LeesburgSkinFan Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Fernando Dominguez cut the figure of a young revolutionary leader during a recent lunch period at his elementary school. "Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?" the seventh-grader shouted to his lunch mates in Spanish and English. Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow students shouted along: "We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!" Fernando waved his hand over the crowd and asked a visiting reporter: "Do you see the situation?" At his public school, Little Village Academy on Chicago's West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria. Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices. "Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school," Carmona said. "It's about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom). It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception." http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-04-11/news/ct-met-school-lunch-restrictions-041120110410_1_lunch-food-provider-public-school Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aREDSKIN Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices. Of course she does it's the elitists way. Unbelievable, what about the parents "choice" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmySmith Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 It is surprising to me that Chicago PS have a policy that allows Principals to ban foods they do not like. Sounds like another of those "best intentions gone awry" situations that invariably happen when the government does not mind it's own business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Wow, over 20 years later, George Orwell was actually right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koolblue13 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I actually support this. I have no idea why soda is allowed in schools. I also don't understand why every single public school doesn't have a major gardening program, that grows the food for every public and private school. It takes very little space to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 School lunches are healthy? Who knew? Seriously, the tater tots and pizza and sloppy joes and other crap I ate as part of a school lunch certainly was pretty bad. I guess the chocolate milk at least had milk in it. A lot of home packed meals are healthier even if they do include cheetos. Don't like this policy on several levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMK9973 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I actually support this. I have no idea why soda is allowed in schools. I also don't understand why every single public school doesn't have a major gardening program, that grows the food for every public and private school. It takes very little space to do. I have no issue banning some foods from public school (Such as soda). Bubble gum was banned from my HS... BUT - Not allowing people to bring in lunches is WAY over reaching... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shk75 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 This is something that we are going to see more and more of. The obesity epidemic is getting really out of hand and children are the ones most affected. Childhood obesity is soaring at rates unthinkable even 15 years ago and if drastic measures are not taken we may experience a drop in life expectancy for the first time in generations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koolblue13 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I have no issue banning some foods from public school (Such as soda). Bubble gum was banned from my HS...BUT - Not allowing people to bring in lunches is WAY over reaching... It is. I agree. But somebody does need to do something, so I approve the effort, more than the action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
styx491 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 There's only one man who can fix this... Jamie Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teller Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 If this was going on at my child's school, you can bet the principal and I would be having a sit down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shk75 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 If this was going on at my child's school, you can bet the principal and I would be having a sit down. you should be having a sit down about the quality of your child's food at the cafeteria, that is unless they bring lunch every day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdsknbill Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 They just want to force feed the kids the garbage that they buy. Nevermind that there are some parents that actually care what their kids do eat, and make their lunches accordingly. I remember that most of the cafeteria food was terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsHokieFan Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 School lunches are utter crap. Schools in general have sold out to corporations by allowing soda machienes and snack machienes with high calorie crap in them. The amount of fat kids these days is ridiculous. Put down the fork and play outside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdsknbill Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 There's only one man who can fix this... Jamie Oliver I was thinking the same thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koolblue13 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 My hippie Mom made the healthiest lunches ever for me. School lunches were 95 cents and I would grab nickles until I had it, so I didn't have to eat it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfitzo53 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I think there are a lot of layers to this. 1) If you're going to require students to eat the lunch served at school, it better be damn good, both in terms of taste and nutrition. For schools by and large, I have doubts about the actual wholesomeness of the meal. It wasn't very long ago that our school had to organize a group of students to complain to the city school system about the quality of their lunch. It wasn't uncommon for them to be served sandwiches on moldy bread, or mashed potatoes so old/fake/starchy they were difficult to eat. Even after they filed a formal complaint nothing was done until the Baltimore Sun picked up the story. (And of course then the city school system took immediate action, where they had previously complained that there was no way to fix the problem.) Even if it's nutritious, make it taste good. The two are not mutually exclusive, and doing otherwise only reinforces negative ideas kids get about healthy food that often come from home and friends. 2) Regardless what your reasons are, I think banning homemade lunches is far overstepping the bounds of any public school system. Are some students going to bring complete **** to school for lunch? Yes. There are kids at our school (and kids I've worked with at summer camp) who basically bring a bag of oreos, a 3 Musketeers, and a soda. Will forcing them to eat a school lunch change the eating habits of their family? I'd consider it unlikely, especially if, referring back to #1, the school lunch isn't reasonably tasty. Are there students who pack healthy lunches and enjoy them? Yes, and they're much better than the school lunches in every way. They're typically made with higher quality ingredients, there's hopefully variety from day to day, and the kids ostensibly have some choice in the matter. Also, it's a way for parents to show they care. As tough as a school day can be for a lot of kids to navigate, having a little piece of home packed away is a good thing. 