Not to long ago I was relaxing on my futon in my dorm room watching t.v and munching on a bowl of cereal. I so happened to have on TLC and was watching a documentary on the worlds largest dad, or something like that. This man weighed almost 1000 pounds! However, this is not the subject of my newest blog post. Before the show changed to a commercial it spewed one of the most disturbing statistics I have ever heard in my entire life. Are you ready for this? Here we go: "Last year Americans spent more money on fast food than they did on higher education." Lets let that sink in for a second..... okay. Any college students who may be reading this, do you know how much you or your parents are spending on college a year? UW-Stout's tuition is around 14,000 dollars a year, thats a lot of money out of pocket for your education. Now lets say there are around 10,000 students that go to this college all paying that tuition. That comes to around 140,000,000 dollars. Now if there are 26 campuses in wisconsin(lets say there are the same amount of students paying the same tuition) that would come to 3,640,000,000. That is a lot of money on higher education and that's just in wisconsin, don't even ask me to to calculate all the states combined together you can do that yourself. Can you believe that americans spend more than 49 x 3,640,000,000 dollars on fast food a year. No wonder why everyone is so fat!
Now don't get me wrong I'm not really calling fat people stupid but think of how the frequent fast food goers money could be better used rather than on a hamburger. If everyone pushes higher education on the new generations of teenagers getting ready to leave college how can we justify spending more money on something as stupid and gross as fast food. No wonder why America is considered the most obese country. Does Japan even have fast food? Their smart and skinny! I think this is saying something. America needs to get rid of all their fast food, eat rice, only have two kids, and get smarts shoved down their throats... Alright maybe nothing that extreme. I'm just saying this statistic is a little ridiculous, can we work on this america?
Don't get me wrong- I completely agree with pushing the influence of attending a higher education after high school. The fact of how much money is being spent for colleges vs. fast food is also something that makes me cringe. However, I do have a point that I'd like to make.
ReplyDeleteIn today's society, the idea of attending a college/university is pushed upon people. That's all you ever hear while in high school, how "important" it is to go to college. Yes, I do agree it is beneficial to do so, but I don't believe that it's necessary in order to have a good life.
College isn't for everybody. People push the idea of "going away to college" to such a hard extent that I can't believe what comes out out of people's mouths sometimes. In my own opinion, the first two years of college were quite difficult for me-being away from home was something I wasn't used to- but it was more than just 'missing my family'. Dorm life isn't for everyone, either. And unforunately, that's usually the biggest part of college.
Yes, I am aware that their are community colleges, etc, and usually that is the best option for those people who don't think going away to school is for them. However, people need different needs in their own way, and spending money for education that they don't want is something people have to start accepting. Their are careers out their for people who don't go to school, and although they won't get a large paycheck every week, sometimes that is the best option.
Are people eating fast food because they WANT to, or are they eating fast food because they HAVE to.
ReplyDeleteFresh produce and healthy foods are expensive. For a lot of families, buying dinner off the dollar menu means the kids don't go hungry for the night. So yes, we may spend more on fast food than on higher education, but what group of citizens are purchasing the food? My guess would be that the people purchasing the most fast food would find the cost of a higher education out of reach.
Very interesting statistics.
ReplyDeleteJosie makes a good point about the dollar menu being an inexpensive way to feed the kids. However, if the scenario is buying a burger, a drink, and fries off the dollar menu for a family of four--that would be $12. You can get quite a substantial, healthy, made-from-scratch meal for $12.
Perhaps the masses who survive on fast food are not disciplined enough to schedule cooking and exercise time in their schedules. That's not the fast food restaurant's fault.
Wow! That is a scary statistic! However, it's not that surprising. People will always look for the more efficient and inexpensive way to do things. Fast food is a very simple alternative to buying groceries and preparing your own meal every time you eat. Plus, it tastes great. It honestly doesn't feel like Mcdonalds is getting more money out of me than college though. It would be amazing if our government had some sort of higher education tax that would aid college students. After all, we are only going here to better ourselves and, in turn, better society. That was kind of off track. I don't think obese people are stupid, just lazy in that they don't want to take the time to shop and prepare food. Or they are busy. Either way, yes, it is unhealthy and a drain on money, but it is much more efficient. If being in this technical communications course has taught me anything, it's that people love things easy and fast (no innuendo intended). And that is never going to change.
ReplyDelete