Fed Up With Finals?
Here, My Dear, Take A Candy Bar
Pascaline Lechene
Issue date: 2/2/09 Section: Inside the Bubble
Fall semester finals just wrapped up, but before we know it, spring semester finals will be upon us! When we're stressed out, we all need a little comfort. Well, when that time rolls around again, check your mailbox-you might have received a finals package from your parents! What the hell is that? As a foreign exchange student, I had no idea what this tradition entailed. I am sure you do, but let's give a little reminder here.
The finals package is a box that you receive around test-time, usually from a loving parent. How sweet! For parents who do not have time to prepare them, however, there are plenty of organizations offering to put them together in their honor. They can simply order them through the web, choose what to put in it, and have the box delivered to their child at school.
Oxy offers this service to its students' families, as well. The college partners with its honor society, Mortar Board, to provide the service. Oxy can either get information from the parents on what they would like to include, or put together a standard collection of treats themselves.
What will you find in these packages to help you study? They are composed of various food items and other stress-relieving objects. These could be games, books, or anything personal (if made by your parents) to make you feel at home and cheer you up in this stressful time. Then after playing with all these toys that make you forget about your stress how do you feel? Hungry, right? And now, we've reached my favorite part of the finals packages: food!
What kind of food do your caring parents send to you? Things you love, of course. And what do students love when they're stressed about a term paper and presentation due on the same day? Junk food.
In a thoughtful finals package prepared by Oxy, you'll find all sorts of wonder such as Ramen Noodles, M&Ms, Skittles, Mike & Ikes, Rice Krispie Treats, Oreos, pretzels, chocolate-covered pretzels, cheese crackers, peanut butter crackers, popcorn, Tootsie Rolls, Cow Tails, Animal Crackers, Apple Jacks, Wheat Thins, Pop Tarts, two different kinds of fruit snacks, gummy bears, Sweet Tarts, suckers, chips, Keebler cookies, peanuts, graham crackers, a Nature Valley granola bars, fruit cups, trail mix, slinkies, bubbles, and a bath toy.
NOTICE: This is not a list to select from. This comes all in one single box.
Normally one would think a "care package" would contain brain food. You know, the stuff to help you concentrate and keep you motivated to finish that last page or slide? So tell me, who decided this junk food was brain food? Who declared these contents "healthy"? And the most important question, how is this supposed to help a student work better?
Take a moment to reflect on a situation we've all found ourselves in. You are lonely in your room, for the third day in a row, and the clock strikes 2am. Suddenly, you crave food-sugary food. In fact, if you don't get it soon, you will not be able to memorize one more term.
Or can you? Our conception of our own efficiency may be largely psychological. The whole point of final packages is not to help you study better, but to cheer you up and to support you during this harsh period of the semester. It therefore appears logical that you will find food you like in it. I mean, who would feel better and ready to work after a raw carrot break?
As its name tells us, these are "care" packages, which means that they are made by people who care about you, and know what you like. Sure, they may be full of junk, but it is your favorite junk that you hopefully only eat in copious amounts during hard times.
During times of stress, students are eating this food for psychological reasons. They are viewing food as comfort, as Ruth Frechman, dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association says. She also asserts that it is much easier to provide non-fresh food to avoid any spoil. This makes sense; a fruit basket stands a much worse chance at survival in the postal system than wrapped candy bars. Also, in times like these when money is tight, we can assume that it would be cheaper to provide junk food than fruits and vegetables.
But finals packages raise questions about a more general and endless subject: food habits among students, and American people in general. When I asked people for information about the finals package distributed to students at Oxy, they all seemed skeptical about my interest in the subject. This was my first hint at the mentalities people have towards it. If people are not interested or even a little surprised about what we find in these boxes, it might be because it seems absolutely normal to them. The same thing is happening when you do a simple search on the internet. Plenty of websites offering these packages appear, but there is no studies offered about them or the negative health approach on the first of Google's pages. Our society is "setting you up for a habit", says Frechman. People, particularly students, are conditioned to love junk food. Marketing, paired with a lack of financial resources and free time to shop and cook, is the perfect combination to turn you into a junk food addict.
