Hungry Students

Students coming to school hungry has been an issue since I began my teaching career 25 years ago. There were always those students who came to school without eating breakfast. This happened despite public schools offering free and reduced price breakfasts to eligible students. The schools also offered breakfast at full price to students who were not needy. Some students also ate breakfast at home. No matter what the case, all children were given the opportunity to have a good breakfast before the school bell rang.

25 years later nothing has changed. All students still have the opportunity for breakfast no matter what their family financial situation is. Why all this talk about students and breakfast? Because I have recently noticed an increase in the number of students complaining of being hungry. The exchange usually goes something like this:

Student: Mr. Meyer, I'm sick. My belly hurts. Can I go see the school nurse?

Me: Did you eat breakfast this morning?

Student: No.

Me: Why not?

Student: I dunno.

And there you have it! In most cases, the student is not sick at all. He/she is hungry. I guess I shouldn't be surprised in this day and age students are coming to school hungry. Given all the opportunities to get a good breakfast, it would seem breakfast would be the least of their worries. This is not the case at all. This is a problem I deal with many times every day.

You might think the solution is easy. Keep some simple breakfast foods in the classroom (granola bars, dry cereal, Pop-Tarts etc...). That's not as easy as it sounds. First, I'd go broke providing breakfast food to many students a day. Second, the students who did have breakfast whine that it's not fair some students get to eat in class. They view this eating as a "snack" and not a necessity for someone who had no breakfast. You can probably imagine how it would sound:

Student: Hey! Why does Johnny get a Pop-Tart?

Me: Johnny didn't have breakfast and you did.

Student: So what! I want a snack too!

Me: You had breakfast. Johnny didn't.

Student: That's not fair! Why does Johnny get a snack and not me?

Me: It's not a snack. Johnny didn't have breakfast.

Student: I don't care! I'm still hungry. I want a Pop-Tart too!

Me: No. You can't have one.

Student: Why not?

You get the picture, right? It's not as simple as providing food for kids who didn't eat breakfast (even if I could afford it). It opens lots of cans of worms in the classroom. I won't get into expectations of teachers as elated to their instructional time and how dealing with the basic need of food can interfere. Suffice it to say our "time on task" as teachers is highly scrutinized. All I can tell you is this. There are more and more students coming to school hungry and it causes real problems and I honestly don't know what the solutions are.