I was recently reading an article on MSN.com that dealt with an issue near and dear to my heart, candy. Apparently a Philadelphia school banned candy and soft drinks from their cafeteria and are praising the results of the two-year program.
Over the two years "the number of kids who got fat during the two-year experiment was half the number of kids who got fat in schools that didn’t make those efforts."
The report also alleges that the school "found when you give children healthy choices, they pick them,” said a school nurse at Francis Hopkinson School, one of the test schools."
Now I don't know about you but giving a child the choice between chewing on a celery stick and not eating, isn't really a choice. This "test" raises an astounding number of ethical questions. Don't kids have the right to be fat? or at least well fed? Does a child not have the right to purchase a candy bar from a vending machine?
It seems that the powers that be have decided that the best way to churn out society approved non-fat kids is to brainwash them into eating healthy food. I'm not sure, but in my opinion this is far from constitutional or ethical and disturbs me on many levels.
I'm all for healthy eating, and exercise. I had to learn the hard way as a kid that eating fatty foods makes you fat. But shouldn't everyone be able to live and learn that way? It seems to me that trading in the right to free choice for a healthy lifestyle is not going to be something that is "healthy" for our rights and liberty.
STORY LINK:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23982567
2 comments:
Are you kidding me? Kids aren't generally educated enough to understand negative consequences of weight gain. And too much candy/sugar can also impact their ability to learn. Healthy choices does not mean celery either-it might mean eating the sandwich mom packed or an apple or a granola bar. Free choice can't apply to kids - they'd wear party dresses on the coldest day and gorge on chocolate chocolate. Adults need to guide them and they can choose to make mistakes when they are grown.
Hey Laurie, while we're at it, let's ban Halloween. Not only does it teach kids that it's ok to consume mass quantities of candy, but it implicitly lends itself to encouraging children to mask their true identities and hide themselves beneath a facade of horror and emotional confusion.
BAN HALLOWEEN, I SAY! BAN IT!
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