Valery Delgado

Prof. Elisabeth von Uhl

ENGL 21002 M

Field Observation 2

December 11, 2018

 

Prevalence of Unhealthy Snacks in Public Schools

 

BACKGROUND:

Through observation and perception, one can analyze and understand the characteristics of a specific environment. By looking beyond what is being presented, new inquiries can be constructed to unveil new details. The field site that I chose to observe is the Mohegan Public School 67 located in the Bronx county between Mohegan and Honeywell Avenue. Previously, I was a former student of this public school where I had the chance to build fond memories from many interactions with students, teachers and faculty members. Recently, the school had an unfortunate event in which the high school section of the public school has been shut down due to budget cuts and other circumstances. However, the public school still remains open to children from pre-kindergarten to middle school grade levels.

Indeed, having the opportunity to not just observe a meaningful location from my past but also analyze its environment and subculture is a significant experience to further understand. It continues to amaze me that this old building is still able to house a variety of students from multiple ethnicities, ages and grades. Throughout my various walks around the perimeter of the school, I was able to observe a common behavior among the children that transpire not just outside but inside the red brick walls of the public school. As students walked from classes to the school’s playground, they were constantly exposed to unhealthy food snacks sold by either snack vending machines or by food carts/stands sellers outside the black metal gates that divided  the playground from the sidewalk.

FIELDSITE OBSERVATION:

It was a cold and windy November afternoon when I embark upon my expedition to the  field site at Mohegan Public School 67. Although, the wind gust caused my body to tremble and goosebumps along my skin, it was a bright sunny day. While walking along the sidewalk heading towards the school, I followed the path in which the warm sunlight could shine upon me. Before crossing the street to face the entrance of the public school building, there is a small recreational park in front of the school with black metal gates stopping the public access. The strong wind blew the green leaves away from the skinny branches of the park’s trees making them bare and without life. I finally reach the front of the school building and stood aside to admire its old architecture style composed of red bricks covering the external walls with big red doors guarding the entrance.

Before stepping inside the building, the wind continue to push its way unveiling all hidden trash along the sidewalk. Furthermore, I saw a black plastic bag floating in mid air as small pieces of ripped papers and gum wrappers were dispersed by the wind. The pavement along the school’s entrance are composed of cement with cracks and beige cream color. Unfortunately, there was a footprint trail leftover by someone who stepped on dog waste. Additionally, an empty pack of Newport cigarettes was tossed aside in the sidewalk with used cigarettes buds on the ground. As I turn around the back corner of the school, the air quality diminish due to the gasoline smell emitted from cars. The further I walk along the far side of the school’s playground, a more noticeable stench was present from rotten food within dumpsters. On the other side of the playground, there are two red small rectangular homes that resemble storage units which is the designated area where the pre-k students would stay. Additionally, the middle of the school’s playground is fill with recreation activities including a blue monkey bars, a yellow slide, and a hopscotch colored like a rainbow.

While heading back to the entrance of the school, there were multiple sounds emitted from either police sirens with red and blue lights beaming throughout the street or random parked vehicles making beeping noises for no apparent reason. In addition, at times I was able to hear a helicopter propeller cutting through the wind and the engines of airplane above land. I had forgotten how unbelievable the sounds is for such a small area. In addition, a few blocks away from the school there are multiple fast-food stores such as grocery delis, Mexican restaurant, Kennedy Fried Chicken and Chinese takeout. All of these spots provide cheap and accessible food, becoming a common place for children and parents to buy unhealthy meals. However, the crunch of the crispy chips or sweet taste of sugary drinks are enticing snacks that children love.

Furthermore, as I entered the school’s building, there are two security guards sitting behind a wooden desk asking for identification and reason of visit. While the guards write down the information, I stood aside within the entry lobby and notice that overhead there is a massive antique chandelier that illuminates the entryway along the staircase that leads to the auditorium and other classrooms. The gymnasium is across the staircase at the end of the hallway which included paintings of beloved children book characters such as Ariel from the Little Mermaid with Sebastian and Flounder in wide ocean background. As the security guard finished writing down my information, loud noises expanded from the hallway coming from the gym. Walking by the gymnasium and peaking through the gap between the two doors, I observe a unique separation among the students as some will be active and majority will be laying on top of gym mattresses. It appeared that many students were not willing to participate in the physical activities provided by the teacher but instead prefered to lay down or secretly eat snacks for the remaining time of class. It was surprising to see so many children reject fun activities and rather be lazy or sneakily eat in class. As I wave and said ‘Hi’ to the physical education teacher, she was wearing a navy blue tracksuit with black sneakers and her hair tie back. From her face expression, she looked disappointed and frustrated at the lack of motivation among her students.  The teacher said that “these kids don’t want to participate in any physical activity, they only care about eating junk food and using their smartphones.”

