The issue of “free” school meals comes up at regular intervals on the political scene, most recently with De Radikale’s proposal, but there are several good reasons why the notion is being taken off again quite quickly.
The notion that taxpayer-funded school meals for all solve social problems does not find much support in the real world, and is also an expression of symptom treatment rather than problem solving.
Now, as a councillor, I know the schools in Aalborg quite well, and I know that in several places pragmatic solutions have been found for the very few children who regularly do not get lunch due to parental neglect.
There is simply no need that dictates that we have to resort to such extensive measures as compulsory school meals for all.
Speculation
That some schools have closed their food stalls is correct, but this is due to a lack of connection between price and demand and a consequent deficit.
Other schools continue the stalls and choose to cover the deficit, but this is a decision made locally by the people who use the school and probably know best what is needed. Because in the world’s most equal society, the school must not be tied to a centrally controlled carriage, the content of which is dilution of parental responsibility and Jantellaw-like equality.
Speculations about results from Sweden and Finland also come into play, without taking into account that our societies and cultures are not quite as similar as assumed, and that the conclusions cannot easily be transferred to Danish conditions.
These are arguments invented for the occasion, and you have hardly bothered to look for examples to the contrary, so it is pure manipulation. It becomes completely wrong when you can hear the proponents of the proposal mention that children grow better and become taller from school meal schemes, as much as 1 cm on average.
They simply forget to mention that children’s growth is primarily dependent on the living conditions in the first years of life, and that Danish children are already taller than both Swedish and Finnish ones. There is grasping at straws in the argument, and it is not a pretty sight, especially when you suspect a completely different intention.
Assault on families
Because apart from the practical problems that the proposal entails, the whole thinking that the state takes over the obligation to ensure all children school meals is just another attack on personal responsibility and the right of families to organize themselves as they want.
For decades now, we have pushed the families out of their natural responsibilities by over-serving them in areas where they can do very well themselves, and the few who are not up to the task can be helped in other ways. It must be a guiding principle for any healthy society that you do not ask others to carry out tasks that you can easily solve yourself. Such as. to pack a lunch for your children or otherwise ensure that they get something to eat during the day.
Every time we spend money and staff on this kind of unnecessary welfare pork, we take resources away from other and more urgent tasks – the list is long, and there is no reason to make the situation worse. In addition, there is also something social and educational about making packed lunches – especially if the children are involved, and a packed lunch that you yourself have helped to make and determine the contents of is likely to end up in the bin less often. So more family and less government hug, please.
Now the proposal will probably not come to fruition for practical reasons, because the price is extremely high. Estimated 3.3 billion annually in operating costs alone, and I would allow myself to doubt that figure, because approx. 100 million meals annually, and all inclusive, it can hardly be done for DKK 33 per piece. Not at all if all the considerations for dietary habits, which the families themselves otherwise take responsibility for, must also be taken into account, and I hardly dare to think about the consequence of adding the countless and unnecessary dietary policies that municipal councils all over the country clamp down on the heads of the children.
Just to emphasize the hopelessness of the idea, I would ask that you imagine how the discussion about the menu will play out among the parents at AULA – good luck!
Healthy packed lunch for a tenner
When you know at the same time that a healthy packed lunch can be made for a tenner at home on the kitchen table, it makes no sense. Minister of Education Tesfaye has also pointed out that he does not have 3.3 stray billions to hand out, and if he did, they would hopefully go to more teaching staff instead of an unnecessary service extension.
What is also not taken into account are facilities to prepare and serve 100 million meals, and I don’t even dare to think about the price for the countless major renovations our schools will need – even at a time when we alone in Aalborg municipality already has a maintenance backlog of well over a billion. Just the operating expenses for school meals in Aalborg municipality will exceed 115 million annually, a completely impossible extra expense, especially considering that the same radical party, with budget 2024, has helped to further weaken the municipality’s economy.
The proposal for “free” school meals for all is thoughtless at best, populism at worst and undermines the authority and responsibility of families. It will be a clear no thank you from here, we have many more important tasks to solve, and what you can handle yourself, you should not ask the state for.
2024-02-13 10:20:25
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