Learning about a good breakfast

A lot of parents will be watching with interest to see how the Hawaii Appleseed Center’s breakfast mission plays out.

The center, a public-interest law group, has teamed up with Linapuni, Kaewai and Kaala elementary schools to ensure that all the kids, regardless of income, are served a free breakfast to eat in the classroom as they start their day.

This is an expansion of the federally subsidized meal program for low-income children, extending breakfast to all in the belief that a full stomach aids learning. And it’s being served later to better accommodate kids’ schedules.

But will they eat the healthy stuff? We’ll see. Considering how sweet stuff is marketed to kids — from the endless parade of sugary cereals to Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread on bread — there’s a lot of re-education to be done here.

AP classes can save money, too

Here’s some more food for thought about education, this time the older kids.

A federal grant is underwriting an expansion of Advanced Placement courses to lower-income students. Many of them may need a little extra tutoring and support to get through the college-level study, and begin to think of themselves as college-bound at all.

That in itself is a worthy objective, but parents should know that AP classes can make college at least a little more affordable. Lots of kids earn enough college credits this way to cross a semester’s worth of tuition off the list. With the rising cost of university study, that’s an A-plus idea worth pursuing.