Students Prefer Water Over Milk for School Lunches

Annabel Galvan, Staff Writer

 

Cold drinking water is preferred over milk for school lunches.

It’s no surprise that children need nutrition, but many, including myself, have been looking down upon what many schools have to offer during lunchtime.

Milk has been served during lunch in public schools since the late 1900′-1920’s. Many people believe that milk is a better alternative to serve with lunch rather than juice or soda due to the fact that they are packed with sugar and dyes.

Yet others believe there is an even better alternative. A study done by Ruopeng An encouraged students to switch from drinking milk with their school lunch to water. He found that this simple switch could prevent more than a half-million kids from becoming overweight and obese. Plain water itself has many benefits such as reduced calorie intake in children, better body-weight management, and being environmentally friendly.

In my opinion, I would without a doubt choose water over milk to drink with my school lunch. This simply is because the thought of milk sounds so unsatisfying to drink in the middle of the day. When I think of lunch I want to have something refreshing to drink like water.

A poll I created for the students of Birmingham High School demonstrates that 96% percent of the students that answered agreed that water should be served during lunch rather than the 4% that would prefer milk. Many students have their different reasons but one reason that always seemed to reappear was simply that milk is gross. BCCHS student Melanie Rodriguez (11) stated that “Water is hydrating and milk isn’t.”

Milk shouldn’t be as prioritized as it is in public schools because of how much milk is being wasted every single day by students. Many students don’t even think twice about throwing an unopened carton of milk away as soon as it’s in their possession.

I believe this situation should be seriously taken into consideration because I believe the student body would be much happier and more satisfied substituting water for milk.