FOOD SERVICE IN RURAL SCHOOLS 65 



This service in Sdioolihouse E is one which fails to be of any educational 

 value and which reaches only one-half of its possible patrons; because of 

 untidiness of service^ complete lack of imagination in planning the menu, and 

 no supervision and little co-operation on the part of the teachers; not be- 

 cause of the absence of financial support by the school committee. 



4. Buildings with meal service. A few years ago the higili school teachers 

 of the town in which Schoolhouse F is located each contributed ten dollars 

 towards the establishment of a lunch room service for the high sohool pupils 

 and also those of an elementary school building across the the street from 

 the high school. The service is now self-supporting so far as food supplies 

 are concerned, and the school committee buys the permanent equipment and 

 also pays the wages of a woman and a helper who together do all the work. 

 The manager has entire charge of making the menus, setting prices, and 

 otherwise determining what the arrangements of the food service shall be. 

 She has had no training in food selection. 



About two-thirds of the children in the elementary school who remain at 

 noon patronize the lunch room. They come over to the high school building 

 under the escort of their own teachers and behavior is generally excellent. 

 Elementary and high school pupils do not come to the lunch room at the same 

 time. 



Strips of ticket coupons are on sale and the children buy them as they 

 wish, in amounts running from five to fifty cents. The day of the visit, about 

 half the pupils bought tickets as they started along the serving line; the 

 others were already provided. The room itself is a light and pleasant half- 

 basement, and it is kept clean. The food is all excellently prepared and is 

 good of its kind. "Whether or not it is the best to set before school' children 

 is another matter. There is no supervision of the choices the pupils make. 

 On entering the serving line, they see first of all an array of tempting des- 

 serts. These they may themselves place on their trays, while other foods 

 must be specifically requested from the woman who does the counter serving. 

 The day the menu given below was servd, only 36 half-pint bottles of milk 

 had been provided for the 200 pupils (high school and elementary) who 

 ^would be served; and these few bottles were all out of sig'ht, behind the 

 counter, so that the idea of choosing milk was not suggested to the children. 

 This free choice of food, with desserts most prominently displayed, led on€ 

 boy of eleven years to Buy for his lunch four dishes of coffee-nut-raisin tapi- 

 oca with whipped cream, and nothing else. No attempt was made to limit 

 purchases to one dessert per pupil or to make the buying of milk or soup or 

 a hot dish the necessary prerequisite to the buying of a sweet. Of the foods 

 available twice as many desserts were sold as were portions of the other 

 foods. 



Menu Cost 



Creamed salmon and peas 10 cents 



Chicken soup - 5 cents 



Vegetable soup — - 5 cents 



Sandwiches 5 cents 



Milk _ — 5 cents 



Coffee-nut-raisin tapioca with whipped cream 5 cents 



Chocolate blanc mange with whipped cream....„ _.... 5 cents 



