Thursday, October 9, 2014

Debating On School Vending Machines

By Jocelyn Davidson


A vending machine is a machine that is used to sell consumer items automatically because there is no cashier. Most of them are used to sell edibles like snacks and beverages. They are usually installed in many places like schools, hospitals, work places and many other places that have a lot of people. There has however been a lot of debate of whether school vending machines should be allowed. Some people think that it is wrong while others think there is no harm in installing them. The following are some advantages and disadvantages of having vending structures in the schools.

Some of the merits include the matter of time saving since the scholars will not be forced to use time to move from one place to another looking for snacks to eat. For scholars, it is essential to use their time well if they have any chance of getting good grades and they cannot achieve this if they get out of the schools all the time to grab something to eat. Most machines normally have the most foods that students may like.

Many school organizations also like the automatic vendors because other than retailing the snacks, they may be used to do other school transactions with ease such as payment of school activity fees. They may also be a perfect way for the organizations to enhance healthy eating habits among the scholars. The healthy foods can mostly be purchased if they are priced reasonably.

The arguments shown above make it look like the hawking machines have more pros than cons especially to the scholars. It is essential to first deliberate on the other arguments of the discussion before making a conclusion since there is a significant number of disadvantages. The issues illustrated below are examples of disadvantages of setting up vending machines in schools.

The real reason why these devices are installed in the first place is to earn profits. Many school authorities only consider the profits part and they forget about the health of the student. The usually make deals worth millions of dollars with certain companies to sell their products. In such cases, the students are likely to eat only the unhealthy foods.

Study shows that the cases of sugar related illnesses in children have been increasing drastically over the years. Some of these illnesses include diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and also arthritis. This has made some states to even ban completely the move to install the automatic vendors especially in learning institutions.

The fact that vending machines help to earn a lot of revenue make the schools a perfect market for them. It is unfair to stop businesses from making money so the best way to control the effects of selling junk in schools is to restrict the kind of items that are sold. The education department should help to promote the sale of healthier food and in this way everyone will be happy.

It is also vital that leaders make it their duty to educate the kids about healthy eating including the foods which they can eat and those they should avoid. If they know the dangers of eating the junk snacks then it will be simpler for them to regulate their intake.




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