Post: #1

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news...d=11474765

Quote:In a move that has fired up parents, teachers in the UK have won the right to inspect pupils' lunchboxes and confiscate unhealthy snacks.

"Schools have common law powers to search pupils, with their consent, for items," Schools Minister Lord Nash said.

"There is nothing to prevent schools from having a policy of inspecting lunch boxes for food items that are prohibited under their school food policies.

"A member of staff may confiscate, keep or destroy such items found as a result of the search if it is reasonable to do so in the circumstances."

But not everyone agreed.

Iain Austin, a Labour member of the Commons education committee, said: "With Britain tumbling down the international league tables and with a generation entering the work force with less literacy and numeracy than the generation retiring, you would have thought that teachers might have better things to do than rummage through children's crisps and fruit."

The row over packed lunches erupted after Cherry Tree Primary in Colchester banned junk food.

Outraged parents said this was unfair because the school's menu offered "unhealthy" food including high sugar desserts like pancakes, cookies and mousse.

Vikki Laws, 28, said her daughter - six-year-old Tori - was not allowed to eat her sausage snack. It was confiscated and returned at the end of the day with a note from teachers. She said another parent was warned not to give her child Scotch eggs.

Parents were also angry at Manley Park Primary in Manchester when it banned cereal bars despite offering pizza, chocolate fudge cake and fish fingers for lunch. Two mothers claimed staff confiscated a nut cereal bar and a packet of 100 per cent fruit chews because of their high sugar content.

It reignited the debate about the quality of school meals, at a time when NHS chiefs have warned obesity is the biggest threat to the nation's health. The Department for Education is urging schools to consult parents first to "ensure that any adopted policy is clearly communicated".

In response to a parliamentary question, Lord Nash, said: "It would be good practice for the pupil to be present during an inspection and for a second member of staff to be present if any items are to be confiscated".

Official figures show that around 20 per cent of children aged four and five are classed as overweight.

But, by the time they leave primary school aged 11, the figure rises to around 33 per cent.

If you look at the BMI of the average teacher, you would automatically lose your faith in her ability to decide what food is right for a child.

However, I am generally disgusted at the kind of food I see in a lot of my students' lunch boxes. My observation is the that the Asian parents will usually provide their children with a healthy lunch, often leftovers from dinner the night before - perhaps some rice, meat and a few vegetables they are happy to eat cold. White parents with good families will provide their children with a relatively healthy lunch including a sandwich, a few pieces of fruit, and a small treat such as a small bag of chips. Children of bad families or single mothers will usually have a a fist full of packaged, processed food and a few dollars to buy junk food at the school cafeteria. It's not unusual to see a kid with a jumbo pack of chips or a packet of chocolate biscuits for lunch.

There are exceptions. There are some parents living in unfortunate circumstances trying to do the best for their children, and I have nothing but respect for them

But entrusting teachers to decide what is healthy and ban specific foods?

Post: #2

Parents have outsourced the raising of their children to strangers for decades. Out of the birth canal and into the system is the norm. This is just another expression of there being no real rational limit to the state. The same people complaining now are the same who voted it in. At least in the USA you can homeschool…for now.

Post: #3

I wonder if they'd deem my lunch unhealthy.

Blocks of parm cheese, asiago, salami, a banana, 2 greek yoghurts, and a tall glass of chocolate milk.

I'd go to school board meeting for this next level stuff.

Post: #4

(07-02-2015 08:47 AM)The Beast1 Wrote:  I wonder if they'd deem my lunch unhealthy.

Blocks of parm cheese, asiago, salami, a banana, 2 greek yoghurts, and a tall glass of chocolate milk.

I'd go to school board meeting for this next level stuff.

If you were my student I'd go all intervention on yo ass - don't you know you've got to get some processed and nutritionally-bereft whole grains in there? You've never heard the gospel of the food triad.

Post: #5

I wish there were a benevolent dictator who could actually make authoritarian health policy decisions that were truly healthy.

Leaving health decisions in the hands of any old teacher is a surefire way to end up with kids eating crap.

Post: #6

As much as I hate people like this interfering with what people eat.

Some people are retarded when it comes to eating right. Society as a whole has to pay for the stupidity later on down the road in healthcare costs.

Post: #7

If this happens to my kids...man I am going to go rage-a-holic. Primary argument #1 would be "Is this teacher a nutritionist? A Medical doctor? No..you're not? So you are just as qualified to give nutritional advice as I am?! Well if we are having a free for all on unqualified dietary restrictions you'd better bring me down to the teachers lounge and open up your lunch box for me to inspect lady because you are eating something unhealthy to be as fat as you are"

Post: #8

Another sign of the state trying to control people's lives... A far better method would just be to let the fat fucks' parents be punished, rather than the child.

Post: #9

(07-02-2015 08:40 AM)jSinSaTx Wrote:  Parents have outsourced the raising of their children to strangers for decades. Out of the birth canal and into the system is the norm. This is just another expression of there being no real rational limit to the state. The same people complaining now are the same who voted it in. At least in the USA you can homeschool…for now.

Wikipedia: International Homeschooling Statistics

There's some interesting information in that link. Its incomplete but it shows that homeschooling is illegal in much of central and western Europe, as well as parts of Asia. Its by far the most common in USA with 2.5 million homeschooled children.

Post: #10

Yeah no, considering how most teachers are colossal fuckups who couldn't hack it in any other field and I don't trust their decision beyond their very narrow field of the subject they teach (if even that) I wouldn't be happy giving teachers even more nanny powers

Post: #11

While I think fighting obesity should be a high priority, those teachers do not have a full picture. I remember my ass of a second grade teacher scolded me for having a fruit rollup back in the day. My mom actually called and chewed her out because that was my one treat of the day. Other than that treat, I ate really healthy food because my mom prepared healthy meals for me and my family. And for christ sake, it was a fruit rollup! It's not like I brought nachos and snickers.

It isn't really the teachers job to police what a kid can eat, but I'm also realistic enough to know not a lot of kids have mom's at home preparing them healthy meals.

Post: #12

A smart enterprising kid will start a junk-food smuggling ring at really high prices.

A really awesome parent will find some car loaded up with speakers and blast Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall while slowly driving by the school.

Post: #13

I would only support this if the school and teachers weren't hypocritical about it. From the sounds of it this is about money. They take the treats the kids bring from home away so they'll buy worse shit that the school itself sells. That's diabolical.

That being said, we need to do something drastic about the obesity epidemic. It's only getting worse and letting kids get fat or obese essentially destroys their chance at living long fulfilled lives.

They should not be selling baked goods, sugary sodas, etc. at schools. Kids should have the options of meat, vegetables, and fruit. That's it.

You can't control what they get when they go home but schools should teach kids how to eat right since so many parents either don't know how to themselves or just don't care.

Part of me thinks that Western governments want their citizens to be docile, dull fat slobs.

Post: #14

So what did they do with the food they confiscated did they put it in a burning pyre and waste it all or eat it themselves at the teacher lounge? Either way is a disgusting sort of affairs that nobody wants to see and I honestly wouldn't trust some of my old teachers to not eat my bag of funions around the corner after confiscating it.

Truth be told you have to lead by example because I imagine these kids are having their food confiscated by really obese fat bitches (which lets be honest, is a good % of the staff) and that would just cause more resentment.

IMHO, obesity in itself is punishment enough and if someone wants to be 500 pounds for the rest of their life then that's their choice -- and yes, I do believe kids outside of the toddler stage starts getting agency about that even if they can't really do much with shitty parents besides exercise and exercise a lot.