The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns

Okay, you can disagree all you want, I really don't know how it is in your area to judge it, but I often think that schools do a great job in raising kids since teachers are trained well, at least in this area, and are devoted to nurturing the best in our societies future. But sometimes, I'm a tad ashamed of the education system's choices in how to raise the kids.

What they are doing now in some schools here is giving points to children who bring healthy lunches into class and those who don't have healthy lunches don't get points. I know that giving points to the best behaved kids is good because it rewards and encourages good behaviour, but to do this with food is an issue.

I want to know how teachers can fault kids for what they bring to class. Why should they be punished with no points when they aren't the ones who pack their lunches? This sounds like they are discriminating kids who are raised by junk food junky parents.

What about kids that come from low income homes? Parents who are less well off can't afford the pricey organic c**p. And, how are they going to rate what's junk and what isn't? Johnny, you have an apple, but it has a bruise on it, so you only get half a point. Janey, you bought that banana from a grocery store and not an organic health food store, so you only get half a point too. Jo-eeyy... a bag of CHIPS??? You are suspended for the day.

Further, what about kids with eating disorders? Are they allowed to force kids to fail in achieving points merely because they have a handicap? What kind of message is that sending to the children that it's okay to discriminate against others with disorders or diseases?

What's next? Are they going to hand out points for lunches with no meat in them? Vegitarians all over the place will be crying out, "my kid can't be around meat, ban it from the schools". Does that sound at all like the peanut butter craziness that is in schools now? Sure does. My kid can't be around peanut butter, "allergies"; my kid can't be around perfume, "allergies"; my kid can't be around meat, "vegan meat attack". My kid suffers from VMA, which means s/he can't touch meat or s/he'll have a serious medical reaction.

I'm not saying those allergies aren't real, but they sure weren't around when I was in school. It's easy for some to fall for trends. Kinda similar to putting kids on ritalin when they don't have ADHD or ADD.

What's worse is that some of the kids out there say to other kids, "you're mommy gives you junk food" as if they are bad mothers because they gave her kids home cooked banana muffins.

And, what about cookies baked from grandma?

This puts a lot of peer pressure on kids because those that get the most points get a prize, so the kids really get on each other for what they think is junk food, like the banana muffin case or grandma's cookies. You know, for what seems to be a very liberal-minded education regime, they are really enforcing segregation between kids. I thought liberals were all about the fluffy love-thy-neighbour and hurt-no-fly stuff; how can they be this way if they are causing prejudice between the ranks? Segregation through food... what's next?

Anyhow, when it comes to teachers, who are they to tell our kids what's good and what isn't when it comes to food choices? Last I heard chocolate is good for women, so shouldn't we be encouraging it?

PS- MR.BIG told me I'd earn techie brownie points for using the != sign to mean "does not equal", is this true?