Labour has been telling us that feeding poor kids will help their learning. They implore the government to think of the children, despite that fact that their parents don’t think too much of them in the first place to send them to school without lunch. They claim that despite the millions in benefits and state assistance that the state must now provide food for the children.
And all without a shred of evidence to support their notions. They even enlist their tame flunky media hacks like John Campbell to “prove” what they say…again it is only anecdotal evidence.
Then along comes some real evidence, that I just bet John Campbell won’t follow up with this week…you see it doesn’t suit his narrative. Neither will it suit the NZ Herald who love pimping poor people.
Feeding hungry schoolchildren does nothing to boost their learning, a new report shows.
The findings have surprised experts in a week when campaigning to introduce free food at schools to combat child poverty put pressure on the Government.
The only “significant positive effect” was that children felt less hungry, the study into free school breakfasts found.
Head of the study, Associate Professor Cliona Ni Murchu, said there were indications that attendance at school was also likely to improve but in reading, writing and maths there was no noticeable improvement.
Researchers at Auckland University’s School of Population Health studied 423 children at decile one to four schools in Auckland, Waikato and Wellington for the 2010 school year.
They were given a free daily breakfast – Weet-Bix, bread with honey, jam or Marmite, and Milo – by either the Red Cross or a private sector provider.
Despite the findings going against the assumption that well-fed children concentrate better and therefore do better at school, the report has not deterred the advocates of free food at schools.
