It’s ironic how there is a lot of food all around the world, enough for everyone to at least have 3 meals a day, yet there are many children scattered around the world wondering when their next meal will come around. You would imagine that everyone would have food to eat, but that is not the case and many suffer. Hunger is a crisis that has a “snowball effect” as Tony Notarides, an elementary school teacher, puts it (Hunger In Our Schools). Throughout our lives, we have different stages of development we go through and whether you believe it or not nutrition plays a massive role. Multiple factors go into why kids around the world are hungry and two of them include the shortage of money or the resources …show more content…
Nutrition is vital during pregnancy and the first two years of life because it affects the mental capacity of a child in their future (Hungers Impact on Learning). In Too Hungry to Learn, it is found through research that children are more likely to have headaches, stomachaches, and colds by the time they reach the age of pre kindergarten (Hickson et al 2). In the follow up report Feeding Our Human Capital, it states that those who were food insecure in their childhood can later on have health effects like heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension (Hickson et al 2). If these kids get sick more often than not, their immune system grows weaker and weaker, which leads to a slower recovery (Effects of Hunger on Education). Not getting all the nutrients and vitamins necessary can lead to iron-deficiency anemia which has its own effects later on in life. Hunger influences a child ever since they’re a little fetus inside its mother’s womb and continues to affect them as they go through the different stages of …show more content…
Emily Walthouse writes, “Unfortunately, enrolling children in formal schooling does not guarantee that they are retaining the information from lessons.” (Borgen Project). Because children who suffer from hunger are more vulnerable to being sick, they miss out on a lot of class time. Even though a child has access to a classroom, books, and an education, it does not mean that they will actually learn. How many times have you been to school on an empty stomach? Isn't it hard to focus and do your work? Now imagine it’s been a few days since your last meal and put yourself in the place of a little kindergarten student. It’s hard isn’t it? Studies have shown that hunger hurts the chances of a child graduating high school and later on being successful in life. A study demonstrated that kids living in a food insecure home were more likely to have repeated a grade in school, had special education or mental health counseling, lower grades in math, and higher absences and tardies at school (Kleinman et al 25). Hunger is a disadvantage that keeps children from achieving success because it is more difficult for them to focus in a classroom. Ultimately, all the effects hunger has on learning, causes further deterioration in their