Department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

Children all over the United States currently endure food insecurity, which presents significant issues for their academic performance and general quality of life. This paper examines how the generosity of compassionate individuals and agencies helps to improve the wellbeing and self-motivation of students who go without food. To this end, we review the literature on compassion, particularly how it is theoretically described by positive organizational scholarship (POS). We also review some of the major programs and agencies that have arisen in recent decades to counter the problem of food insecurity and its related concerns—programs such as the Backpack Food program, which exists in many rural and urban cities across the United States. We specifically consider the case of Kentucky, which utilizes backpack programs to aid starving children and families. It appears that compassion can promote higher self-esteem among students and thereby help counter low academic achievement. Ultimately, addressing hunger highly correlates with academic performance and achievement.

Journal Title

Kentucky Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning

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