No, it's not free.

I've written before about school districts that are serving free breakfasts in the classroom to all the kids so as not to stigmatize those who are on the dole. A recent article says that serving them in the classroom is necessary because they don't make it to school early enough to eat in the cafeteria. My guess is they're not all that hungry if they don't show up. One teacher says of the breakfast in the classroom program, "They like that they don't have to stand in a line for breakfast." Well, let's make it as easy for them as possible! We certainly don't want to inconvenience them in order to give them a meal!

Here's the real problem with catering to these kids who are learning that they shouldn't have to put forth any effort to live in this world. Jacobey Simpson, 8 years old, said that the best thing about eating in class was "it's free." No, Jacobey, it's not free. You may not be paying anything for it, but the rest of us are.

It's also noteworthy that the teachers say it takes 10 to 15 minutes to serve, eat and clean up. That's 10 to 15 minutes taken out of classroom time while we have school districts such as Sioux Falls, South Dakota, who won't take the 10 seconds required to say the Pledge of Allegiance because "it takes too much time."

"Breakfast at desk fills bellies, brains." The Dallas Morning News; December 2, 2013; p. 1A.