We are researching the controversy of schools serving junk food. Our research question

is: should schools be responsible for combating childhood obesity in the United States? With

childhood obesity rates on the rise, parents are searching for solutions. One solution is to control

what their children eat. This is why some parents want to eliminate junk food from schools.

However, some schools use junk food to subsidize their income and some companies believe

they should have the right to sell their products in schools. This is where the controversy starts.

There are many opinions on how to handle the situation and each uses different methods to

present their argument.

Boukhris, Tommy T. A Public Response to Childhood Obesity: Evaluating the Fresh Fruit

and Vegetable Program in Texas Schools. Publication. Texas State University, Oct.

2007. Web.

https://digital.library.txstate.edu/handle/10877/3601

This report done by Tommy T. Boukhris is a report that reflects what the state of Texas

has tried to do to fix the obesity problem within their schools. He talks about the Fruit and

Vegetable program being implemented and its accuracy of fixing the problem. “Tommy

Boukhris is a Program Specialist V at the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), in

Austin, Texas. He works in the Center for Communications and External Affairs where he

manages executive level communications systems within DSHS divisions and programs, Health

and Human Services Enterprise agencies, stakeholders, and legislators.” In the first chapter

Boukhris analyzes the problem with childhood obesity and gives a good definition and examples.

Chapter three talks about the implementation of the Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) in the

Texas school system and if it works or not. Also contains a brief formal evaluation of the FFVP

in Texas and an introduction to the working hypotheses. Chapter 6 is also useful because it

summarizes the findings and shows an accurate conclusion to the research. We will use this

article when we talk about the theme of  “schools”.

Summary By: Pate Rauluk

Braunstein, M.D., Glenn D. "Childhood Obesity: An Epidemic That's Growing Up

Fast."The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 June 2010. Web. 19 Feb.

2013

This doctor has wrote an article about the SATS of childhood obesity. He says “One of

every three children in America is now considered overweight or obese, and childhood obesity

has more than tripled in the past 30 years.” He talks about the many ways we have gotten to be

like this for example, I can be hereditary, sitting in front of the TV too much, not being active

and having poor nutrition. This article can be used to argue that the parents of children should be

help responsible for this problem and He lists many reasons most of them taking place in the

home.

Summary By: Jenna Aldulaimi

Cerretani, Jessica. "Targeting Childhood Obesity Early."Harvard Gazette. Harvard

University, 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

Jessica Cerrentani talks a lot about how child obesity has become a huge problem and

giving the example that is it effecting 17 percent of children in America. She focuses mainly on

the children of our country and ultimately she wants her readers to understand the problem and

know what is causing in order to prevent it in the future. She continues her article to discuss all

the different ways we can prevent this from happening such as being breast fed and started good

eating habits early on in life. We can use this to talk about how obesity is an actually problem

here in the United States and further proving that point we can move on to discus why this has

happened and who should be responsible for it.

Summary By: Jenna Aldulaimi

“Childhood Obesity in New York City Elementary School Students.” American Public

Health Association -. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2013.

http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.94.9.1496

This article is a case study from New York City elementary schools and their decision to

test BMI in schools. The researchers that wrote this article are Lorna E. Thorpe, PhD, Deborah

G. List, PhD, Terry Marx, MD, Linda May, MA, Steven D. Helgerson, MD, and Thomas R.

Frieden, MD. They found out that 43% of the students were overweight and that it is definitely a

problem that they need to fix. Obesity among public elementary school children in New York

City is an important public health issue. “Particularly high levels among Hispanic and Black

children mirror national trends and are insufficiently understood.” We will use the information

given in the research to show that their students are at risk of obesity because of the statistics

found. The case study is organized well and is easily navigable to the information needed for the

aid of the analysis of the controversy.

Summary By: Pate Rauluk

FERRAN, LEE. “Michelle Obama: ‘Let’s Move’ Initiative Battles Childhood Obesity.”

ABC News. ABC News Network, 09 Feb. 2010. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/michelle-obama-childhood-obesity-initiative/story?

id=9781473

This article from ABC news is a source that includes the first lady, Michelle Obama. She

talks about how she wants the United States to see the childhood obesity be resolved and extend

the lifespan of Americans. She talks about several things in the article that we can relate to our

analysis. First she talks about the government’s role in battling the obesity. She talks about a

Nutrition Act that her husband is trying to pass. She also talks about the importance of battling

the obesity epidemic in schools. This quote is directly taken from the article. “On the front lines

in the war against childhood obesity are the nation’s schools, where 30 million American

children are getting a majority of their calories. In addition to the government’s effort to support

nutritional meals in schools, the first lady said there also needs to be a focus on physical activity

in school.” Her input on the issue will be used to direct the analysis with ethos, considering she is

the wife of the president of the United States.

