The hard times cafeteria

The hard times cafeteria

Scripps Howard News Service: Because of high fuel prices and a sluggish economy, many school districts will cut back and tighten their belts.

Indeed, the Associated Press titled its story on this development “Hard Times” and wrote, “Children will walk farther to the bus stop, pay more for lunch, study from old textbooks and wear last year’s clothes. Field trips? Forget about it.”

Higher lunch prices are unfortunate. It will be especially hard on families with multiple schoolchildren who are not eligible for subsidized lunches. Of course, the kids could bring their lunch from home, but that’s horribly unfashionable.

The loss of field trips is too bad, but in many ways they are kind of a luxury, rewarding but not really essential.

Shorter bus routes carrying fewer students, however, is not all bad because in this age of childhood obesity walking or biking to school, as long as it can be done safely, could be good for a lot of youngsters.

Four day weeks

To save on energy costs, at least 15 school districts are going to four-day weeks, although with slightly longer school days. It’s safe to say that there are many young scholars who don’t think having Mondays off is a hardship.

Old textbooks, as long as they are in decent condition, aren’t so bad either. In fact, the older the better, especially if they predate the touchy-feely era when textbooks tended to skip or gloss over such seminal events as, say, World War II.

The AP quoted one California mother as saying she would make her two children reuse last year’s backpacks instead of paying $50 each for new ones. This is hardly the Great Depression.

All this will have to be made up somewhere. The parents will have to drive more, chauffeuring their kids to school and athletic events, and pay more to do it, and possibly pack school lunches, not to mention having to find child care for the fifth day of a four-day week and listen to the whining about wearing last year’s clothes. There are hard times ahead, all right, but not for the students.