Chicago school bans homemade lunches

[flourbug]

Forces students to buy a 'more nutritious' lunch from the cafeteria unless they have allergies or a medical condition. Another school allows packed lunches but confiscates anything they don't approve of until the end of the day. Schools are complaining students do not like the school lunches and throw the entrees away.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/e...,4567867.story

[Samen]

Originally Posted by flourbug

Schools are complaining students do not like the school lunches and throw the entrees away

This is a fact, school lunches are not kosher.

[Ought Six]

Government is all about control, so this should not surprise anyone.

[ukmum]

I am heavily involved in promoting school lunches in our school, but would never advocate forcing school lunches on those who do not wish to purchase them.

We do however discourage packed lunches containing crisps and chocolate and have won healthy school awards for our whole school appraoch to healthy eating.

Our school dinners are nutritious and varied and the uptake is steadily rising.

Choice of 3 mains with veggies, salad, bread, yogurt, fruit, and pudding for £2.

[Samen]

School lunches over here are free but as they have a limit of under a Euro a day sometimes as low as under 80 C.

I find myself feeding at least one extra mouth a day and once a week when the school food is exceptionally bad 3 to 4 extra kids get there meal here, kids love cheep carbs so to those of you how know my budget its not that bad, its bad for the kids though as sometimes i hear at 3 pm its their breakfast ( not my kids)

Rice or pasta and a pound of ground meat with ketchup, good if you hungry and my DD brings them in.

[Brihard]

It is the role of the school to advocate healthy eating, not to enforce it.

If instead the kids were made to be more physically active instead of going home and going sedentary in front of the x box, a bag of chips or a chocolate bar at lunch wouldn't matter.

This thread is now about the fourth subsequent post I've replied to on various sites that have made me angry. I'm going for a run.

[CanadaSue]

***intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices***

***principal is encouraging the healthier choices and attempting to make an impact that extends beyond the classroom***

***when they bring the food from home, there is no control over the food."***


The 1st statement assumes there is no parental oversight involved in what's prepared for lunch. There probably is - most parents are on budgets. 'Protecting children from their own unhealthful food choices' is easy when they buy lunch as an option - don't offer junk.

2nd statement - principal is MANDATING, not encouraging.

Why should the school have any 'control' over food brought from home. That is a PARENTAL responsability - period.

[rb.]

Uh...what country and time period is this again??

Last I heard, chips and a coke was better nutrition than US school lunches. Policy be damned, I'd still be sending my kid with a lunch from home.

[Ought Six]

These power hungry little control freaks always push the envelope until they go a little too far. They have no doubt pissed off a whole lot of parents. The next school board election should be interesting.

[Ender]

Public school should be abolished.

[Ought Six]

Yes! Government run education facilities for our children should be a totally abhorrent concept to any free people.

[Susie]

French kids are not allowed to bring lunch from home.

In the primary schools, the kids are only allowed to eat at school if the parents both work. French people believe that the whole meal thing should be a family affair at home, if possible.

[ukmum]

Originally Posted by Ought Six

Yes! Government run education facilities for our children should be a totally abhorrent concept to any free people.

Sweeping generalization there 06. Obviously American state school may be different but I am a great fan of state run education..that is to say GOOD state run education..of which there is plenty in the UK.

Both schools where I am Chair of have improved over the past 4 years (despite a high deprivation factor) and are now both good-outstanding schools. I am happy for my children to attend them.

It is the role of the school to advocate healthy eating, not to enforce it.

If instead the kids were made to be more physically active instead of going home and going sedentary in front of the x box, a bag of chips or a chocolate bar at lunch wouldn't matter.

Brihard, I couldn't agree more. Our school offers alot of physical education, cookery lessons, healthy eating education for children. We also offer cooking skills to parents..which have a high takeup, the course is called "Cooking healthily on a budget" We also offer courses to parents about healthy eating generally and child health. We go over and above the usual school expereince because as you have pointed out enforcement does not work..encouragement does.

[rb.]

Originally Posted by Susie

French kids are not allowed to bring lunch from home.

In the primary schools, the kids are only allowed to eat at school if the parents both work. French people believe that the whole meal thing should be a family affair at home, if possible.

The kids in this city used to eat lunch at home...20...maybe even 15 years ago. Things have changed, though. Fewer kids means fewer schools, fewer schools means busing, which means bagged lunches. Even if the kid's school is close enough to walk, most don't have a parent home to supervise or provide lunch anymore...they're all at work.

[Ought Six]

ukm:

"Sweeping generalization there 06."

Nope. An absolute, not a generalization.
----------

"Obviously American state school may be different but I am a great fan of state run education."

Imagine my surprise.
----------

"that is to say GOOD state run education..of which there is plenty in the UK."

Good quality indoctrination camps are still indoctrination camps. Government-run schools are an inherent conflict of interest. Need I even explain why?

[ukmum]

Originally Posted by Ought Six

ukm:Nope. An absolute, not a generalization.
----------Imagine my surprise.
----------Good quality indoctrination camps are still indoctrination camps. Government-run schools are an inherent conflict of interest. Need I even explain why?

You can generalise about US educationn all you like, but as you know nothing about UK education and, I am heavily involved in the education system here on a day to day basis, so please believe me when I say that we have many many GOOD state schools as well as good independant schools. Our education system is different to yours so a comparsion is difficult. Of course no system can be perfect.

