No free lunch, but breakfast is free

[JustRalph]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/06/10/4097885/cms-plans-free-breakfast-for-all.html

I'm kind of torn on this

[Tom]

Not me.
Stupid idea.
Schools are there to teach kids - and they do a piss poor job of it.
Parents need to feed their own kids - not my tax dollars.
If I have to deed them, they should be cutting my grass,shoveling my driveway.

If you can't afford kids, don't have them.

No lunches, either - stupid idea.

[newtothegame]

Tom, although I agree with you that parents need to be parents, it is pretty well proven that kids who have a good breakfast tend to be more receptive and learn.
I am not ready to hold the kids accountable for their parents mistakes. Now, yes I know thats heading down a slippery slope as where does it stop. But, education in this country has gone down the tubes from my perspective. Anything we can do to get it going again, I am more then willing to listen to.
Sitting in class with hunger pains does not make a conducive environment for learning.

I would rather pay for a breakfast here and there for a hungry kid and help him to learn versus paying for him later as a statistic on the streets and possibly heading to the big house.

[JustRalph]

I am torn. In Charlotte these kids that are going hungry are going to be minority kids mostly. The city of Charlotte caters to the minority population whenever they scream. I have lived it. But then the minority population of Charlotte is about 35%. That is a large constituency to serve, and any city should and needs to treat all citizens equally.

The flip side, I am suspicious of any plan by any government entity to provide basic necessities to any group, on the grounds of the greater good. Throughout our history it is plainly obvious that such theories don't work or they are used to gain political advantage etc.

The Charlotte schools have a long history of failure, like many others. I am suspicious of their ability to run this program any better than they run their schools. For that matter, I could probably say that about just about any school system.

[Tom]

The flip side, I am suspicious of any plan by any government entity to provide basic necessities to any group,

They don't - they make the taxpayers do it.
If kids are showing up to school hungry, maybe social services should be taking them out of those home who cannot care for them. I don't mind my tax going to that, something to fix the problem, not ignore it.