No

by Jay Bre

Created on: December 22, 2009

            Soda machines should NOT be restricted in schools. The opposing sides' articles state the calorie counts in other sodas and how overindulgence of caffeine is terrible. For one, the calorie count in a BOTTLE of Coca-Cola © is 100 calories. This is ¼ of the average meal at a fast food restaurant. I am a student currently in high school and I consume one can of soda per day if that. I know from experience and from being in this environment day to day that only about half of the kids in school buy more than one soda a week; out of the 50% that do buy more than a soda a week only 12% buy one more than 3 days a week.

            Now, I cannot be a spokesperson for all High schools throughout the world, but the cafeteria in my high school (which is one of the top 100 high schools in America) serves lunches to kids that have a calorie count between 350-600. So the opposing side is basically pitching to all of us reading about this debate that parents should give their child money to buy these meals equal to say that of a fast food restaurant, but to keep our kids lean and healthy should remove vending machines to keep our children from splurging once a week on an extra 75 calories to wake them up in the morning to further perform in school.

            To further argue my side I would like to bring forth the topic of health problems. I could of course revert back to the fact that parents are providing money for lunches of almost 4 times the calorie count of a simple soda, but I am not. Diabetes can be present in any person whether they are overweight or not, in fact many people who obtain diabetes are underweight and very healthy. According to recent studies, the main factors to diabetes not genetically transferred are; smoking, drinking excessively, and lack of physical exercise.

            “When the only alternative is to drink from a suspect and unclean public tap, getting a mouthful of terrible tasting city water.” Oh please, the water supply at high schools more than meet the standard cleanliness level and at these vending machines, water can also be purchased! I would say approximately 98% of vending machines I have went to or even seen have buttons with pictures relating to the item you will receive if you press the said button. Out of these vending machines I would say at least 1, most likely 3 or 4 of these buttons are water or ice tea. Water is available to those who want it and the water is very cleanly.

             Lastly the opposing side of this debate argue that the income the school makes off these vending machines are not worth the so called ‘health hazard’ they pose to the children. I’m not sure if any of you are aware, but we are in a terrible economic crisis. People are getting laid off and businesses and corporations are going out of business and filing for bankruptcy. Do you think that the government is focused in on getting the schools more textbooks or allowing fieldtrips to study different environments? If you do there’s something wrong with you and you need to catch reality and put it back in your grasp.

            To sum up my arguments; water, juice and tea make up over half the selection of beverages in school vending machines, the calorie count is 4-5 times less than the average school lunch, and with the economic crunch we’re in right now, we need that income to fund our sports, academics, and employee salaries

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