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<title> Charging high-school pupils for lunch: a road to disaster </title>
In the past decade Sweden has suffered from a recession in the economy. This has affected many areas of society, including education. It's caused drastic cut-backs which has led to larger classes and less money for textbooks and other schoolmaterial. Local authorities have delt with this in different ways. Some have chosen to cut costs by charging high-school pupils for their lunches. This I think is wrong and in this essay I'll argue against it.
	 One reason why this is wrong is the financial difficulties it imposes on families that already have problems making ends meet. I'm convinced that the vast majority of these families choose to pay for their childrens' lunches realizing the importance of a decent meal in order to concentrate all day. The extra cost will force these families to reduce spending in other essential areas and might even decrease their standards of living.
	 However there are families that would be effected even worse, families that have no possibility at all to afford that extra cost. The negative effects on these families would be far more than just financial. For one it would be socially divisive and cause a gap between those who can afford it and those who can't. This is very negative for the children who most likely will get the impression that society has failed them. These are children who are in most need of support from society. Another consequence of not affording to pay for lunch is the physical effects. Eating right is essential to be able to concentrate on the schoolwork. If pupils don't get a proper lunch, as is the case with these children, they are not going to achieve the grades they otherwise could. Therefore I believe that charging pupils for lunch is the perfect way to take away a chance to do your best for a great number of pupils. That's one reason why I find that way of decreasing spending wrong. There's also a more long-lasting physical effect that's very alarming. The human body requires good nutrition to function well and that's provided by most school lunches. If you can't afford the lunch at school you're not likely to afford a proper meal somewhere else and a sandwich or some cheap junkfood might appease the hunger but it doesn't provide enough good nutrition. As many habits, food habits are hard to break and these pupils stand at risk for future healtproblems.
	 Besides the arguments above which mainly concerned the negative impacts on the families and individual pupils there are other arguments. Another reason why I take a negative stand on this issue is that the money wouldn't necessarily benefit the school. That means that people pay more for the schools, in addition to the taxes, without it actually benefitting the school. I think that's wrong in principle. I would have a better understanding for it if the money would be used to secure the quality of the education. But even if that was the purpose I wouldn't agree with it since it wouldn't cover more than a small percentage of the total cost. I don't feel that it would be enough to justify the great difficulties it wold impose on some pupils and their families.
	 In addition to what's already been argued there's also the matter of the quality of the food. I seriously question that the quality is high enough in every school, and to charge for an inadequate product is wrong. It's also common to serve lighter food like soup or porridge on Fridays and to require that pupils pay full price for meals like this isn't right.
	 In this essay I've argued against charging high-school pupils for their lunches. I base my opinion partly on the negative effects concerning economy, physical health and social situation that would is imposed on some pupils and their families. I also questioned the purpose and if the product given corresponds with the cost, the result of this further adds to my negative opinion. To disregard from the arguments I've brought up and implement these costs for pupils in high school is in my eyes totally inexcusable.
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