I'm conflicted about school meals. Ideally people should be feeding and raising their own kids- not leave it up to the education system.
Also you just know that schools are going to start serving crap. The infamous American "pizza is a vegetable" debacle. Governments love to penny pinch on these things and find the cheapest caterer they can find.
I don't think anyone involved thinks the situation is ideal. In the UK generally and London in particular there is a cost of living crisis and wages are rising far less than inflation[1]. This has a disproportionate effect on people with low incomes[2] and it's been shown that one of the best things that can be done to improve the educational attainment of children is ensure they get basic nutrition[3].
> ideally people should be feeding and raiding their own kids
1. It’s unfair to the child to make them suffer for the omissions of the parent. Whilst this principle shouldn’t be applied absolutely, when there’s a relatively easy solution, such as FSMs, that seems prima facie wise.
2. Parents are unlikely to be able to feed children at school anyway; the question is whether they pay.
3. This is explicitly a one-off intervention amidst a cost of living crisis.
> schools are going to start serving crap…[g]overnments love to penny pinch
1. Not always, and this elides substantial variance between governments.
2. UK school meals aren’t very good (better than the worst American ones though). That said, they won’t be any worse due to this subvention, since the funding at a school level will remain the same.
> Also you just know that schools are going to start serving crap. The infamous American "pizza is a vegetable" debacle.
No, it won’t necessarily. You can involve the healthcare system and have dieticians designing meals, like it happens in many countries in continental Europe.
> Ideally people should be feeding and raising their own kids- not leave it up to the education system.
Teaching kids what is proper food is part of the role of the education and the healthcare system, again, in many places in continental Europe.
Besides, a parent can still feed their children marmite and real ale with gravy or whatever abomination they deem suitable.
The benefit of free school meals is so high for such a low cost, it doesn’t make sense to confuse moral hazard with economics. Somewhat similar to providing free urban transit vs metering for it. Take the billing component out and provide a reasonable standard for all.
No one is going to stop you from sending meals with your kid to school, but this ensures everyone gets fed.
> Also you just know that schools are going to start serving crap.
O ye of little faith.
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. When everybody believes schools are going to serve crap, schools are going to serve crap, because everybody expects it and nobody is bothered enough to do anything about it.
When everybody believes schools had better give children quality meals, it happens:
