‘McTeachers' wait on their students

[zelda7743]

This is absolutely horrible. As a dietitian, I'm appalled at what the lengths that the fast food companies will go to get customers.



LIHU‘E — Children were excited because they could order their teachers around.

Or at least order food from them.

Parents were excited because school leaders would get a portion of proceeds from the evening's food sales.

Wilcox Elementary School teachers were excited as they got a final orientation and briefing on the McDonald's operation from Robert Ibia here Tuesday afternoon.

"This is our first time," an excited teacher said as she surveyed the capacity of the Lihu‘e McDonald's dining room in anticipation of the crowd she expected as school teachers and staff participated in a McTeachers Night fund-raising event that ran from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2004/02/13/news/news01.txt

[kokofitz]

1. Why not choose the good "stuff"?

Schools are constantly needing money that is not provided by state or federal programs. The idea of giving money to schools is not a bad one. The thing to do here is to help the children learn even more by helping them to choose the most nutritional things possible at a "fast food' establishment. It can be done.

[newyawker99]

18. Hi kokofitz!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[kokofitz]

21. Thanks!

[alwynsw]

25. Welcome to DU!

:grouphug:

[kokofitz]

28. T Y

:D

[beevul]

32. Welcome...

to DU.

[buck4freedom]

2. Oh give me a break!

I'm so tired of people being "outraged" by what people eat.

Get a life!! I will eat what I want, my family will eat what it wants, and when you outlaw chicken barbecue down here in the south because it's not "healthy" enough for students you're going to have a major fight.

Why can't people mind their own business.... and their own plates?

[zelda7743]

4. I will stop being outraged

When I get to stop seeing KIDS that come in with obesity and type 2 diabetes because they eat crap all the time.
I agree with personal responsibility, but we're talking about kids that don't have the level of responsibility needed to make the right decisions.
I'm upset with this on two levels:
1. We're allowing fast food companies to prey on kids in the name of fund-raising.
2. We're getting teachers used to working at McDonald's.

P.S. I personally don't care what you eat.

[kokofitz]

8. After 25 years of teaching....

at least at Mc D's most people say "thank you".

[kokofitz]

5. I agree, but

there is nothing wrong with using an opportunity to teach children good nutrition whether they and their parents choose to use the knowledge is up to them.

[cheezus]

6. I'm going to Burger King in 20 minutes

yummy

[John BigBootay]

13. You deserve a break today! n/t

[Iris]

14. So, I guess you buy into the Bush Admin.'s assertion that "all foods

can be healthy in moderation"?

Give ME a break.

Pander to the big food corporations at the expense of the health of our kids. If you want to clog your arteries with their fat and cholesterol and jack up your insulin with their sugar, go for it. But keep in mind we all pay with higher health care costs.

[PVnRT]

15. So

you support the idea that we should legislate what people eat? Because that's the point that was being made in this sub-thread.

[Iris]

16. No one is regulating what people should eat.

But I quite honestly wouldn't feed my kid a steady diet of McDonald's and don't want McDonald's being present at school pushing their poison.

[PVnRT]

3. Given how schools are treated by the government

I am not surprised.

On the one hand, they are supposed to increase performance (read: get better standardized test scores), but they have to do it with less money, more students per class, and fewer ways to discipline the students. And let's not forget the free pass parents get now.

Republicans love things like this, it plays right into their goal of privatizing education.

[John BigBootay]

17. My wife's school has Sub Way delivered--

That's a decent compromise IMHO.

[jhfenton]

30. Please provide statistics to back up your claims

On the one hand, they are supposed to increase performance (read: get better standardized test scores), but they have to do it with less money, more students per class, and fewer ways to discipline the students. And let's not forget the free pass parents get now.

Please provide statistics to back up your claims, if you can.

The fact is that education spending is *way* up. Classes sizes are *way* down. Student performance is flat or declining. The problem is inherent in the way we train and certify teachers and run our schools as little monopolies, not in how little resources we devote to education.

Republicans love things like this, it plays right into their goal of privatizing education.

I see nothing remotely partisan about introducing a little competition into the school system. If you live in an urban school district, vouchers are an urgent necessity. I understand why teachers' unions are opposed to competition. What is appalling is that so many others are ready to give them a free pass.

[Pithlet]

33. You asked

for backup, yet provided none. Where is yours?

[cheezus]

7. The Air Force never needs to hold a bake sale when they want a new bomber

[MissB]

9. Here is an even worse example

Last year at about this time, I started exploring the local school district to figure out which school my Kindergartner would attend. During my visit to a classroom, I learned that the free breakfast was available to all students, regardless of income. At that time, it was a pilot program available in just a few schools, but the district had plans to make it available district-wide. Great idea- kids need a full tummy to help them pay attention and learn.

However, the food choices are horrible. There is a choice of a breakfast burrito, a cinnamon roll, and a McMuffin type sandwich (without the egg). These are supposedly healthy - the beans don't have lard, the cinnamon roll is made with some whole wheat flour and the canadian bacon on the sandwich is made with turkey.

But what does it teach our kids? In my view, what we're teaching them is that breakfast comes from Taco Bell, Cinnabon and McDonalds. From Kindergarten to High School. Many, many years of "healthy" fast food - training our kids to eat the wrong stuff.