Summary By: Pate Rauluk

Gonzalez, Isabella. “Childhood Obesity: Do Parents Have the Right to

Point Fingers?”Divine Caroline. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.

http://www.divinecaroline.com/life-etc/culture-causes/childhood-obesity-do-parents-have-right-

point-fingers

Isabella Gonzalez gives many points in the article that aid to the relativity of the right for

parents to point fingers at fast food companies. She goes back and forth with the argument, as

she is neutral on the situation. Her article is basically the combination of researchers saying that

it’s the parent’s faults for the children’s weight problem and the parents saying that it’s the fast

food industries faults for not having healthier options. The argument of whether kids are getting

fat in school is also double sided in her article showing both sides arguments on the subject. We

will use this main point from this article “The government and other organizations are taking

actions to combat childhood obesity. For instance, first lady Michelle Obama’s Healthy Hunger-

Free Kids Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate and is now

awaiting President Obama’s signature to become law. This bill encourages schools to serve

nutritional meals that comply with the standards set by the National Academy of Sciences.

Schools are given subsidies in order to make these nutritional meals possible.” Our themes

within our essay include the action of the government and this source will mostly cover this

subject.

Summary By: Pate Rauluk

Krisberg, Kim. “Schools Taking Center Stage In Battle Against Childhood Obesity. (Cover

Story).” Nation’s Health 35.7 (2005): 1-23. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/ehost/detail?sid=304fb019-b159-4884-

9a9b9911c6420e31%40sessionmgr13&vid=8&hid=101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ

%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=18199859

The article addresses USDA nutritional guidelines claiming they are out of date. Krisberg

most importantly points out that the current policies allows junk food such as candy bars and

sugary sports drinks to be sold in cafeterias. The article then explains things like sodas that

cannot be sold in the cafeteria, but can be sold in vending machines because the USDA

nutritional guidelines don’t have any power outside the cafeteria. The source is fairly biased and

uses words like “takes advantage” when talking about junk food companies subsidizing the

schools budget. This takes away from the ethos that a newspaper naturally has. However, she

quotes many doctors, giving her article logos and compensating for the loss of ethos through her

biases. This article has effective statistics and ideologies in favor of schools fighting childhood

obesity that can be used in our paper.

Summary By: Addison Earle

Lehmann, Deborah. “Why School Cafeterias Are Dishing Out Fast Food.” education.com.

edcation.com 2013. Web. 25 Feb. 2013

http://www.education.com/magazine/article/fast-food-school-cafeterias/?page=2

This article explains that schools sell junk food for the revenue. She explains that the

revenue is used for school programs such as field trips. The article also explains how the lunches

are made to fit the USDA guidelines. This article lacks facts, but presents very important

ideologies. Although the article is in favor of schools having junk food they express their opinion

from a fairly neutral stance. Lehmann stays away from pathos and using strong language. This

gives the article a seemingly neutral stand and gives the article ethos. This article would be

useful to present ideologies and reasoning to why schools should be allowed to sell junk food.

Summary By: Addison Earle

Li, Ji, and Neal H. Hooker. “Childhood Obesity And Schools: Evidence From The National

Survey Of Children’s Health.” Journal Of School Health 80.2 (2010): 96-103.

Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?

vid=5&sid=304fb019-b159-4884-9a9b-9911c6420e31%40sessionmgr13&hid=

Ji, Li and Neal Hooker base their article off data form the National Survey of Children’s

Health conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2003 and 2004. Using the

data from this research they point out relationships between BMI and physical exercise,

socioeconomic standings, academic achievement, and food programs, like the National School

Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. This scholarly article is very neutral. The article

has strong ethos because of the structure of the writing and the sources used. The article purley

relies on logos. This article is filled with good facts and statistics but lacks a view into our

controversy. This article should be used for facts and statistics in the paper.

Summary By: Addison Earle

MeMeRoth. “MeMe Roth- NAAO- Junk Food in Schools- Stuart Varney.”

Youtube.Youtube, 11 Mar 2007. Web. 25 Feb. 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yey4sZD3h0w

This is a video from fox news. Although intended to be neutral reporting the anchor

interjects opposing viewpoints while questioning the interviewee. He brings up the point that

people shouldn’t have the right to “parent” others children. He also bring up that it could cost the

schools thousands of dollars. The story also presents Meredith Roth’s, a concerned mother’s,

view on the issue. Although a biased source it presents both sides to our controversy. The sides

presented lack logos to back up their claims but contain a lot of the pathos from both arguments.

