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Vending Machine Madness!
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Written by Rachael Brown, Editorial Editor and Nathan Skeens, Reporter
Okay, so everyone knows that as high school students we are all growing, some more rapidly than others. And what is one common symptom of growth, other than growing pains? The answer is simple: constant, irrevocable hunger. And yet, the administration chooses to tantalize us all with food we can’t have. Why should teenagers be trusted with 4,000 lbs of moving metal when we get our driver’s licenses if we can’t even be trusted with a bag of Skittles? I haven’t ever heard of Skittles being dangerous. Have you?
We as a staff believe that Dobyns-Bennett should not waste the time of Palace Vending, Inc., by installing and maintaining machines that the student body cannot use. Palace is a business; they have to use their money in ways that will be profitable to them. Since the time available to the student body is limited, it cuts the margin of profit they make by being here. Not only are we hurting the vending company, but we are also hurting ourselves. Palace Vending has to pay a percentage of their profits to the school in order to even operate machines here. Palace has already taken four of the vending machines because D-B wasn’t producing enough profit to keep them around. We’re down to two machines-one in the dome lobby and one in the vocational building.
Then there is the major problem with the time allotted for machine usage. The machines are currently closed from 7:30 to 2:30 and, when you consider the fact that students aren’t even allowed on school premises before 7:00am and after 3:00pm, that only leaves about an hour to use the machines.
We also feel that students should be allowed to use the machines whenever and however we choose. Some would argue that high school students are still not mature enough to make decisions about what they eat. In some cases, they may be correct. But, overall, the average high school student is quite capable of making healthy food choices. Most of the students in this building will be legal adults in a couple of years. Some of them already are. They are going to have to learn how to make their own choices at some point, and they might as well learn now. The school needs to realize that they cannot treat students here like they are kindergarteners who lack the sense to even get out of the rain. We already have so many adult responsibilities as it is. Why shouldn’t we also be allowed to use the vending machines as well? Is that really too much to ask?
There is also the issue of the choices in the machines. Some argue that, in order to protect individuals with allergies, we need to cut down on foods with allergens, but the cafeteria still has foods with all the allergens we’re trying to eliminate . . . so why would they have to eliminate them from the vending machines? For the last year and a half, we have heard a lot about the vending machines and all the problems with them. We would like to point out that this deprives the majority of students without food allergies of their privileges. But then again, students with severe food allergies are in danger by even being here.
We can’t just blame it on the students that eat in class, because there are also teachers guilty of the same crime. Teachers eat in class whenever they get the whim and they don’t get punished for not taking their students’ food allergies into consideration when they chow down. They have to get close to these students that may have food allergies. If the teachers are allowed to eat in class, why shouldn’t students be able to? Is there a major difference between our peanuts and the teachers’ peanuts? With 1,900 students in the school, how can we possibly protect them all? Anyone can bring in a candy bar or other "dangerous" food from outside of school, and they don’t have to use vending machines. Students bring food from outside every day; there is no possible way to stop them all. Individuals with severe food allergies are at risk as long as they are in D-B. Locking up the vending machines for most of the day isn’t going to solve anything.
The current vending machine policy needs to be changed. As it currently stands, we are wasting time and money and depriving students of privileges to no real purpose. If the vending machines are not here for our use, then what are they for? We believe that the machines should be unlocked during the school day and students should be allowed to use them if they wish. Otherwise, the machines need to be removed from the school entirely.
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November 26th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Perhaps if you wrote a letter to Palace vending with some profitable alternatives, everyone can win. Palace can gain more business from the student body, administration doesn’t have to provide “unhealthy” food, and kids can eat! There are many alternatives available and they can be provided while preserving the profit margin needed by Palace.
Research pre-packaged food and find healthy alternatives that meet the size restriction of the machine. Narrow this down with those products within a reasonable profit margin. Then present your research to Palace and school officials.
P.S. I think its awesome your school started an online edition!
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November 29th, 2009 at 10:25 am
When working in elementary school the students always got some kind of a snack later in the day after lunch, knowing they were going to be hungry. Being a high school student wouldnt change this. With only 30 minutes for lunch many students dont have enough time to get their food and set down for a full meal, many times its eat as much as you can in the ten minutes you have and if your still hungry theres no time. In mnay classes there are extra minutes where the students aare just sitting. why not take some time maybe 15 minutes before fourth period and make a snack time for students to use these machines and if db wanted to make even more money they could get these items and sell them by themselves, or open a snack line at the end of lunch for students to buy to eat later( gummies, nabs, granola bars, popcorn, etc.) and make these items things that dont contain the major allergians.
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December 11th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
The school administration is so conservative, so close-minded and so afraid of a lawsuit, that when an allergic reaction happens to someone ONCE and mind you the only reason for it is because people are being stupid and immature, they must ban all vending machines, fund raising involving food (I am part of the German club, and our yearly fund raising of gummy bears, zotz, and toblerones, which is the major source of income for us, was struck down this year by the administration), and to pretty much put it simply, freak out when they see food. They are all hypocrites as well because I see them walking down hall snacking on something!! If someone is immature enough to purposely do something to cause someone to have an allergic reaction, then they need to punish the person who caused it and NOT THE ENTIRE SCHOOL!! There are other schools in the world that have students with allergens, and they don’t strictly prohibit food with such absurd policies! Another excuse from the administration that I’ve heard is because people make messes and roaches infiltrate the school. Simple solution: make the people clean up their messes! Like the article said, we aren’t all a bunch of kindergartners and can clean up after ourselves!! The school administrators either need to listen to student complaints, come up with a logical compromise/solution, or they should be fired for not doing their job. It’s as simple as that and it doesn’t take a PhD to figure it out.
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