Free lunches: Is it kids or parents who should be sweeping the cafeteria floors?
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December 18, 2013
U.S. Rep Jack Kingston, R-Ga., has created a firestorm with his comment at a Jackson County Republican Party event that low-income kids earn their free lunch at school.
The Savannah Republican who's running for Senate said: "But one of the things I’ve talked to the secretary of agriculture about: Why don’t you have the kids pay a dime, pay a nickel to instill in them that there is, in fact, no such thing as a free lunch? Or maybe sweep the floor of the cafeteria -- and yes, I understand that that would be an administrative problem, and I understand that it would probably lose you money. But think what we would gain as a society in getting people -- getting the myth out of their head that there is such a thing as a free lunch," he said.
In response to the national outrage, Kingston’s spokesman Chris Crawford said, "It is sad that trying to have a productive conversation about instilling a strong work ethic in the next generation of Americans so quickly devolves into the usual name-calling partisan hysteria. Having worked from a young age himself, Congressman Kingston understands the value of hard work and the important role it plays in shaping young people."
I have been talking about this controversy via email with educators, some of whom think that charging kids something for the lunches might cut down on the waste. They contend that a lot of free and reduced lunches get thrown in the garbage. Having eaten lunch at school many times
