Look, I'm not saying that improving food quality is a magic solution to solving underachievement. But I've seen enough to know that it's a good start.
If you try too hard to push healthy food that people don't like to eat, it just gets thrown away, as this article describes. Furthermore, what's healthy depends on the individual.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/06/nyregion/healthier-school-lunches-face-student-rejection.htmlNo Appetite for Good-for-You School Lunches
By VIVIAN YEE
New York Times
October 5, 2012
...
They are high school students, and their complaint is about lunch — healthier, smaller and more expensive than ever.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which required public schools to follow new nutritional guidelines this academic year to receive extra federal lunch aid, has created a nationwide version of the age-old parental challenge: persuading children to eat what is good for them.
Because the lunches must now include fruits and vegetables, those who clamor for more cheese-laden nachos may find string beans and a peach cup instead. Because of limits on fat and sodium, some of those who crave French fries get baked sweet-potato wedges. Because of calorie restrictions, meat and carbohydrate portions are smaller. Gone is 2-percent chocolate milk, replaced by skim.
“Before, there was no taste and no flavor,” said Malik Barrows, a senior at Automotive High School in Brooklyn, who likes fruit but said his classmates threw away their mandatory helpings on the cafeteria floor. “Now there’s no taste, no flavor and it’s healthy, which makes it taste even worse.”