The websites proposing these packages are mainly offering unhealthy food. Even the "Healthy Choices Final Exam" package, on from-mom.com, is all but healthy. Here are some of the things you'll find in this:
• Pure Bar
• Kar's Nuts
• Fastachi Snack Mix
• Airforce Nutrisoda
• Laughing Cow Cheese
• Crispy Green Crunchy Fruit
• 2 Late July Sandwich Crackers
• Sensible Foods Crunch Dried Snacks
• Lesser Evil Krinkle Sticks
• Bear Naked Granola
• Vruit Fruit and Veggie Blend Juice
• Harvest Lark Bakery Bar
Does anyone out there even know what a "krinkle stick" is? How about "crispy green crunchy fruit"? It's hard to trust anything when it seems that people will throw a "healthful" label on anything and parade it around as organic or nutritious, when in fact these granola bars and whole-grain chips sometimes pack more sugar or calories than a chocolate bar.
These problems don't always come from the students themselves. American students are constantly surrounded by junk food on campuses. How can you ask them to resist? Now, I'm not judging, but as a native of France, there were things I couldn't help noticing in the Cooler that I do not see at home, such as vitamin drinks packed with sugar and endless kinds of candy bars. Again, I stress that I do not judge the student, but I remain convinced that something should be said about it and maybe actions should be taken to change it. This would, however, need to come from the student level, because consumers ultimately have the biggest influence on what they ingest.
In all honesty, though, students would be more likely to protest the Cooler if it stopped serving candy, rather than marching to end the selling of candy. We need motivation. Will information make students more aware of what they are eating, or should be eating? Or will the constant barrage of junk coming from these Oxy-approved finals packages placate us? We need to realize that these aren't making our brains function at maximum capacity. We need to tell mom and dad not to order these junk food boxes. Why not send some cash to ease your monetary stresses? Or if they really want to make you feel at ease during the hand-clenching hair-pulling end-of-semester showdown, tell them to put a little love and thought into it next time, instead of grabbing after-thought candy in the grocery store check-out line.
The finals package is a box that you receive around test-time, usually from a loving parent. How sweet! For parents who do not have time to prepare them, however, there are plenty of organizations offering to put them together in their honor. They can simply order them through the web, choose what to put in it, and have the box delivered to their child at school.
Oxy offers this service to its students' families, as well. The college partners with its honor society, Mortar Board, to provide the service. Oxy can either get information from the parents on what they would like to include, or put together a standard collection of treats themselves.
 |
What will you find in these packages to help you study? They are composed of various food items and other stress-relieving objects. These could be games, books, or anything personal (if made by your parents) to make you feel at home and cheer you up in this stressful time. Then after playing with all these toys that make you forget about your stress how do you feel? Hungry, right? And now, we've reached my favorite part of the finals packages: food!
What kind of food do your caring parents send to you? Things you love, of course. And what do students love when they're stressed about a term paper and presentation due on the same day? Junk food.
In a thoughtful finals package prepared by Oxy, you'll find all sorts of wonder such as Ramen Noodles, M&Ms, Skittles, Mike & Ikes, Rice Krispie Treats, Oreos, pretzels, chocolate-covered pretzels, cheese crackers, peanut butter crackers, popcorn, Tootsie Rolls, Cow Tails, Animal Crackers, Apple Jacks, Wheat Thins, Pop Tarts, two different kinds of fruit snacks, gummy bears, Sweet Tarts, suckers, chips, Keebler cookies, peanuts, graham crackers, a Nature Valley granola bars, fruit cups, trail mix, slinkies, bubbles, and a bath toy.
NOTICE: This is not a list to select from. This comes all in one single box.