3. If your intention is to educate kids and their parents about how to make healthier choices for themselves there are several key parts of the plan missing. First off, you have to actually educate them. That's the biggest hole. I think policy makers want to believe that simply by serving healthy - although that takes a back seat to the more important quality, cheap - lunches, families will somehow be able to replicate that at home. Doesn't work that way. That's like putting up an example of how to solve an equation in my classroom, giving no instructions, and then expecting kids to tell their parents how to do it when they get home. Actually overhauling the eating habits of a large portion of the student body would require a concerted effort and a lot of community participation. You have to get some buy-in from the parents, and then capitalize on that with good, useful information that they can take home. Then, the last important piece comes into play - they parents have to have the opportunity to actually try it for themselves, which they don't get if you ban homemade lunches. Does all that take a huge commitment of time and money on the part of several different groups of people? Yes. But if you're not willing to go about it the right way, you may as well not go around pretending that you're creating a lasting benefit to society by forcing the kids to eat a meal the government felt was a reasonable compromise of nutrition and cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teller Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 you should be having a sit down about the quality of your child's food at the cafeteria, that is unless they bring lunch every day My daughter is very picky about what she eats, so she does. She always gets a fresh veggie, yogurt, and 100% fruit juice, in addition to whatever sandwich she may want. I know the sugar content in the juice is high, but otherwise, she gets a very nutritious meal that she likes, and fills her up until she gets home. And most of the girls snacks at the house are healthy too. Like any parent, we let them have potato chips and other treats sometimes, but we try hard to keep them eating right the majority of the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corcaigh Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 The only question is how much the people who make this policy are receiving from the businesses that provide school lunches. Some parents no doubt make terrible choices for their kids, but our kids' packed lunches have always been far, far better than what the school has to offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 This is something that we are going to see more and more of. The obesity epidemic is getting really out of hand and children are the ones most affected. Childhood obesity is soaring at rates unthinkable even 15 years ago and if drastic measures are not taken we may experience a drop in life expectancy for the first time in generations. Good, more Social Security for me.! If this was going on at my child's school, you can bet the principal and I would be having a sit down. Some kids don't qualify for free or reduced lunches, so why should I have to spend $2 a day to when I can send food with my child that costs alot less? I agree with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koala Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 What about the jewish kids who only eat kosher? The muslims kids and halal? The hindu kids whose parents can actually cook a vegetarian meal that doesnt taste like cardboard? Or any kid in general whose parents can make vaguely tasty meals that their kids will actually eat? What about the picky eaters? What about PERSONAL ****ING CHOICE??? Who is paying for this? I want an investigation on the principal for kick-backs from the food provider. If they dont find anything there, make something up. This woman needs to be an example of, for any other idiot prinicpals that mistake themselves for Josef Stalin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teller Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 This is something that we are going to see more and more of. The obesity epidemic is getting really out of hand and children are the ones most affected. Childhood obesity is soaring at rates unthinkable even 15 years ago and if drastic measures are not taken we may experience a drop in life expectancy for the first time in generations. I'm all for fighting obesity. Hell, I've been fighting it personally for most of my 37 years now. But this can't work, for a whole host of reasons. Let's say the school lunch is perfect, both nutritionally and tastes good enough that every kid will eat it. They still go home. Just like a teacher can't make up for 17 hours a day of bad parenting in 7 hours, school lunches won't make up for a kid that eats like garbage at home. Also, by forcing these kids to eat what they get, they're being provided with a presumably healthy, balanced meal, but you're not teaching them how to build one themselves. It's an absolute travesty to have people out there who want to eat healthy, but know how. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I've heard that more times than I can count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enter Apotheosis Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 The way I see it, if you want to fight childhood obesity you have to start with teaching the parents how to eat. If you can manage that everything else should fall into place without all the effort. Mandating the content of one meal a day does absolutely jack **** to solve the bigger problem and educating the kids themselves is going to have a negligible effect on their dietary habits when stacked up against the influence of their family. It would probably also help if people could come up with a better consensus of what actually constitutes healthy food. Marketing gimmicks have seemingly done a good job of ruining people's perceptions of certain nutrients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDoyler23 Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 I know someone who runs a school cafeteria, and it is a joke how much of the food is crap from a box that comes from other countries. In addition, the students have these debit cards that they can use to buy their lunches, but also chips, drinks, candy and all sorts of junk food. Nutrition is not really a priority, but making as much money back in 7-11 fare is. Apparently, the prepared food has improved in the past few years, but it still isn't all that great. As for the mandatory buy rule at this place. Follow the money! I can see how the school can feel that they're damned if they do, damned if they don't. Parents can be frequently irrational when situations develop involving their kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kubstix Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 It's pretty funny the faces the employees make and there own cafeteria workers if told they cannot bring a lunch either....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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