Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Hi my name is Nick Sili, and I was thinking about doing something about the school cafeteria. I don't think this will be my actual topic idea but I couldn't really think of a good idea yet. I was thinking about researching where brower get there supplies and food from because I think I feed my dogs better food then they serve us.
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It might be possible to write an analytic paper about college cafeterias, but I think it will be a more challenging topic than you realize. The challenge will be finding an angle on the topic that makes it an analytic paper rather than a report or a purely practical proposal to improve the taste of the food or something.
ReplyDeleteTo turn this into an analytic research project, you would have to find the right frame. You also have to get beyond your own limited experience in looking at the issues associated with school cafeterias, because the national trend is toward much better cafeteria food. In fact, marketers would call college cafeterias "loss leaders," as they typically lose money no matter the pricing strategy. Like the ubiquitous rock walls and high quality housing, the school cafeteria is designed to attract students as customers who are more interested in the basic amenities than they are in the education on offer.
The main strategy that schools use to woo students is to make large amounts of food available to them. And this leads to a lot of waste:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/27/389284061/when-food-is-too-good-to-waste-college-kids-pick-up-the-scraps
Dealing with that waste could make for an interesting project, especially if you explore the larger question of how the issue of food waste could become a teaching opportunity to get students thinking about the larger questions connected to their everyday lives.
Another angle would be the healthiness of college food. To please the "customers," cafeterias often offer very unhealthy options at every meal, including plenty of cheese, at least contributing to "the freshman fifteen" and rising obesity among students. The problem may be this student-as-consumer mentality.
Those are just two things that occur to me right away. There may be others. Again: I think it will be a challenge for you to make this into a viable analytic research project. However, I think it can be done if you work on it.