Valery Delgado

 

Prof. Elisabeth von Uhl

ENGL 21002 M

Field Observation 1

December 11, 2018

 

Hidden Habits within the walls of Mohegan Public School 67

 

When walking from location to location within a city, many people ignore the culture, architecture and history that each city block represents. From the ground floor to the rooftop, each building is made out of red bricks that gives it structure and foundation. Having the opportunity to observe a specific setting and understand its characteristic and culture is a unique challenging task. The Mohegan Public School 67 is located in the Bronx county between Mohegan Avenue and Honeywell Avenue. The school is five floors tall with walls covered by solid red bricks and red doors standing at the entrance to welcome its elementary to middle school students each morning from Monday to Friday. Stepping inside the school, two security guards seated behind an old wooden desk and asked for the reason of the visit. While standing in the entryway, overhead there is a large antique chandelier that emits a bright white light illuminating the entrance and staircase to the second floor, while a black carpet covers the blue tile floors. Next to the entryway along the left side, one could hear the noise of children playing in the gymnasium while also hearing the disagreement of some students with their teacher. Afterwards, some students step out the gym heading towards the staircase of the entryway to the second floor and most likely to another class, however; there was unhappiness expression seen from their exhausted and sad faces.

“What could these kids had done to look so sad and unhappy?”

I asked the security guard if they knew the reason for the students dismissal as other kids were still playing in the gymnasium. Both security guards answered back and mentioned that these kids probably got in trouble due to either eating in class or not participating during physical activities. I immediately wondered if these security guards see this situation happen constantly. By sound of their answers, it appeared that it’s common situation for these children to be told to step out of class for eating snacks during physical education class. In particular, I noticed that the children were a bit chubby and looked very tired and exhausted just by going up the stairs. As I explain my reason for the sudden visit and wave goodbye to the guards, I step outside and walk around the corner of the school. Walking towards the back of the school, there are two small red rectangular properties that looked like storage units which are designated areas for teaching pre-kindergarten students. Indeed, the cute little children were separated from the main school building and are not require to enter the school from the front gates.

Moving along the side of the school, there was a hispanic lady with a food cart selling cinnamon churros near the black bar gates that separate the school’s back door exit and the sidewalk. Additionally, this is the same exit in which students come out to play in the backyard during the recreation period and also where the parents picked up their children at the end of school day. As I approach her, I could sense the sweet cinnamon aroma from the warm golden churros which were very enticing. In fact, the churros were so tempting that I bought myself three churros for one dollar. Each churro was at least 10 inches long and were sprinkled with a lot of cinnamon sugar. There was so much sugar that the end of the brown paper bag which hold the churros had at least a teaspoon of leftover sugar. I questioned the lady whether children love to eat her homemade churros. She smile and said, “ Everyday, I have many of them come by to buy for either themselves or for their friends.” She looked so happy not just because of her business but seeing the children enjoying her homemade churros was fulfilling for her. However, I felt a guilty pleasure while eating the churros as I knew deep inside that such treats can be very unhealthy if eaten consistently.

Therefore, I made the decision to wait until the students came out during their recreational class period and observe the interaction with the food cart lady. As time pass by, I heard the loud cars engines that drove by as the school is near a busy road. After waiting for 30 minutes, the students began to step out of the red back doors. Within the first 5 minutes, the children began to make a line to buy churros. It was an expected outcome that the children will be lure by the sweet taste of sugar. I could see the brighten eyes as the children step in to get their sweets. I noticed across the school backyard another line forming as there was another cart seller but this time it was little cups of ice cream. Even though we are in the winter season, the children were ready to buy their cups of multiple flavor ice cream. The community is aware of the present of these food carts aim at students and have no problem with the business in the outside premises of the school. I spoke to another woman that was also buying a little cup of ice cream who told me that “these people worked very hard and the children deserved a little treat after long day of school.” I asked her “Do you think such ‘little treat’ are healthy for the young children?” The lady took a moment and said ‘Well obviously if the children eat sweets in large portions it will be bad for their health, but the kids eating habits are a consequence of how the parents teach them and feed them.’ Her response really surprised me, as I don’t believe that the eating habits are just taught at home but can be affected by their surroundings, specially children.  

Obesity is a true health concern in American society that can start during early stages of a person’s life. Children can fault victims to unhealthy eating habits without truly knowing about it. The constant exposure to sweet snacks and sugary drinks can lead to health risk in many children. Seeing some young students have a lack of energy to play outside or participate in physical education activities within the public school have opened my eyes to the increasing risk of over exposure to unhealthy sugary snacks.