 Typical Oxy Finals Package |
Normally one would think a "care package" would contain brain food. You know, the stuff to help you concentrate and keep you motivated to finish that last page or slide? So tell me, who decided this junk food was brain food? Who declared these contents "healthy"? And the most important question, how is this supposed to help a student work better?
Take a moment to reflect on a situation we've all found ourselves in. You are lonely in your room, for the third day in a row, and the clock strikes 2am. Suddenly, you crave food-sugary food. In fact, if you don't get it soon, you will not be able to memorize one more term.
Or can you? Our conception of our own efficiency may be largely psychological. The whole point of final packages is not to help you study better, but to cheer you up and to support you during this harsh period of the semester. It therefore appears logical that you will find food you like in it. I mean, who would feel better and ready to work after a raw carrot break?
As its name tells us, these are "care" packages, which means that they are made by people who care about you, and know what you like. Sure, they may be full of junk, but it is your favorite junk that you hopefully only eat in copious amounts during hard times.
During times of stress, students are eating this food for psychological reasons. They are viewing food as comfort, as Ruth Frechman, dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association says. She also asserts that it is much easier to provide non-fresh food to avoid any spoil. This makes sense; a fruit basket stands a much worse chance at survival in the postal system than wrapped candy bars. Also, in times like these when money is tight, we can assume that it would be cheaper to provide junk food than fruits and vegetables.
But finals packages raise questions about a more general and endless subject: food habits among students, and American people in general. When I asked people for information about the finals package distributed to students at Oxy, they all seemed skeptical about my interest in the subject. This was my first hint at the mentalities people have towards it. If people are not interested or even a little surprised about what we find in these boxes, it might be because it seems absolutely normal to them. The same thing is happening when you do a simple search on the internet. Plenty of websites offering these packages appear, but there is no studies offered about them or the negative health approach on the first of Google's pages. Our society is "setting you up for a habit", says Frechman. People, particularly students, are conditioned to love junk food. Marketing, paired with a lack of financial resources and free time to shop and cook, is the perfect combination to turn you into a junk food addict.
The websites proposing these packages are mainly offering unhealthy food. Even the "Healthy Choices Final Exam" package, on from-mom.com, is all but healthy. Here are some of the things you'll find in this:
• Pure Bar
• Kar's Nuts
• Fastachi Snack Mix
• Airforce Nutrisoda
• Laughing Cow Cheese
• Crispy Green Crunchy Fruit
• 2 Late July Sandwich Crackers
• Sensible Foods Crunch Dried Snacks
• Lesser Evil Krinkle Sticks
• Bear Naked Granola
• Vruit Fruit and Veggie Blend Juice
• Harvest Lark Bakery Bar
Does anyone out there even know what a "krinkle stick" is? How about "crispy green crunchy fruit"? It's hard to trust anything when it seems that people will throw a "healthful" label on anything and parade it around as organic or nutritious, when in fact these granola bars and whole-grain chips sometimes pack more sugar or calories than a chocolate bar.
These problems don't always come from the students themselves. American students are constantly surrounded by junk food on campuses. How can you ask them to resist? Now, I'm not judging, but as a native of France, there were things I couldn't help noticing in the Cooler that I do not see at home, such as vitamin drinks packed with sugar and endless kinds of candy bars. Again, I stress that I do not judge the student, but I remain convinced that something should be said about it and maybe actions should be taken to change it. This would, however, need to come from the student level, because consumers ultimately have the biggest influence on what they ingest.
In all honesty, though, students would be more likely to protest the Cooler if it stopped serving candy, rather than marching to end the selling of candy. We need motivation. Will information make students more aware of what they are eating, or should be eating? Or will the constant barrage of junk coming from these Oxy-approved finals packages placate us? We need to realize that these aren't making our brains function at maximum capacity. We need to tell mom and dad not to order these junk food boxes. Why not send some cash to ease your monetary stresses? Or if they really want to make you feel at ease during the hand-clenching hair-pulling end-of-semester showdown, tell them to put a little love and thought into it next time, instead of grabbing after-thought candy in the grocery store check-out line.
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