Not only do they want their lunch for free, they want it to come with “Status”
Although Francisco Velazquez, a 14-year-old freshman with spiky hair and sunglasses, qualifies for a free lunch at Balboa High School here, he was not eating. He scanned a table full of friends and asserted, “I’m not hungry.”
On another day, a group of classmates who also qualify for federally subsidized lunches sat on a bench. One ate a slice of pizza from the line where students pay for food; the rest went without.
Lunchtime “is the best time to impress your peers,” said Lewis Geist, a senior at Balboa and its student-body president. Being seen with a free or reduced-price meal, he said, “lowers your status.”
Hey, it saves me money if they don’t take the handout. Fine with me.
Though I’m pretty sure that I’d rather “look uncool” than go hungry.
Now if we could only figure out a way to induce this same shame with public housing. And Foodstamps. And Welfare Checks.