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The Myths of Hunger

Grade Level

 9-12

Introduction

 In the 1990s, enough food is produced to provide every person on earth with an adequate diet. However, not all have access to these food supplies. It has been estimated that the number of hungry people increased to more than 550 million people in the 1980s. Hunger and malnutrition are a result of poverty, which is often due to a lack of economic development. Solving the world's food problem is not as simple as shipping food aid to a famine region; a long-term solution will involve finding ways to develop food security. The World Food Council of the United Nations set four goals for the 1990s:

(1) elimination of starvation and death caused by famine;

(2) a substantial reduction of malnutrition and infant mortality;

(3) a reduction in chronic hunger;

(4) the elimination of major nutritional deficiency diseases.

In their book, World Hunger: Twelve Myths, Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins of the Institute for Food and Development identified certain "myths" about hunger which block our understanding of the issue and prevent effective action to solve it. In this activity, students sort specific statements according to which of the myths they contradict.

Teacher/Student
Objective

 The major goal of this activity is to challenge students to separate fact from fiction and, at the same time, to examine a major issue confronting the global community.

Gauging Student
Understanding

 The progress indicators cited reflect desirable end goals. Teachers should be prepared to use a wide variety of observational, testing and authentic achievement evaluation measures in judging the progress of students.


By creating a situation in which students are required to examine information for its validity, the teacher will be able to judge whether students are careful and thoughtful about what they read or hear concerning an issue of significance to the world community.

Materials

 .

Initial Data for
Consideration
and/or Process

 Write this statement on the chalkboard:

"In the 1990s, the number of hungry people in the world has increased to more than 550 million."

Ask students to explain why there is a global hunger problem. List their responses on the chalkboard, recording them without comment. Typically, students will include misinformation related to one of the "hunger myths." Now ask them if they are sure or if anyone has any doubts about some of the information. Explain that sometimes we believe something because we have heard it from an authority (such as a teacher) or have read it in the daily newspaper. Some of what we think we "know" may be a myth-an idea believed by many people but unsupported by fact.

Distribute copies of the Handout The Myths of Hunger. Give the background of the myths, which were identified by Frances Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins in their writings about food and hunger. Explain that Lappe and Collins have a definite point-of-view. The students do not have to agree with them, but they offer a different way of looking at the global issue of hunger. Tell the students that they will be sorting out the statements on page 2 of the handout according to which hunger myth they contradict.

Allow approximately 15 minutes for students to complete the handout individually or in pairs. Check their answers using the key below. Allow for variations if the students can offer a reasonable defense. Discuss each myth and the reasons why it might distort someone's understanding of the issue of hunger. If students wish to argue that one of the myths is indeed true, encourage them to do so but ask that they use strong evidence.

Instruct students to organize the statements listed under each myth into a coherent paragraph, filling in some of their own ideas or facts from other sources. Remind them that the paragraph should provide a strong argument against the myth. If time is limited, assign only one or two of the myths rather than all five. Again, some students may want to argue that one or more of the myths is true. Allow them the flexibility to do so, but ask that they use strong arguments or facts.



Key to Handout 10A

Myth #1
Statements 3, 8, 11
Myth #2
Statements 1, 9, 10
Myth #3
Statements 2, 12, 15
Myth #4
Statements 5, 6, 14
Myth #5
Statements 4, 13, 7

Accept variations if they make sense
and the students can support them.
Arguments are related and will overlap.

Other Possible
Activities
  • Ask for student volunteers to make posters or a bulletin board to educate other students or classes about the hunger myths and their "corrections."

  • Construct similar types of exercises for most issues, especially those involved in some kind of controversial interpretation.




Adapted from "The Myths of Hunger," in Global Issues for the 90s. Denver: Center for Teaching International Relations, University of Denver, 1993. pp 118-121