Your Tax Dollars at Work (home, middle schools, tornadoes)

[cyberfox]

...another Federal program doomed to fail.

[Red51]

Originally Posted by hey teach

Just to clarify. This program is being paid for with federal tax dollars, not local tax dollars.

Also, it has nothing to do with paying for all so some will not be embarrassed. It is supposed to help control behavior and take time away from eating and add more to instruction.

Federal Tax money? Congress can't keep a balanced budget, money apparently grows on trees in DC (well they just go print some whenever they want anyway) so why not spend it on feeding people who don't need it?

[Reactionary]

hey teach = "control behavior and take time away from eating and add more to instruction".

I don't understand the logic underlying the program - this makes no sense to me.

[GentleVoice]

umm.. federal tax dollars ARE local tax dollars... at least I send in federal taxes, most years Federal dollars don't just appear out of thin air... well, they didn't used to. We either take them from our citizens or borrow them from citizens of other countries.
Borrowing money to feed kids whose parents could feed them... odd concept.

[Reactionary]

hey teach - I heard that part of the reason for keeping the kids in class (at Davis Hills) is that the lunchroom time was very disruptive (fights and misbehavior), so now it makes at least a little sense.

[hey teach]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

hey teach - I heard that part of the reason for keeping the kids in class (at Davis Hills) is that the lunchroom time was very disruptive (fights and misbehavior), so now it makes at least a little sense.

Actually, my informant states this in not the case. It is the time to and from the lunchroom that is disruptive. Also, Davis Hills is not the only school on this program. In fact, it may be coming to all HCS middle and high schools before 2011-12 is over.

[Reactionary]

I thought -you- were the informant...

Davis Hills is one of the most disruptive (violent, incident-prone, whatever) schools, so I thought the explanation I heard made sense. Now I'm back to confused...

[RememberMee]

I'm amazed to know that some people consider industrial (i.e. over-saturated with chemicals) semi-prepared meals they heat up in school cafeterias as "quality meals". It's a shame what we feed kids, we hook them on the junk early on to save a buck, richest (gross) country my arse.

Another way to look at this federal generosity - direct subsidy to mega food processors.

[harborlady]

Originally Posted by cyberfox

Once upon a time in Jackson Mississippi we Optimist Club members had a guest speaker who owned many TV stations and was quite wealthy. He grew up very poor but he lamented the so called free lunch and breakfast programs. In his day poor kids could get their lunch paid for but they had to work for it. You know, empty trash cans, clean the green or black board... stuff like that.

What he said was that working for your lunch or breakfast taught children that work could gain you benefits and they grew up with a work ethic. Free lunch on the other hand teaches the kids to expect things to be given to them.

So which is the best way? The answer is obvious.

I'm of a bygone era, grew up poor & overcame it, but had a great belly laugh over this man and yourself believing you've got it all figured out. I'd love to stroll him down memory lane reminding him of the bullies shaking kids down for their milk money in the underground economy. Something else became painfully obvious to me quite a few decades ago. It's no coincidence it came part and parcel with new age republicanism. Work ethics are valuable if only this new breed of nouveau riche would refrain from punishing it as regularly as they do, therefore, being the primary source causing it's extinction yet casting their bony finger of denial every which way. So called adults dumping their issues on kids- this world has had quite enough of them carrying on. That's where a generation fell down on the job.

Originally Posted by cyberfox

Some years back when I was working an Optimist concession at a youth basketball league I had a number of these "free lunch" kids come up and ask me to "give" them a candy bar.

It works the same way when all kids growing up ever know is if they want something just put it on daddy's credit card.

Who is the adult? Whose fault??? Amazing how this confusion rings so consistently by too many whose life mission was to cost shift/ deflect responsibility. Why would children have that attitude if not for their own parents incompetence? Nowadays that incompetence isn't limited to those in poverty. Many are intellectually and spiritually bankrupt, not just what's in their pocket.

Back in the day when real men & women ran across rapscallions like that, they recognized the need to step up leading by example and offering positive lessons to others less fortunate. They gave of themselves, a priceless commodity, defying the measures of accountants. Truly heroes of ordinary life, far beyond these vapid overpaid sports figures & latte drinking prosperity preachers of today. "What's in it for me" was not in their vocabulary. Neither was passing the buck. One thing I can say with certainty. What people fail to appreciate leaves them. If only they'd fail to appreciate overpaid sports figures and latte drinking prosperity preachers, the real heart and soul of America might stand a chance.

