will have lunch debt and go hungry at school because the requirements to receive SNAP benefits have been made more difficult, which directly correlates to the requirements needed to receive free and reduced lunches. This issue could be solved if every single student received free lunch. It would eliminate the issues of segregating poor children from wealthy children and alleviate the stress of parents that do not qualify for SNAP and free/reduced lunches from scrambling to pay for school lunches they cannot afford. Another pro of Free Universal School Lunch is the fact that there will no longer be free and/or reduced lunch paperwork for people to have to fill out. According to “The Benefits of Universal Free School Lunch Meals,” 

“...paper applications can yield errors, and some children who need meals can fall through the cracks due to transient families, language barriers and other communication breakdowns. When access to school meals is no longer linked to the application and income verification process, there is less room for error and all children are eligible to eat” (Levin & Hewins). 

In other words, eliminating paperwork reduces the risk of students not receiving free or reduced lunch as a result of errors beyond their control. The system sometimes fails to see where there is need, which can leave people behind, but with Universal Free School Lunches, this issue is gone. Another argument in favor of universal free lunches brought up by Levin & Hewins is that “Schools no longer have to foot the bill for unpaid meal fees or try to collect them from families. This allows school nutrition staff to focus on preparing and serving healthy meals and eliminates a significant financial burden for school districts and families.” This is such a crucial pro because it not only emphasizes the importance of healthy meals for these children, which many of them do not receive at home, but also shows how this policy would positively impact the school districts by saving them time and resources.

In essence, if persons are very concerned about children with low incomes going hungry, and they worry that children who ought to receive free meals at school are not getting those meals, they may prefer a universal free lunch program, as such a program would eliminate the problem of children being financially unable to purchase meals. Such a program totally removes the error of denying services or food to persons who should be getting those services. Such a policy would provide free lunches to many students who do not require such assistance, but if someone is not very concerned with that type of error, then the universal free lunch system may be a favored policy.

Arguments Against Free Universal School Lunch

As stated previously, with any policy, there will always be inevitable error. Free Universal School Lunch is not an exception to this, so it is important to note the injustices or inefficiencies this policy can produce. One problem presented by McDonald, is the idea that Free Universal School Lunch would make it less likely for children to bring their own lunches from home since the school lunch would be free (2019). This is an issue because school lunches are not known for being healthy, and there is significant evidence to suggest that “children who ate school lunches were more likely to be obese than children who brought a lunch from home—despite entering kindergarten with the same obesity rates” (McDonald, 2019). In other words, promoting Free Universal School Lunch, in a way, is encouraging children to not bring their own lunches to school, which means they will be eating unhealthier school lunches and the obesity rates could increase. Another argument presented by Mull, is that the Universal Free School Lunch system creates more people reliant on the government for assistance (2017). This is an issue because the more people that are living on any type of government assistance are less likely to “bite the hand that feeds them” (Mull, 2017), which then makes bigger government more likely. This then leads to the government being in control of the children’s nutrition, which takes away “parental role in a child’s nutritional development” (Mull, 2019). All in all, this is an argument that is in favor of preserving family values, and the Free Universal School Lunch hinders these values.

There are also issues of fairness to consider. The funds for universal free lunches would come from the Federal Income Tax, or perhaps state taxes on incomes, sales, and property. Everyone would pay. Free lunches would be universal, meaning all children could receive their free lunches. The implications are that wealthy children who had no need of free school lunches would be getting a benefit they didn’t need, while working-class and middle class families would be paying for the wealthy children’s lunches through their taxes. Further, if children do not pay for their lunches, they could potentially adopt an attitude that devalued their meals, and they might be more prone to wasting food. Restaurants near schools, where students might frequently go for lunches or after-school food, would possibly see a decline in their business, and the proprietors of such restaurants would certainly perceive this as unfair competition. Finally, school lunches typically include meat, and the consumption of animal flesh is deeply offensive to some persons, based on their religious or ethical values. Promoting the consumption of animals during school lunches may benefit ranchers and large-scale factory livestock operations, but this is an inefficient use of the planet’s resources, and contributes to global warming, so unless vegetarian or vegan options are available, the continuing emphasis on meat consumption during school lunches raises ethical issues for taxpayers whose convictions are ignored when the government promotes all school children to eat animals without paying for the costs of producing such food.

Conclusion

As noted, when weighing the decision to enact or not enact a policy, it is crucial to consider the pros and the cons of that policy. This is to ensure that all sides of the argument are heard and provides the means of altering the policy if need be to eliminate as many of its errors as possible. Free Universal School Lunch would create an avenue where poor children are provided meals without their parents having to worry about how they will pay for those meals, but also promotes obesity in children and is thought to make people rely more on the government. Altogether, the pros of Free Universal Free Lunches seem to outweigh the cons. 

References

Chaney, M. (2018, December 14). Making Healthy School Lunches Free for All Should Be a National Priority. Civil Eats. https://civileats.com/2018/12/14/making-healthy-school-lunches-free-for-all-should-be-a-national-priority/

Levin, M., & Hewins, J. The Benefits of Universal Free School Lunch. CFPA. https://cfpa.net/ChildNutrition/benefits_of_universal_free_meals_7_26_16.pdf

McDonald, K. (21 January 2019). It’s Clear the Federal Government Shouldn’t Be Involved in the School Lunch Business. Foundation for Economic Education. https://fee.org/articles/its-clear-the-federal-government-shouldn-t-be-involved-in-the-school-lunch-business/

Mull, T. (24 February 2017). Why cutting back “free” school lunches would be a favor to families. The Hill. https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/education/321021-why-cutting-back-free-school-lunches-would-be-a-favor-to