That is why we are pressing for a universal school lunch every day for every child in the world. We would like to see the United States take the lead in securing a commitment to that objective in the United Nations. Dollar for dollar a daily nutritious meal for the 300 million hungry school-age children of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe will accomplish more in strengthening humans than any other kind of assistance. Because of favoritism toward boys in much of the Third World, most of these children are girls. Each time a school lunch is initiated, attendance doubles and sometimes triples within a short time.
Parents encourage boys and girls to go to school to benefit from a nutritious lunch or breakfast.
Of equal importance is the dramatic improvement in learning and academic achievement that follows the launching of a school lunch program. Imagine trying to teach a child who has come to school with little or no breakfast and must endure the school day with no lunch. Nutrition is a precondition of education. Something else happens when school lunches are established. UN studies in six countries have revealed that illiterate females have an average of six children.