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Although Francisco, a 14-year-old freshman with fantastic hair and sunglasses, qualifies(有资格)for a free lunch at a high school here, he was not eating.He scanned the picnic table full of his friends in a school courtyard one day a few weeks ago, and said, “I'm not hungry.”
Today, the US Department of Agriculture spends $ 8.3 billion a year to provide free and reduced-priced lunches for 30.6 million children whose families are at or below the national poverty level.Most primary-school children like free lunches, but when they enter middle school, the problem of social status(地位)appears.And at lunchtime, as students choose with whom to associate, many students from poor families either pay cash or go hungry if they do not bring lunches from home.
“I know kids need to eat but they don't want to be identified with free food,” said Kenneth Block, a track coach and security guard who watches the lunch-time order.The National School Lunch Act forbids the segregating(隔离)of students or any obvious identification of any child.
Mr.Geist, the student president, does not qualify for a free meal.But he said he was struck by how many of his Spanish-speaking and African-American friends who could benefit from the program avoid it.“It is meant to help them,” Mr.Geist said.
But one group has fewer problems accepting free food:foreign-born students.Teenagers from Thailand, Hong Kong as well as American-Born Chinese said they appreciated the free lunch.A senior from India, said she felt no shame.“It doesn't really matter,” she said.“The food is good.” An official believed more eligible students would eat if all schools offered free meals to everyone, regardless of economic status, but that is too expensive.“Kids who wear nice shoes and nice clothes, ”said Mr.Geist, “don't want to be linked with food that says ‘I'm not able to provide for myself.’”
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