This article would be useful in presenting ideologies from both sides.

Summary By: Addison Earle

Moreno, Geraldine, Deb Johnson-Shelton, and Shawn Boles.

"Prevalence And Prediction Of Overweight And Obesity Among Elementary School

Students." Journal Of School Health 83.3 (2013): 157-163. Academic Search

Complete. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.

http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/ehost/detail?sid=a2d32cbe-5adc-437b-

9b4e-726e68220ea5%40sessionmgr112&vid=6&hid=102

This article explores links between BMI and school programs, neighborhoods, and

socioeconomic status. Although the bulk of the article lacks a view into the controversy the

introduction is full of important statistics and also shows an opinion. The opinions of the authors

are that legislation regarding school lunches, venders, and physical exercise are the keys to

solving fixing childhood obesity. This scholarly article is very effective in its use of ethos and

logos. The reason for this is because they use the Center for Disease Control as a source. This

article would be great for introduction material as well as material for the parent theme of our

paper.

Summary By: Addison Earle

"Preventing Childhood Obesity by Reducing Consumption of

Carbonated Drinks: Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial."

Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

http://www.bmj.com/content/328/7450/1237

The following article shows the results of drinking carbonated drinks in elementary schools. This

article talks about a test in which doctors and physicians went to 6 different schools and asked 3

of them to stop drinking soda and three of them to continue drinking soda. The evidence

gathered from this experiment goes to show the correlation with consuming carbonated drinks

and becoming obese.

Summary By: John Parker

Rabin, Roni Caryn. "VITAL SIGNS; CHILDHOOD: When the

Cafeteria Line Leads to Tater Tots." The New York Times.

The New York Times, 08 Feb. 2011. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/health/research/08childhood.html?_r=0

This article does a great job of showing the affects of eating a meal provided by your

school at lunch as opposed to bringing your own from home. In a study done at several

southeastern schools in Michigan there was a 29% increase in obesity found from children who

bought lunch at the school as opposed to brining it from there house. This goes to show that the

school is more worried about saving money than getting nutritious food for there children.

Summary By: John Parker

Ross, Robert. "President Obama Takes Fitness, Sports and Nutrition to the Next

Level."The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 June 2010. Web. 19 Feb.

2013.

Ross talk about how president Obama is working hard to take a big step in nutrition to

help aid the childhood obesity dilemma we are having as a country. He has created what he calls

"Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.” Obama along with a council created the 50 pound

challenge to push young children to be healthy. A main thing to consider in what we are talking

about is who are the people that should be taking control and steeping forward stopping

childhood obesity. This is an example fo the government and the president of America taking

action in the prevention and solution for childhood obesity. We will use this source in our essay

to show that there are many sides to this issue and many people think that the government should

take action. This article is showing action being taken and a push for the greater of this country

and the children that live in it.

Summary By: Jenna Aldulaimi

Severson, Kim. "There's a Fight Inside the School Cafeteria."The New York Times. The

New York Times, 31 Mar. 2010. Web. 19 Feb. 2013.

This article is trying to prove that a main problem that is leading to childhood obesity is

school lunch's. It is said that “In Washington, where Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign

continues to point a finger at the school lunch line” A main reason for this is the funding that

the school is receiving which isn’t enough to have completely healthy food at school. Funds are

trying to be raised to help this problem. This article is a huge relation to our topic directly

attacking schools for the problem of childhood obesity in our country. This article can be sued in

our paper to have our readers see the side that schools are responsible and should be changing

the types of food they sell in class to help and prevent this problem in the future. We can argue

this source by showing the money that the school has and that has a huge factor on the food that

they are able to provide.

Summary By: Jenna Aldulaimi

Super Size Me. Dir. Morgan Spurlock. Perf. Morgan Spurlock. Sony, 2004. DVD.

Super Size ME is a documentary that follows Morgan Spurlock for 30 days while he is on

a diet of purely McDonalds. Throughout his documentary he does several interviews with people

in one way or another involved with the obesity epidemic in America. In one segment of the film

he interviews Mary Bollino, the Food Services Director, and some children. In this scene it

shows the children buying getting nothing but junk food for their meals. This scene is obviously

biased towards getting rid of junk food and takes away from Spurlock’s ethos. The scene also

lacks logos to back up the claims presented by Spurlock but it does a great job of outlining the

problem. This documentary would be great background information for the introduction of the

paper.

