For Marcus Weaver Hightower, a professor at Virginia Tech’s School of Education, studying school lunches is exciting.
While completing her doctoral dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Weaver-Hightower reflected on areas of research that might continue to interest her after graduation. He reached the school lunch.
Seventeen years later, his interest remains, and in the past year the topic has entered the political spotlight.
“I know so much about tater tots and pizza sauce now,” said Weaver Hightower, who joined Virginia Tech in 2020.
He is a professor in the Foundations of Education program and teaches graduate courses in Gender and Education, Sociology of Education, and Qualitative Research.
The professor has written numerous articles on public school lunch initiatives. His book, Unpacking School Lunch: Understanding the Hidden Politics of School Food, traced the multiple motivations for school lunch programs over the years. These include national emergencies such as the Great Depression and COVID-19, as well as preparatory nutrition for students preparing for military service during World War II.
But the motive that most significantly shaped Americans’ views on free school meals was an increased focus on hunger and poverty relief efforts, Weaver Hightower said. Linking free school lunch initiatives to poverty reduction created a long-lasting negative impact on American perceptions of these programs, and the correlation was solidified in the 1980s.
“This is clearly not a poverty program,” he said. “Our goal is for all children to have access to good, healthy food, and that’s always been the case from the beginning.”
In the current political climate, free school meals have re-emerged as an issue of contention. Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz has signed a bill that will make school meals free for all children in the state while serving as Minnesota’s governor in 2023. In Virginia, Senate Bill 283 was approved in March, creating a task force to study the possibility of making school meals free for all public school students.
Minnesota and Virginia, along with several other states, stand behind free school meals as a universal right to a good education for all children, regardless of their socio-economic status. I’m trying to protect some original intent.
“School lunches are healthier than what most children get at home,” says Weaver-Hightower. “They have nutritional standards, and we parents don’t necessarily follow them.”
“The economic benefits are also quite far-reaching because[free school meals]mean families don’t have to spend as much money at the grocery store,” he said.
This reduces the social stigma associated with food insecurity, he said. In addition, the federal government also supports agricultural commerce by purchasing food for these programs from farmers with surplus supplies.
Written by Jacob Perkins
