Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Monday, December 17, 2007
First They Came For The Snack Foods...
Food nannies want to ban cupcakes from school parties.
"Bring a cupcake, go to jail." Will this stupidity never cease?
13 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Darren, the stupidity exists in your own district right now.
Students, faculty, and staff are forbidden from bringing homemade baked goods of any type onto campus. Such things are seen by the district only as legal exposure.
A salutary side-effect is that with no outside baked goods being shared in classes, students will have better appetites for district-sold food. Perish the thought that this aspect played any role in the new policy--that would be purely cynical.
The day may soon come when the geniuses at the district office realize that bringing students to school property (campuses) invites litigation of all sorts. Better to ban them and eliminate exposure.
I know it exists in my own district. At my school the rule is, so far, mostly ignored, although, as you know, the principal told us that he'll have to start enforcing it soon.
In schools around here the class "Pizza party" can no longer order from local take-out chains.
They can only order from the district food service kitchen.
Predictably, the district kitchen is now too busy to handle the captive customers so they have to "reserve several weeks in advance" an order for "five large combos to-go!!"
In my (thankfully) former school district, where my brother still goes to school our idiot school board passed a 'wellness policy.' Nobody is allowed to bring in food for their classes, all the vending machines have been gotten rid of or filled with 'healthy' alternatives like juice, and clubs are no longer allowed to sell food as a fundraiser unless is it's a district-approved low-calorie food. However, as far as I know, there's been nothing done to improve the quality of food being sold in the school cafeteria. The principal and teachers try to avoid enforcing the rule as much as they can, since they hate it too, but it's still a pain. I'm just glad I finally escaped to college where everyone's much less intent on telling me what to do.
Our district bans all outside food, including parties, due to the contract with Aramark. So no pizza party rewards, no bake sales for fundraising, no ice cream parties. And the food, by the way, is awful. Several years ago, one of these activists moms from Austin took over my son's class' Valentines Day party in third grade. While the other classes were doing do it yourself sundaes, our kids were throwing raw carrots and ranch dressing at each other because it was a PARTY for heaven's sake and carrots aren't really party food for elementary kids. Needless to say, it didn't go over well. I have already heard about banning peanut butter in any form, and I can imagine that soon any food deemed unhealthy or unacceptable will be contraband. This is ridiculous.
I can believe this in California, the "nanny state". But all across the U.S.? Such a shame. I'm all for child-safety, but I have to say I feel sad that kids will never ride their bikes without helmets, feeling the wind in their hair; or that they cannot have holiday parties for fear of offending any minority group; or that they now can't have any homemade cupcakes on their birthdays or pizza parties to celebrate academics or citizenship.
Hey, I predict that our local drug dealers will switch to smuggling in Twinkies and HoHo's along with soda pop and Oreos. What worries me is how close we are to telling parents what their kids can and cannot bring to eat. What if a kid doesn't like tofu? Or yogurt? Or raisins? I personally hate them all. I would much prefer a cheeseburger and fries. But even such banal things as peanut butter sandwiches or tuna are now suspect. What next, food nazis, what next?
It depends on what kind of truffles-I don't know of a teacher in the school that would refuse the chocolate kind, but the fungus kind might take a more rarified educator-say a junior college philosophy professor. I still say that I am waiting for them to discover something bad about chocolate and trying to ban it or make it where you have to have approval to get it. At that point, I will revolt.
I'm taking peanut butter Rudolph cookies to my daughter's Christmas party this afternoon. Thank goodness they're still sane in my area of the Cornhusker state.
13 comments:
Darren, the stupidity exists in your own district right now.
Students, faculty, and staff are forbidden from bringing homemade baked goods of any type onto campus. Such things are seen by the district only as legal exposure.
A salutary side-effect is that with no outside baked goods being shared in classes, students will have better appetites for district-sold food. Perish the thought that this aspect played any role in the new policy--that would be purely cynical.
The day may soon come when the geniuses at the district office realize that bringing students to school property (campuses) invites litigation of all sorts. Better to ban them and eliminate exposure.
I know it exists in my own district. At my school the rule is, so far, mostly ignored, although, as you know, the principal told us that he'll have to start enforcing it soon.
In schools around here the class "Pizza party" can no longer order from local take-out chains.
They can only order from the district food service kitchen.
Predictably, the district kitchen is now too busy to handle the captive customers so they have to "reserve several weeks in advance" an order for "five large combos to-go!!"
In my (thankfully) former school district, where my brother still goes to school our idiot school board passed a 'wellness policy.' Nobody is allowed to bring in food for their classes, all the vending machines have been gotten rid of or filled with 'healthy' alternatives like juice, and clubs are no longer allowed to sell food as a fundraiser unless is it's a district-approved low-calorie food. However, as far as I know, there's been nothing done to improve the quality of food being sold in the school cafeteria. The principal and teachers try to avoid enforcing the rule as much as they can, since they hate it too, but it's still a pain. I'm just glad I finally escaped to college where everyone's much less intent on telling me what to do.
Our district bans all outside food, including parties, due to the contract with Aramark. So no pizza party rewards, no bake sales for fundraising, no ice cream parties. And the food, by the way, is awful. Several years ago, one of these activists moms from Austin took over my son's class' Valentines Day party in third grade. While the other classes were doing do it yourself sundaes, our kids were throwing raw carrots and ranch dressing at each other because it was a PARTY for heaven's sake and carrots aren't really party food for elementary kids. Needless to say, it didn't go over well. I have already heard about banning peanut butter in any form, and I can imagine that soon any food deemed unhealthy or unacceptable will be contraband. This is ridiculous.
I can believe this in California, the "nanny state". But all across the U.S.? Such a shame. I'm all for child-safety, but I have to say I feel sad that kids will never ride their bikes without helmets, feeling the wind in their hair; or that they cannot have holiday parties for fear of offending any minority group; or that they now can't have any homemade cupcakes on their birthdays or pizza parties to celebrate academics or citizenship.
Hey, I predict that our local drug dealers will switch to smuggling in Twinkies and HoHo's along with soda pop and Oreos. What worries me is how close we are to telling parents what their kids can and cannot bring to eat. What if a kid doesn't like tofu? Or yogurt? Or raisins? I personally hate them all. I would much prefer a cheeseburger and fries. But even such banal things as peanut butter sandwiches or tuna are now suspect. What next, food nazis, what next?
Guess I cant bring the truffles, Too bad.
Carson, you can bring them for *me*, but not for your fellow fragile flowers.
It depends on what kind of truffles-I don't know of a teacher in the school that would refuse the chocolate kind, but the fungus kind might take a more rarified educator-say a junior college philosophy professor. I still say that I am waiting for them to discover something bad about chocolate and trying to ban it or make it where you have to have approval to get it. At that point, I will revolt.
Don't wait that long. A stitch in time saves nine.
Oh, and they're the chocolate kind. Homemade. Muy yummy.
I'm taking peanut butter Rudolph cookies to my daughter's Christmas party this afternoon. Thank goodness they're still sane in my area of the Cornhusker state.
Yes, thank goodness. But be vigilant!
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