Teenagers across the country have taken to Twitter to complain about their school lunch options, complaining with the hashtag #ThanksMichelleObama. The First Lady has been vocal about the need for nutritional changes in school lunches and has been a staunch supporter of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act that passed in 2010. The Act changed the requirements for school lunch nutritional quality, though the more healthful modifications were given a few years to be rolled out.

Photos of unappetizing school fare in cafeteria Styrofoam trays have flooded Twitter since the hashtag was born as many teens are declaring that they would rather go hungry (or that they have gone hungry) than eat the “healthy” lunch options offered at their schools.

There are plenty of people pointing out the flaws in the hashtag’s logic, too. These supporters point out (and rightly so) that the nutritional requirements were not actually drafted by the First Lady nor signed into law by her — and that those requirements are simply guidelines. It is up to individual school districts to produce healthy AND appetizing lunch options for the students.

I’ve written before about the correlation between a healthy diet and strong performance in school. Eating healthy is important to academic success, and hunger gets in the way of learners who cannot focus in the classroom. I admit that the photos the teens are posting do look a tad untasty — but blaming the First Lady for wanting stricter nutritional options in our schools is misdirected anger.

What do you think? How can the quality of school lunches improve but still follow heightened nutritional values?