Hacker News Reader

Comment by kshahkshah | Hacker News Reader

> better social service

we should just drop means testing of services

> extra resources for schools in poor areas

more funding != better outcomes. Parental involvement is what drives outcomes. If you don't have parents around, nothing matters.

View on HN

Extra resources for schools = free breakfast, lunch, afterschool activities = kids cost less money = parents can work less demanding/normal hour jobs = more parental involvement.

That’s a lot of logic, but resources for schools is a lot more than free food, better books, etc. schools are one of the best ways to distribute community resources. The alternative (read: kids who got expelled from normal schools) near me hosts adult job fairs, has family counseling, etc.

Agree with all that in theory. I don't know of a good implementation of it.

There are loads of successful implementations! Just look outside of the US to Nordic countries or, say, Japan or Korea. The US does a lot of things pretty badly.

Sure, yes, I had meant in the US. I know it's possible, we just tend to make these things impossible via incompetent implementation.

I agree that free healthy food for all kids is a great idea. Unfortunately, I have very little trust in US school administrators and school districts to provide healthy meals which nourish children instead of food industry espoused slop which sets them up with an unhealthy eating habits for life.

Here's a comparison of school meals in Korea vs. the US. There are similar comparisons with Japan, France, and Germany. Somehow the US is uniquely unable to feed kids healthy food. I blame political corruption and food industry marketing.

https://www.allkpop.com/buzz/2024/04/what-are-they-feeding-t...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/how-french-s...

For low income kids, healthy v not doesn’t matter when the alternative is not eating. Ideally yes we provide healthier food, but that shouldn’t stop us from providing free meals even if they’re not amazing.

Same, that'd be my worry. I'd rather have my state or municipality implement this than choose some terrible Sysco style vendor and just feed them slop

Reply on news.ycombinator.com