Junkfood Argumentative Essay:

High Ratings in obesity have been developing in children. Based on Source A, The New York Times UpFront, Source B, MedicalDaily.com, and Source C, all explain how obesity is spreading throughout children. These sources give us an understanding as to why schools should or should not ban junk food. Poor eating habits have been developing at an early age and sadly are leading to a lifetime of extreme health consequences. Kids are now becoming obese and schools believe that if they ban junk food, then the high ratings of children with obesity will decrease.  
    To begin with, banning junk food doesn’t teach children how to make healthy choices. According to Source A, “an important part of education is learning to make good choices. The author continues to explain, “An across-the-board junk-food ban doesn’t teach young people how to make healthy choices; “it simply removes some of their options.” If schools were to ban junk food then it would make students want junk food even more.  Although students wouldn’t eat unhealthy food  at school, they would most likely want to buy junk food outside of school. The kids mentality is that they can still purchase snacks when they go to the grocery store with their parents. Junk food may not be allowed in schools, but they are allowed in students homes.  Source A also asks, “Are we talking about potato chips, soda, and pastries? What about fried chicken fingers, cheeseburgers, and pizza? “ It does make sense for the schools  to ban junk food because it is unhealthy; however, it wouldn’t make sense if the school lunches offer to serve food that is just as bad.  
    In addition, some students are not able to afford healthy food. Sadly, in almost every school, there are several students whose parents struggle financially.   As stated in Source B,  “For some students, school is the only place they get a meal. In low-income communities, fast food is easy to access and affordable, but healthy food is inaccessible because it is very expensive.” As said before, there are students who aren’t able to buy healthy food. Since junk food is less expensive than healthy foods, struggling parents who can’t afford much would much rather buy the junk food. Also, according to Source A, “Improving what we teach about nutrition and requiring more physical activity are better ways to approach obesity than imposing statewide junk-food bans.” This piece of textual evidence explains that if schools were still able to keep junk food and have physical education programs then the ratings of obesity would not be as high. If schools continue to provide PE or after school sports, then students would be able to burn off the calories they ate throughout the day.
    Furthermore, based on Source C there are high percentages of children with obesity. Source C points out, “Less than 25% of high school students participate in daily physical education programs.” This means that ¼ of high school students do not get any type of workout.  If students eat junk food and participate in PE, they are able to burn off the calories from the junk food intake. Also, Source C maintains, “92% of elementary schools don’t have year-round physical education programs.” This proves that both high schools and elementary schools lack physical education programs which will allow students to burn off the calories consumed from junk food. If schools were to have PE programs the ratings of obesity would decrease.
To conclude, obesity is prevalent in many children around the country. Each source gives us a clear understanding of the pros and the cons of having junk food sold at schools.  To no surprise, kids can obtain unhealthy food in local convenient or grocery stores, allowing many students to intake thousands of calories. It is difficult for low income families to afford organic healthy food because it is outrageously overpriced. This obstacle makes it difficult for parents to help their kids lead a healthy lifestyle. Physical Education is lacking in the schools. This is another reason why obesity is spreading worldwide. All in all, students should have the opportunity their own choices on what foods they eat.

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