by Brian Mos

The Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 and the Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914 recognized the dangers of monopolies in the United States. When a monopoly gains control over a market, it can decide what the price should be for its product without fear of overpricing its product. Since there is no competition, there are no better deals on the market. The product does not even have to be a quality item to be successful. When monopolies become protected by law, they become indestructible.

What does this have to do with Rockledge High School?

If you have ever brought a name-brand meal to lunch, you know the answer to this. Our ever-intrusive administration has prohibited the possession of food purchased from anywhere other than the school cafeteria. Why? There have been plenty of petty, insignificant reasons given in an attempt to cloud the issue, to obscure the one, big reason. They may have tried to give you the "jealousy story," the one where all the other students are jealous of the Dunkin' Donuts you purchased before school. There are thousands of other things that will cause jealousy in our school population. If you are so emotionally handicapped that you cannot handle the fact that someone has tastier food than you, you probably should seek help, as you are obviously not fit for society.

The real reason goes back to the one reason behind nearly every dumb regulation: money. School cafeterias are notorious for their low quality and high prices. The cafeteria is obscenely unreliable. Most of us have back-up meals, because we know that there is a good chance that the meal we had yesterday may not be there tomorrow. How often is Burger King out of Whoppers? The cafeteria knows that it will get your money even if it does not provide the food items you desire. There is nowhere else to go. The cafeteria can get away with giving us those slimy trapezoid pizza slices because you cannot turn to Papa John's or Dominos.

This page was last updated 07/02/00 01:50 PM