Originally Posted by cyberfox

Exactly when did STUPID take over.

Of course it's impossible to pinpoint precisely the origins, but it might have some bearing on what caused an Alabama school district in the 20's to decide Truman Capote was too stupid to teach and recommended he be institutionalized. Fact; his IQ was above genius level, and if it was unrecognizable to the locals at the time, whose fault was that? Fact; STUPID has been around longer than us all, particularly among the ambitious serving themselves at the expense of all others. Dovetails back into the confused definition of adulthood theme plaguing USA. Obvious? How many will knee jerk defend their tumor/dysfunction convinced it's their 'culture'/ identity?

A question unasked by all others comes from a pure pragmatist standpoint. How much is a cashier at a lunchroom checkout line paid annually, and how much $$$ does it cost overall to maintain accounting & security for nickels and dimes? How many Alabama schools have vending machines eating up their lunch money with junk food even against a parents wishes, yet a child is unrealistically expected to have self discipline fully developed in elementary school to resist cookies and pop? More importantly, a 39% drop out rate in Alabama is a far greater nemisis leaving me (an outsider) wondering why it doesn't pay to finish school for far too many. http://www.all4ed.org/files/Alabama_wc.pdf.

[writerwife]

Originally Posted by harborlady

I'm of a bygone era, grew up poor & overcame it, but had a great belly laugh over this man and yourself believing you've got it all figured out. I'd love to stroll him down memory lane reminding him of the bullies shaking kids down for their milk money in the underground economy. Something else became painfully obvious to me quite a few decades ago. It's no coincidence it came part and parcel with new age republicanism. Work ethics are valuable if only this new breed of nouveau riche would refrain from punishing it as regularly as they do, therefore, being the primary source causing it's extinction yet casting their bony finger of denial every which way. So called adults dumping their issues on kids- this world has had quite enough of them carrying on. That's where a generation fell down on the job.


Who is the adult? Whose fault??? Amazing how this confusion rings so consistently by too many whose life mission was to cost shift/ deflect responsibility. Why would children have that attitude if not for their own parents incompetence? Nowadays that incompetence isn't limited to those in poverty. Many are intellectually and spiritually bankrupt, not just what's in their pocket.

Back in the day when real men & women ran across rapscallions like that, they recognized the need to step up leading by example and offering positive lessons to others less fortunate. They gave of themselves, a priceless commodity, defying the measures of accountants. Truly heroes of ordinary life, far beyond these vapid overpaid sports figures & latte drinking prosperity preachers of today. "What's in it for me" was not in their vocabulary. Neither was passing the buck. One thing I can say with certainty. What people fail to appreciate leaves them. If only they'd fail to appreciate overpaid sports figures and latte drinking prosperity preachers, the real heart and soul of America might stand a chance.


Of course it's impossible to pinpoint precisely the origins, but it might have some bearing on what caused an Alabama school district in the 20's to decide Truman Capote was too stupid to teach and recommended he be institutionalized. Fact; his IQ was above genius level, and if it was unrecognizable to the locals at the time, whose fault was that? Fact; STUPID has been around longer than us all, particularly among the ambitious serving themselves at the expense of all others. Dovetails back into the confused definition of adulthood theme plaguing USA. Obvious? How many will knee jerk defend their tumor/dysfunction convinced it's their 'culture'/ identity?

A question unasked by all others comes from a pure pragmatist standpoint. How much is a cashier at a lunchroom checkout line paid annually, and how much $$$ does it cost overall to maintain accounting & security for nickels and dimes? How many Alabama schools have vending machines eating up their lunch money with junk food even against a parents wishes, yet a child is unrealistically expected to have self discipline fully developed in elementary school to resist cookies and pop? More importantly, a 39% drop out rate in Alabama is a far greater nemisis leaving me (an outsider) wondering why it doesn't pay to finish school for far too many. http://www.all4ed.org/files/Alabama_wc.pdf.

Honestly, I'm a fairly intelligent human being, reasonably educated, decent IQ but your post became so verbose that I ultimately cannot tell what your point is.


Re: Sesquipedalian terminology obfuscates the rumination