To better children's education, pay attention to how much they eat

I took for granted that, throughout my childhood and teenage years, I could stroll into the kitchen, open up the refrigerator and find something to eat within seconds. I’ve never understood the true meaning of the word “starving.” I’ve never worried about having access to breakfast, lunch or dinner. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for all kids in this country. And this is something we need to address at the local, state and national levels.

According to the American Youth Policy Forum, almost 50 million Americans experience some kind of food insecurity during their life. This means they either have little access to healthy foods or sporadic access to food at all.

Other troubling studies, these conducted by the Urban Institute, indicate that 6.8 million students between the ages of 10 and 17 do not get consistent meals at home as a result of food insecurity.

How can we expect the next generation of leaders, scholars, activists, teachers and citizens to learn and grow if they don't have food on the table? Can we blame the middle-schooler for doing poorly on his test if he spent the night before wondering if he’d eat dinner? Is it really appropriate to penalize a 17-year-old for failing to finish her homework if she works every weeknight to help her parents feed her family?

In our quest to improve the quality of our educational standards and change the way our students learn, we often ignore the tangled web of factors that influence the lives of children and teens. It’s especially easy to forget to address problems that lie beneath the surface of other people’s lives — problems we may not see directly unless we walked into each of their homes or met each of their families.

It’s also frighteningly easy to forget just how much hunger can affect all facets of one’s life if, like me, you’ve never truly experienced it.

The American Youth Policy Forum also reports, following studies from the National Institutes of Health, food insecurity and malnourishment can lead to greater mental health problems, behavioral issues, social anxieties and disciplinary actions at school. Further, food insecurity puts kids at a higher risk of missing school and failing to graduate.

When we learn about startling statistics and facts like the ones above, we must work to counteract them. So what can we do to help combat food insecurity?

For one, we can donate to local food pantries and kitchens that serve our local communities. At UF, for example, we have the Field and Fork Pantry, which allows members of the university community to take food and groceries to feed themselves and their families, usually for up to a week at a time. Programs like these may help folks in your classes, the staff at various campus facilities or even your next-door neighbor.

We can also pressure our elected officials to pledge to allocate more funds toward schoolwide programs like free and reduced lunches — and to make sure schools include healthy options. These politicians work for us, and to that end, they should ensure the needs of our children are met when those kids venture off to their schools each morning.

All in all, problems with our educational system must also be seen in the context of other concerns, from food and health to transportation and infrastructure. Making this country even just a little better for our children will require holistic solutions that go further than looking at issues in the classroom.

Mia Gettenberg is a UF criminology and philosophy senior. Her column focuses on education.