I recall seeing a statistic about our state recently- something about having the highest rates of obesity and the highest rate of food insecurity.

I don't even feed my kids cereal in the morning. Why on earth would I want them to have access to a cinnamon roll every school day, starting with Kindergarten?

[kokofitz]

11. Considering that there are many children who don't eat at home.....

the idea of them getting a meal to start the day is a welcome one to those of us who have had to deal with hungry children. You can choose to feed your children what you wish, however the sad fact is that many parents do not feed their children at all.

[MissB]

12. Free breakfast is a fine idea

I believe I made that point in my original post.

Feeding children junk food over a period of many years isn't a good idea. I cannot defend the school for making this decision. Free food = good. Free junk food = bad.

Healthy food is cheap too. Why should the choices be so horrible? It shouldn't be a choice of junk food or no food.

[KansDem]

10. I suspect this has very little to do with supporting the school...

... but everything to do with McDonald's predatory marketing practices aimed at children.

After all, McDonald's et al seek to create a loyal following. Hence, they concentrate less on selling their product and more on selling a perceived desirable lifestyle and culture. As I remember McDonald's TV ads, they offered a glimpse of nirvana: the McDonaldland characters in a fantasy setting would prance around in a lighthearted skit which ended when they all went to McDonald's. Moral: all good comes from a visit to McDonald's. While this is expected of adults, influencing the children's decision-making process in this manner should be tantamount to child abuse.

I've seen the end product of this. For a couple of years I worked as a bartender for a "family-oriented" comedy club. Hence, not only did we had a full-service bar but many NABs as well. Yet, I was constantly amazed at the large number of customers who walked up to the bar and, without looking at what we had to offer, simply requested a Diet Coke/Coke/Sprite/etc. Their request was automatic, habitual, made without thinking about it. Very few even took the time to peruse our list of drinks available. So, it appears that the many years of exposure to ads (and promotions to support local schools) to develop "name recognition" and "brand loyalty" paid off.

[ulysses]

19. WHY? FUCKING WHY???

It's not enough that teachers get to spend countless after-school hours planning lessons, grading homework and worrying about whether or not their students will pass a test designed by someone who hasn't set foot in a classroom since they were eighteen. Now, we're going to require them to make french fries so that their employers "get a portion of proceeds from the evening's food sales" from an enormously wealthy corporation???

Why? Other than futher eroding any kind of classroom discipline and training teachers for the jobs that will be available to them once education is fully in the hands of the fundies, why?

What a full-on crock of steaming shit.

[brokensymmetry]

20. You ask why.

Don't you recall that * said that retraining was the key to remaining employed? Those teachers get to be in the first wave retrained to say "You want fries with that?"

Lucky them. By the time we get the training, wages will have dropped... even more...

[kokofitz]

22. As one of those

under appreciated teachers I can tell you that doing an evening at Mc D's is not going to "further erode classroom discipline". Its not that I particularly like the idea of trying to get extra funds, but the Constitution does not make education a part of the Federal governments job...it belongs to the states and some of them simply don't have the money that others do. In addition, every time the Fed steps into education with "funding" it is all tied to something that just makes more trouble for the teachers. I'd rather do Mc D's than spend the time on a Fed program that may or may not be funded.

[thermodynamic]

23. Great. Filth food to make the kids more obese...

That shit isn't healthy for adults, let alone GROWING CHILDREN. Children meant to be growing UP and not OUT. x(

Fucking corporations. I'm fucking sick of them, their greed, their apathy towards America, their selfishness. They are traitors to the country and to humanity in general.

That teacher is a 100% grade-a pure fucktwat also. (stupid teachers aren't new, my 3rd grade teacher thought there were 52 states... :grr: :mad: )

What the fuck is wrong with this country... x(

</mad>

[kokofitz]

24. Please clarify your comments:

That teacher is a 100% grade-a pure fucktwat also.

Is your post directed at one of the several teachers quoted in the referenced article, or is it directed at me, the only poster on this thread who has identified herself as a teacher (in my case retired teacher)?

As is the case with any profession, 50% of all teachers graduated in the bottom half of their classes. I assure you that I was not one of those. I know how many states there are in the Union, including those that are technically commonwealths.

stupid teachers aren't new... In this context the proper word is "ignorant" if she didn't know the number of states rather than "stupid".

(Sorry, grading papers is still in my blood.)

[Jose Diablo]

26. Welcome kokofitz to DU

LOL
:hi:

[kokofitz]

27. Thanks

[alwynsw]

29. Dietary matters aside:

would you really want an elementary school age child reading that post?

I know that many DUers have children that age who also have access to their computers.

[ms_splash]

31. 20% of "what is sold" is going to the school

McDonalds just loves taking people's money and pushing their McCrack.

Funny thing is that we are slowly turning our schools in McFranchises. McTeachers, indeed!

I reaaaaaally want to see that Super Size documentary, by the way.

[drdigi420]

34. the students are practicing for the only jobs that will be left

after teh repubs are thru

we better all start practicing

say it with me ppl:

"DO YOU WANT FUCKING FRIES WITH THAT!?"