If you have not heard yet, Donald Trump is thinking about getting rid of free lunches and after school programs. Yes, you read that correctly; he is trying to take away a child's free lunch and how they can spend their time when school is over. Instead of funding new after school activities and or adding new meals to the free lunches, Donald Trump is taking them away.
Free meals provide so many inner city kids with the meals they may not receive on a daily basis. Most kids in the public school system are raised in an environment or household that may lack structure and stability. In some cases, it is hard for these kids to eat often because of financial issues. Lower income parents rely on this program to keep their kids fed. Taking this away from the children who need it most seems greedy and irresponsible. People who come from wealth or privilege will never understand the circumstances that these kids were born into. To provide the less fortunate with a necessity such as food is the humane thing to do. Instead of viewing this situation from a business standpoint (worrying about a budget), it should be viewed as philanthropy. Giving back to the people is one of the inherent responsibilities of government. Granted laws need to be set in place, but policies at the expense of the lower class is a characteristic of our capitalist system. The bottom line is that the kids NEED this free meal. Taking it away will only make their lives more of a struggle than it already is. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine a life where the system set in place is only oppressing you when it is supposed to be helping you.
Taking away after school programs has to be the second dumbest idea I have ever heard of. After school programs help students make friends, grow as individuals and allow them to maybe run off some energy. After school programs also prevent children from getting into bad things, such as gangs. Just because your children never went to an after school program or received free food does not mean that you have the right to take something so important away since it does not affect you. The proof is found in that child's development and how they interact socially. There is no 'test' that children can take to see if after school programs helped them or if they failed them. The only 'test' they can take is life. If you come from a family that is wealthy, this won't affect you and you may not care about it being taken away but many other families care and their opinion is important.
Nothing is more annoying than when people have a narrow viewpoint on issues going on around the world. Keeping an open mind and accepting the fact that not everyone is similar to you will help us grow as people and as a government. Remember, the bigger the group, the bigger our voices are heard.
