The problem here is that goverments are increasingly reluctant to fund schools properly, so those schools and districts look for alternate revenue sources.

There stand the junk food and soda pimps with open wallets. By all means take the damn things out of the schools, but let's start putting some cash into the country's future, which right now is sitting in an inadequately supplied classroom.

DAT SHIT FUKIN BLOWS. ALL I DID WAS SMUGGLE THEM INTO SKOOL AND SELL THEM 2 MAKE SUM MONEY. BUT IT'S BULL SHIT THEY TOOK DA POP MACHINES OUT

This made me pretty angry.
Bring 'em back!
~Keely

Guess what? There's probably a store right across the street, so what good would it do anyway?

I graduated the year before they took soda and candy machines out of my high school, but my brother still goes there and I here about it all the time. I honestly think it is really stupid. Our school also had some of the best chocolate chip cookies on the planet. My brother wanted to get a couple packs and the lunch lady said she could only sell him one because they are unhealthy. Now, my brother has a six pack and is one of the best physically shape people I have ever met. Common sence dictates that he takes extremely good care of himself and yet the lunch lady was not allowed to sell him two packs of cookies...thats just stupid! Now that they took out the soda machines, the teachers are selling candy and soda to kids before and after school and even during class. They didn't solve any problem by taking the machines out, the kids/teachers just found new ways to get their goodies.

An excellent idea. I've heard administrators complain that they need the money that soda machines raise, but think of how much money you could make selling kids drugs - assuming that money is the only consideration. Kids are also hyperactive with a lot of sugar.

I think its stupid because it should be the sutdents choice on what they eat and drink. This isb't preventing the student body from drinking soda throughout the day. The students can just bring it from home and they school deistricts can't stop you from bringing soda from home!

I really think it would be a wonderful Idea to get rid of them stupid soda machines. even though I LOVE soda, they just have to go. besides why wasted money on something that is going to make you fat when you could just give that money to the children that starve to death somewhere else? I feel the same way about computers, everybody was doing fine with out them. These things are like addictions, they are addictions!!

It's a good idea. There's lots of stuff to drink besides soda. All that sugar rots your teeth and the parents have to foot the bill at the dentist. Plus kids are fat, diabetic, hypertensive, etc. It's a health hazzard. If you want soda that bad, bring it yourself.

I don't see this as as issue unless they are leaving class to make a purchase or bringing the food/drink into the classroom.

Get them out of the schools. Why do kids need to buy soda during the day. Save it for after school snamcks at home. I see kids buying soda, chips, candy, cookies and all kinds of junk for lunch at school. I doubt if their parents know what they're eating but I do know that America is FAT and allowing kids to fill up with empty calories isn't helping them at all.

I know back in my unlamented high school days I spent many tense debating this vital issue with schoolmates. At one point we came to blows and had to be separated.

That would be dumb on the schools part they make money off that.

I don't buy into the let the kids make their own choice theory too much - if that is a valid, acceptable theory, what's the limit? Shouldn't they be allowed to buy drugs in school, then, too, or is that a That's different proposition? Anyway, having said that, I'm all for vending machine-free schools, although the vending machines are only part of a much larger problem, i.e., the whole school lunch program that feeds our kids some of the worst foods, health-wise, that they can get. A couple of months ago I substitured for a consumer health class, and the teacher had left a video for me to show to the class. The video was all about unhealthy foods (those with too much cholesterol, sugar, and sodium). Immediatrely after one of the classes the kids went to lunch in the school cafeteria where they were served pizza, tacos overloaded with sodium, and huge chocolate chip cookies about seven times as big as the ones shown in the video as an example of what not to eat. I am not so obtuse as to not to know that it's tough for a school cafeteria to prepare nutritious foods that are appetizing (so that the kids will actually eat it), but there's gotta be a way for schools to serve food that is healthier than the normal daily fare I've seen served.

This is stupid not only is this a source of profit for the schools but it also gives the students a chance to drink something a little more intresting to drink than water.

They have been taking them out and putting them back for decades. Kids want to drink something during school. So they go off campus and but it, I don't understand what the fuss is all about. Banning soda machines from schools is not going to solve any health problems.

Come on! Lighten up a little! What's next? No snacks? No recess? No puns? Give me a break and let the kids drink their delicious carbonated beverages!

Definitely not a big deal in the school system. Although, I am not a big soda fan(haven't had one in two years) schools should be allowed to sell them, but educate children on the harmful affects to their health by drinking soda (phosphoric acids, nitrates, caffeine, sugar, which cause the body to produce high levels of insulin, therefore storing more fat......)

Not that big of a deal. Students will just bring soda from home anyway. By highschool, we don't have to worry about students going crazy from a little caffiene so I don't see what the big deal is. But we didn't have soda machines at my school and I never really thought it was that big of a deal anyway.

It should be up to the local schools as to whether they want to remove soda machines or not. I personally think it is a bad idea. The argument for the removal of soda machines is that it prevents kids from making unhealthy beverage choices. I for one believe that most kids have to learn how to make choices some time, and by the time they are in high school they should be able to make a decision as simple as what they want to drink with their lunch. Most schools offer students a variety of choices (milk, bottled water, juice, sodas), and kids should have the freedom to drink what they want.

VERY stupid idea.the students will be mad and upset

If we simply remove this little obstacle then how do you expect people to learn to make their own decisions? I think the kids should be educated in what foods are or aren't healthy and choose what foods to eat based on this knowledge. Besides, if a kid can't pay a dollar for a soda at school they'll just go home and have one for free.

I think other matters are much more important. Soda bottles aren't bringing guns to school and opening fire, are they?

What is the point? The cool drinks keep the students refreshed and their blood sugar high while the money the have spent goes to (hopefully) the schools flagging coffers. I don't think health is too big an issue here, in that soft drinks have more of an influence on the teeth (though it's rare that this extends beyond a few minor cavities) then essential organs, frankly I've never seen a story that reads soda junkies heart wrenching tale of mountain dew addiction.

(2 stars=not that important of an issue) The argument for removal of the soda machines and other vending machines seems to be that they present an unhealthy choice for students. I figure that should be a CHOICE made by the students; if a student is never presented with a choice (healthy or unhealthy), how will they ever learn to make that choice? Taking out soda machines won't solve the greater problem of obesity in America--teaching the kids HOW and WHY to make the healthier choice is better in the long run.