This last week the Los Angeles Board of Education proposed a ban on soft drinks at all the public schools in their county. Their hope is that a lack of sugary liquids will help suppress the growing rate of obesity among their students, though studies by the Soft Drink Association indicate that the average secondary school student only drinks two sodas a week.
The problem is that the board plans to replace the sodas with juices and sports drinks that have similar amounts of carbohydrates-and this action also shoots them in the foot financially, because LA schools depend on the money from the soda machines to fund things like dances and band uniforms.
The Daily Campus agrees that school age obesity is a problem, but the proposed solution lacks any real impact, and includes potential negative consequences for important extra-curricular activities.
Removing soft drinks from campuses is merely a way to temporarily placate the people who are concerned while simultaneously blocking an important source of revenue for the schools.
Offering more nutritious, healthier lunches and incentives for student physical fitness would be a more effective and permanent solution. In a country where cola companies pay millions of dollars to school districts to put their machines on campus, a compromise can be made.
After all, the second-largest school system in the nation should be a prime market for Coke or Pepsi. Perhaps the school district could even look into having one of the cola giants fund a new fitness program to address the problem. Coke or Pepsi would not only gain the continued business of the county’s schools, but the good publicity that comes with taking an interest in the health and well-being of school children. And free press like that is the kind of sugary nonsense that’s good for everyone.