As your veiwpoint is a very aggressively entrenched American-centric anti government-run anything view..a black and white viewpoint, so yes to you Im sure it seems an absolute
I also know that we will never agree on the many positive benefits of "state" .

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Ought Six

Good quality indoctrination camps are still indoctrination camps. Government-run schools are an inherent conflict of interest. Need I even explain why?

Sorry Ought...I have to agree with UKMum here. Kids can only be "indoctrinated" by the schools if the parents allow them to be, and if they do, it will happen at any school that they go to. My kids both went through the public schools here (my son is still in high school) neither of them got "indoctrinated" On the other hand, I know of 3 kids who went to private school--1 parochial (Catholic) and 2 another local private school. All 3 of those kids are much more "indoctrinated" than my two. Both of my kids question EVERYTHING. They don't believe anything that they are told until they research it themselves. My daughter is in college, majoring in child psychology, and we have had many discussions about the difference in what her professors and the books are trying to teach her and the way it is in the real world. She doesn't take her professor's word for it, she looks up the issues on her own, reads other articles and opinions, and makes up her own mind. Does that sound like someone who was "indoctrinated" by the evil state-run public school system?

Don't get me wrong...I have MANY issues with public schools...but "indoctrination" is something I don't worry about. That can only happen if the parent allows it.

Shari

[ukmum]

The biggest indoctination happens at home.

[DReynolds]

Originally Posted by ukmum

The biggest indoctination happens at home.

So true. The home environment can be used to predict extremely well how kids will do in school, and in life. For example, nothing predicts how well a kid will do in high school, college, than this simple number: how many books are there in his parents house?

[ukmum]

Originally Posted by DReynolds

So true.

Nothing predicts how well a kid will do in high school, college, than this simple number: how many books are there in his parents house?

Agreed totally.
When I help reading groups for primary children (aged 5-11) I can spot easily which children have parents who read at home.
In addition we send books home each week and parents sign the home learning books to say they have read with the child. It is the same children every week who have no comments in the book...and they are the children who are in the lowest abilty group and often the one with behaviour problems.

These children crave attention ..as I go into the classroom I have children pleading with me to sit with them and read...they relish the one to one attention they get and for the most part eager to learn. Unfortunately how ever good the school is, if cannot overcome lack of parenetal interest.

I often have meetings where the question gets asked "How, as a school, can we engage those uninterested parents in the edcuation process?" Not an easy answer.

[DReynolds]

Originally Posted by ukmum

I often have meetings where the question gets asked "How, as a school, can we engage those uninterested parents in the edcuation process?" Not an easy answer.

In some cases, it's basically impossible. You have parents that quit school after the 8th or 9th grade themselves. I might be able to spend two hours explaining to my 12 year old how and why inverting fractions works. Meanwhile, the poor 12yr old from the 3rd ward goes home and that's it. They get no help after school or on weekends.

How are these two different 12 year olds supposed to compete in the same classroom?

[ukmum]

Originally Posted by DReynolds

In some cases, it's basically impossible. You have parents that quit school after the 8th or 9th grade themselves. I might be able to spend two hours explaining to my 12 year old how and why inverting fractions works. Meanwhile, the poor 12yr old from the 3rd ward goes home and that's it. They get no help after school or on weekends.

How are these two different 12 year olds supposed to compete in the same classroom?

They cant, and it becomes more obvious the older the children get. When I help the 5 year olds I have a glimmer of hope...but once those children are 9 plus the gaps in knowledge becomes wider. Im not suggesting that all children should be Einstein but they should all leave with a reasonable eduction and be employable.

[DReynolds]

Working in education tends to make even the most doggedly conservative steadily more liberal, in the sense of recognizing that the usual laissez-faire, sink or swim free market does not work when it comes to kids education. And sometimes things like affirmative action or other interventions gotta happen.

You're just shooting yourself in the foot as a society, if you pretend you're getting the smartest kids by looking at SAT scores or any other automated gauge. There are kids growing up in homes where Shakespearean English has never been uttered or seen, and there are no books, and no internet access, who are geniuses. But they don't even make it to college.

[ukmum]

Originally Posted by DReynolds

Working in education tends to make even the most doggedly conservative steadily more liberal, in the sense of recognizing that the usual laissez-faire, sink or swim free market does not work when it comes to kids education. And sometimes things like affirmative action or other interventions gotta happen.

You're just shooting yourself in the foot as a society, if you pretend you're getting the smartest kids by looking at SAT scores or any other automated gauge. There are kids growing up in homes where Shakespearean English has never been uttered or seen, and there are no books, and no internet access, who are geniuses. But they don't even make it to college.

Yes it just perpetuates the same old cycle of the haves and have nots.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by DReynolds

In some cases, it's basically impossible. You have parents that quit school after the 8th or 9th grade themselves. I might be able to spend two hours explaining to my 12 year old how and why inverting fractions works. Meanwhile, the poor 12yr old from the 3rd ward goes home and that's it. They get no help after school or on weekends.

How are these two different 12 year olds supposed to compete in the same classroom?

Note that where the child lives doesn't have as much to do with it as how engaged the parents are in parenting I know that many of my son's friends get no help from their parents after school or on weekends, and we don't live in the "3rd ward"

Shari