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Ah, the sensationalist sidecar media, which makes a mountain out of a molehill. "Go get some milk from the lunch line" becomes "the nanny government forced an innocent child to eat chicken nuggets! OHNOES!!1" The preschool in the article is an at-risk facility, with poorer parents who are more likely to underfeed their kids, and this school is following state policy to make sure kids have enough food. Heaven forbid if this little girl actually asked for milk. I wouldn't be surprised if we find that out next. Meanwhile, the rumor mills are still cranking out stories that little girls are being force-fed chicken nuggets.
Something tells me that the 'state agent' who did the 'inspecting' of the lunches is the sort of being normally studied by Jane Goodall. There are far too many people running around with degrees and certifications of competency, who are only marginally literate, and who are incompetent. Helpless children should not be at the mercy of these beings.
It is very dangerous for incompetent people to be given positions of authority.
There is nothing in the law that allows for packed lunches to be taken away and the law has provisions for children with eating problems. I went and looked. This was ridiculous and may have been made up entirely by the website folks. Otherwise it was a single incident where someone misinterpreted the law.
I find the double-standards expressed in this thread pretty amazing (or not). The same people lamenting questioning food choices are the people who state education has gone down the tubes. How exactly are educators supposed to do their jobs when the children are eating junk food? What is it going to be? People can feed their children any old garbage and not help kids with homework etc, and there is nothing that can be done, or have reasonable guidelines, and repurcussions, and prodictivity improves in the classroom? You can't have it both ways.
A school should not have utter and complete control over everything about a childs life at school. Thats just ridiculous. The states made education compulsory, which is wonderful considering without it students wouldnt get educated. Then made it so parents had no say in even what their children were learning in school. Now they are deciding that not only can parents not know what is best in terms of education but also food?
If the child was "told to get a milk" and was confused and got a whole lunch then the person "trained" to be in this elementary school is a bumbling idiot. This child who was told her mom didnt knwo what was best for her should have AT LEAST been told exactly what was expected of her.
It was not a non-event. As information becomes more available, the stories change and the people in the original story start telling different versions. When I read this story online and watched it on my local news at 6 am, it was reported the way I reported it to you guys. As time has gone on more "information" has come to light. It does not in any way negate the way parents feel about this happening.
Lest we not forget there are three sides to every story- her story, his story and the real story. Are we supposed to believe the 4 year old or the school? I tend to believe the child, sense she would have no motivation to lie, the school would because they could potentially look bad. But chances are they are both blurring the lines of truth.
On one hand, I am not really perturbed by the school's wanting to make sure the kids have a balanced lunch. Dairy, grains, fruits, and vegetables ... I have no objections to that. I don't think it's necessarily the school's or other agency's place to regulate, but as Zimbochick pointed out, the school has to deal with the fallout of poorly nourished kids. That memo in the article indicated the school received some high state ranking but has been cited because their students were not eating balanced lunches. I don't know what the result of the infractions were ... reductions in funding? If so, I bet the other parents would forego the right to give their children salami and juice in order to stave off higher tuition. I'm also not inclined to believe two FOUR-year-olds accurately recounted what happened, or that there's some insidious conspiracy to feed kids cafeteria food.
On the other hand, I am NOT a fan of chicken nuggets and would have to see the nutritional info before I can endorse nuggets over salami.
Last edited by JustJulia; 02-17-2012 at 09:31 PM..
I find the double-standards expressed in this thread pretty amazing (or not). The same people lamenting questioning food choices are the people who state education has gone down the tubes. How exactly are educators supposed to do their jobs when the children are eating junk food? What is it going to be? People can feed their children any old garbage and not help kids with homework etc, and there is nothing that can be done, or have reasonable guidelines, and repurcussions, and prodictivity improves in the classroom? You can't have it both ways.
The government has a role. It's role is NOT to question what parents feed their children. It is an invasion of privacy and an over reach by government into the lives of citizens. The content of the lunch does NOT change this.
Since I am my child's parent I get to decide how to feed him. NOT the USDA. NOT the government school. NOT any government agency.
That is really what is at issue here. Let's not confuse ourselves.
If the child's parent wanted the child to have salami then that is what she should have had.
So then you agree that if the parent wanted her child to have peanutbutter and strawberry jam, then no government agency has the right to forbid the child to enter the school and consume that peanutbutter and strawberry jam.
Good deal.
I now bring you to the next topic: allergies and schools.
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