Chapter I
Introduction
In an educational world filled with failing schools and apathetic students, state boards of
education have searched for answers on how to increase test scores and create school systems
where all students receive the best education possible. Amongst the plethora of possible
solutions, perhaps they should look first at the nutritional substance of what our school-aged
children are eating each day as they struggle through a day of learning. There is a correlation
between nutrition and cognition as well as psychosocial behavior; this relationship has been
highly under-researched, but there exists many studies that look at the nutritional benefits of
many proteins, vitamins, and food substances as they affect learning and brain function. Our
schools have the potential to play a vital role in preparing and sustaining our students’ potential
learning abilities and benefitting their social behaviors by supplying nutritious breakfasts and
lunches dur ing school days.
Providing the nation’s low-income youth with nutritious food has been a concern for over
a hundred years. To see that food insufficient students were adequately fed, school lunch
programs began dur ing the Great Depression of the 1930’s. From the beginning the program had
two goals: to make use of surplus agricultural commodities owned by the government as a result