Indeed, many of students appear to be overweight and exhausted from simply walking around the gymnasium. Walking towards the exit doors to the back of the school, another group of students were outside for the recreational period/break. However, the students were not truly using the playground to actually play but they were sitting down eating chips, cookies, and cinnamon churros. There were three different food carts along the black metal bar gates that separate the school’s playground and the sidewalk. Each food stand offered a sugary snack such as churros, small ice cream cups, or sugar covered nuts. As I approach one of the food seller, I could smell and even taste the sweet cinnamon sugar from churros. I could imagine how enticing such treats could be for children specially when the price is affordable and it’s made out of sugar.

Additionally, I was able to speak with the food seller lady in spanish as she struggle to speak in english about the possible issues that sugary snacks can cause. The lady was very respectful and understood to a certain degree that letting children consume sugar can negatively affect them. However, she said that “these children sometimes need a little break from the stress they receive during school, and a sweet treat wouldn’t be bad if the kid eats once in a while.” Her response really surprised me, as the children would not be able to control or resist the temptation of unhealthy snacks that are available every day.

CONCLUSION:

Obesity can be considered an epidemic among the youth population in American society as the “incident obesity between the ages of 5 and 14 years was more likely to have occurred at younger ages” (Solveig, 2014). Throughout my field site observation, many young students are constantly exposed to unhealthy sugary snacks through either food stands outside of school, vending machines inside the school and also the increase amount of fast food chains that are usually close by the school perimeter. Indeed, sugar intake in children has increased in the past decades contributing to future health issues as “beverages such as soda and juice boxes also greatly contributes to the childhood obesity… the consumption of soda by children has increased throughout the last 20 years by 300 percent” (Obesity Action Coalition, 2018). In particularly, I observe many students at Mohegan public school 67 constantly eat snacks with high content of sugar including churros, ice cream, cookies, chips, soda, arizona ice tea, and candy bars.  

Additionally, these children avoided participating in physical activities during gym class with the excuse of being tired or just walking away. Not only are the physical education teachers struggling to motivate some of the student to partake into physical activities but also teachers from other subjects face the same problems with students lacking motivation during class. Many of the students that I had the opportunity to observe during my visit at Mohegan Public School 67 suffer from over exhaustion which could be probably attributed to “high fast food consumption associated with a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity” (Carmen 2011). This study perform by Carmen et al. illustrates how a “Western dietary pattern” composed of high fat and carbohydrates like burgers, pizza, etc that are prevalent in American society can lead to obesity in US children. Moreover, another contributing factor that could worsen the intake of unhealthy snacks in student arises from “school-aged children spending most of their day in school in a sedentary lifestyle” (Obesity Action Coalition, 2018). Therefore, from my observation young student can fault victims to unhealthy eating habits without truly knowing about it from exposure to unhealthy snacks constantly provided towards them.

 

Works Cited

Carmen R. Isasi, MD, PhD; Amy Whiffen; Eleanor Campbell; Yolanda Florez; Katherine Freeman; Judith Wylie Rosett ( January 2011). High Prevalence of Obesity Among Inner-City Adolescent Boys in the Bronx, New York: Forgetting Our Boys. Preventing Chronic Disease Public Health Research, Practice, and  Policy, Vol.8 No. 1

 

Solveig A. Cunningham, Ph.D, Michael R. Kramer, Ph.D, and K.M. Venkat Narayan, M.D.

( January 30, 2014)  Incidence of Childhood Obesity in the United States. The New England Journal of Medicine. N Engl J Med 2014; 370:403-411

 

“What is Childhood Obesity?” Obesity Action Coalition, 2018

https://www.obesityaction.org/get-educated/understanding-childhood-obesity/what-is-childhood-obesity/