Summary By: Addison Earle

"Taking a Bite out of Childhood Obesity: New Proposed School Snack Standards."

LiveWell Colorado. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar.

2013.https://about.livewellcolorado.org/livewell-in-action/livewell-colorado-blog/taking-a-bite-

out-of-childhood-obesity-new-propose

Maren Stewart does a great job explaining the issues of child obesity and how it relates to

our schools. She goes on to say how the USDA has proposed an updated nutrition standards for

schools across our country. This new proposition will force schools to implement healthier

choices in school vending machines. Maren states some interesting facts; she mentions how 50%

of our children’s diet is directly correlated to our school’s food options, by implementing these

new ideas hopefully we will see a difference in childhood obesity ratings.

Summary By: John Parker

"Top 10 Causes of Obesity in Children - Boston Children's

Hospital - Top 20 Health Challenges." YouTube. YouTube,

29 Oct. 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2013.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBTUcBgBVV4

This video shows the top 10 reason why are children are becoming more obese. The man

states that most of the issue of obesity is due to our poor diet. He mentioned that sugary drinks

were the top cause for child obesity but also that processed foods at factories play a crucial role

in our countries obesity problems. He also mentioned that lack of excersise was a huge cause for

this issue but that our diet is still the most important thing we need to be worried about.

Summary By: John Parker

Wallis, Claudia. “America’s Obesity Crisis: Activists: The Obesity Warriors.” Time.com.

Time Magazine, 7 Jun. 2004: Web. 13 Feb. 2013

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994389,00.html

Wallis starts the article pointing out how junk food companies are advertising to our kids.

With the addition of their commercials representing themselves as healthful snacks there is a lot

of confusion. The article talks about how it’s hard for small communities to fight against junk

food companies with such huge resources. Wallis then brings to light the view of some peers.

One of these are Ludwig whom argues that promoting physical well-being should be part of a

school’s education. Ludwig also points some statistics behind soft drink and their relationship to

child hood obesity. Ludwig then explains that fast food meals such as Pizza Hut, Burger King,

and McDonald’s are still making it into our children’s cafeteria. Wallis then explains what the

government should do to stop this epidemic. This even includes the idea of taxing soft drinks to

raise money for combating obesity as well as a financial deterrent. This article presents a range

of views from removing junk food to compromises. The article has strong ethos because it was

wrote by TIME and it is fairly neutral. This article would be useful in presenting many sides of

our controversy.

Summary By: Addison Earle

Conclusion

I. Introduction – Addison Earle

A. Rhetorical Situation

i. Econ.

ii. History of obesity

iv. How obesity is becoming worse

v. What junk foods do schools sell?

vi. Ideologies

a. Freedom

1. Choice

2. Speech

b. Child

c. Parents

d. Schools- loco parentis

II. Theme 1- View points from Schools- Jenna Aldulamli

A. Intro- introduce topic Schools want better food 

i. Schools money- not enough money for healthy food

ii. Parents should send lunch with children

iii. Schools want to put better food in schools

iv. The extra money from unhealthy food is used a lot to benefit other programs

in the school.

v. Children should learn to make healthy choices on their own

B. Talk about source 

C. analysis 

Schools make money off bad food

D. Talk about how this relates 

E. Analysis 

III. Theme 2- Parents- Pate Rauluk

A. State issue of childhood obesity

B. State sides of the argument

i.Parents want schools to have better food

ii. Parents don’t like the schools food they should provide their own

a.Parents don’t want other parents to have control over their children

iii. Varying degrees of action

a. tax soda

b. Get rid of venders

c. Update policies

iv. Parents should be responsible for teaching their children good eating habits

C. Body Paragraph I

i. Introduce article/source and background

ii. State Michelle Obama’s stance

a. What side of the argument is she on?

b. What kinds of rhetoric does she use within her stance?

iii. How does this relate back to the audience?

D. Body Paragraph II

i. Introduce article/source and background

ii. State both sides of the argument

iii. How are these effective to the argument?

IV. Theme 3- Companies- John Parker

A: Intro to companies

i. They make revenue they have the right to

ii. Some companies are trying to compromise in a sense by creating healthier

options

iii. Government rules and regulations

v. government rules and regulations

B: Rhetorical analysis on articles and how they affect the way the general public looks at

these big companies

E: Conclusion

VII. Conclusion- Addison Earle

A. Overview of controversies

B. Which argument was presented the best

C. Setup 3rd paper