Sorry - missed your response there earlier!
These days schools are packed with junk food. Brand-name pizzas and other fast food places' "meals" and snacks galore. All at a nice cheap price, too.
Mom and Dad are too busy to pack real lunches, so the kids are now learning you don't have to do anything special to get food - just pick it up already prepared.
More kids now are buying their lunches. Back when I was in school more kids were bringing their lunches. The gradualization of a junk food nation. Teach 'em early that Taco Bell or whatever is the way to go.
I understand what you are saying, which is why I pay attention to what gets served in the school cafeteria. Especially at this time of the year, I am very happy to send lunch money with my daughter because she is getting a hot meal, as opposed to just a sandwich. The middle school and highschool may very well be different, but for now I am only familiar with the elementary school. And I even eat lunch there of occassion :)
When I was in grade school we went home for lunch - I was thrilled when I went to high school and could buy lunch because my choices of packing lunch from home were PB&J, bologna, or tuna.
Mom and Dad are too busy to pack real lunches, so the kids are now learning you don't have to do anything special to get food - just pick it up already prepared.
Again I understand where you are coming from, as that is the case in many, if not most instances. My husband packs his lunch nearly everyday, and so she has the opportunity to decide if she wants to pack or buy, depending on what daddy's fixing and what's on the menu at school that day :)
We do a tremendous amount of cooking in this house and so fortunately she has learned at a young age that having meal means more than just picking it up already prepared.