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[andViolins]

Originally posted by spookyfish
Only one board member seems to be a voice of reason here, and I know she's a lawyer.

Not to be inflammatory, but do you buy the "stigma of the free lunch ticket"? First of all, I don't think kids who receive free lunches think about it one way or another. Second of all, the kids who pay cash are paying what, a buck ten? I don't remember too many of us who paid for our lunches razzing or getting pissed at the other kids who had lunch tickets when I went to public high school.

Even if that's true and the kids are stigmatized, so what? Call me crazy, but I don't think shame is such a bad emotion to be familiar with. (Either that's a product of my growing up Catholic or the fact that I have observed several kids who pull atrocious shit and have no sense of either shame or regret after doing so).

Let's say, for instance that you do find it embarassing that you qualify for the free lunches (trust me, the bar isn't that low in terms of income). Is that so bad? Maybe the kid will be motivated more to make something more of himself, since presumably these kids will grow up, have kids of their own, and know what that feels like to be "poorer" and thus want to avoid it. I don't know.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in helping the less fortunate, and I don't always believe that one can always pull one's self up by one's bootstraps and that no one gets where they are without either starting out with advantages, or getting some help along the way, but I also don't think anyone should ever become too comfortable or complacent about receiving the government's largesse, especially in this day and age.

If the Board members honestly think that kids watch other kids in the checkout line of the lunchroom to see whether they are using a ticket and are thus on government assistance, then those Board members should immediately resign because of sheer stupidity.

aV