School Junk Food Ban
Looking at the middle school lunch menus here in NWA, it’s no wonder there are so many fat kids. I’m astounded that educators can let a child order triple french fries and a cola for lunch. There’s no easy solution here under the current system. The notion of a child’s whole well being has taken a back seat to meeting standardized test goals.
(AP/myway): Connecticut is on the verge of adopting the most far-reaching ban in the country on soda and junk food in public schools, in an effort to curb rising rates of childhood obesity.
Tags: Health
May 23rd, 2005 at 3:41 pm
The problem, of course, is that junk food costs less to serve to the students, therefore it’s attractive to school system bean counters. It’s the same reason schools are packed with soft drink machines: the soft drink companies pay the schools a LOT of money (plus the schools get the revenue from the sales) to pimp soft drinks to kids. Plenty of kids down 2-3 (or more) 20 oz. soft drinks a day, which is about 120-180 grams of completely worthless sugary carbs, well over half of what a normal ADULT human should consume in carbs (and never mind that it’s processed sugar and not the complex carbs they should be eating).
Never take your eyes off the ball: it’s ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS about the money. Even when it comes to our kids’ health.
May 24th, 2005 at 9:11 am
Educators have a moral duty to provide guidance for healthy living. Bean counters aren’t the ones shoveling the slop. Teachers can argue all they want about not being responsible for this sort of thing, but that’s a huge copout. You’re either in loco parentis or not, and if you’re afraid that Johnny’s parents might sue you for prying the tater tots out of his chubby little hands, then you shouldn’t be in a position of responsibility for children. I know the system is totally screwed up, even for teachers who really care, but that’s my point. I think.
May 27th, 2005 at 1:17 pm
[...] th, Diet by Jack @ 1:17 pm —
Confirming what alert reader Steve commented on here, indeed, American’s a junkies for the sweet stuff. Rome:lead::America:sugar? (S [...]