So the Lunch Fairy suddenly gives all kids lunch automatically. Next day, cool kids bring lunch

[KittyWampus]

Even if schools suddenly went to a system where all kids automatically got a free hot lunch without anyone having to apply...

the VERY NEXT DAY it is guaranteed that a group of kids would automatically shift to bringing their own lunches and then "look down on" those who ate school food. They'd also probably start showing off their Jonas Bros lunch box or whatever.

Older kids would also probably bring money and go off school grounds for lunch.

As per usual, DU'ers miss the point.

Rather than insisting that schools root out bullying and taunting... they argue about cheese sandwiches.

It is totally possible to instill accepting behavior amongst children especially if you start young.

If it isn't cheese sandwiches getting kids taunted, it's the clothes or hair or whatever.

I know because my parents dressed me in my brothers' hand-me-downs (I'm a girl).

Yes, I learned not to give a crap what people said. If they didn't like me, I learned that was their problem. I also learned to have a sense of humor. And to stand up to bullies.

In hindsight, it would've been nice if the teachers and administrators had done something about the cruel pecking-order behavior. Cause I wasn't the only one. And Thank Ceiling Cat I learned early not care what the others said or thought and how to be independent.

But it makes me SICK that taunting and bullying is not just accepted but is tacitly encouraged.

[JanMichael]

1. umm sorry you had dress issues. Seriously

But, this is about that, AND food.

So you ran the gamut and are unscathed. Congrats.

[Mad_Cow_Disease]

2. After all this talk today about godammed lunches...

I'm sending my kid to private school. They can wear uniforms and deal with threatening nuns playing teacher.
Screw this school lunch fiasco.

[JanMichael]

3. yeah! Me too! Cause poor people's diets mean shit to me!

I agree!

[KittyWampus]

5. Kids already can get free or subsidized hot lunches.

[EFerrari]

8. No, kids can't do that. Adults have to do that for them. Christ.

[Donnachaidh]

6. Just as long as you don't ask the government for vouchers

Why the hell should we pay for your kid's schools when you won't even pay for school lunches?

[SheilaT]

12. My kids went to a private school.

No uniforms, and you would not believe how much they complained about the cafeteria food. I thought it was very good, and they had a remarkable selection: two hot items, a salad bar, a PB&J bar w/ bread or bagels. Most days there was also a soup. I ate there occasionally, when I was at school volunteering for something or another and always liked it.

Discipline tended to be high, there was less bullying than in public schools, although I knew some parents who complained of bullying. We moved our kids there to get away from bullying, and for our kids it worked. But there were still the cool kids and the not cool kids.

[SoCalDem]

4. Try going to a school on-base..in the 50's.

They BOILED almost everything, and it all tasted the same...bad!..and we had table monitors standing at the end of each table watching us eat..NO TALKING!

and you HAD to eat everything, or you sat there with them, until you did..even the mushy lima beans (still have nightmares about them)

Every time I see an old black & white prison movie, I flashback to Francis E Warren Elementary..4th grade

[EFerrari]

7. No, you missed the point. We were talking about shaming children, not about cheese.

[Mad_Cow_Disease]

10. Sooner or later, kids need to learn life-lessons and perspective.

I'm not saying kids deserve to starve (and they're not)... but you can't shelter kids forever.

No, it's not about the cheese, you are right. It's much bigger than that.
I'm of the opinion the concept of entitlement is one of the prime factors that has torn this country down.
America needs to roll it's sleeves up and get it done, however uncomfortable the near future may be.

Call me cold, callous, uncompassionate, whatever. That's my stance.

[lib2DaBone]

9. People are unemployed, the nuclear family is history.....

... I am a school bus driver. Kids come to the bus in sub-freezing temps in the morning with no jacket.

Maybe they can not afford a jacket, or maybe there isn't an adult in the house with the sense to put a jacket on them.. but it happens.

The kids eat 2 free meals a day at school. Breakfast and lunch. Most do not get dinner at home.

More and more.. it is the school system that is raising the kids. The family (because of Reagonomics and off-shoring) is a thing of the past.

The bus drivers care for the kids in the morning, the teachers aids and the teachers take care of the kids all day long, the school nurses and the school cafeteria take care of food, and the "parents" are no where to be found.

I had one parent who showed up at the bus stop with her 1st grader at 7 a.m., with a Budweiser and a cigarette in her hand. Benefit of the doubt.. maybe she worked all night on the night shift and she just got home. No problem, I worked midnight shift for a number of yers and I understand the mind set.

However, the system is broke. Our schools are broke and it is not because of the teachers (who are stretched and over-worked) beyond all means.

The cause is REAGONOMICS. The wealth DOES NOT trickle down from the wealthy to the working class. Under Republican rule.. the top 2% got everything and America suffered. These are the facts (not opinion) plain and simple. Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich can go __ _ _ _ themselves. Any research into our national nightmare will reveal the horrible CAFTA.NAFTA, Off-Shoring and Reagonomics as the culprit.

Please President Obama.. repeal NAFTA and end tax breaks so companies bring our jobs home.

[madrchsod]

11. what you just wrote has been happening for years

i thought the reagan republicans were cruel in their attitude but ..never mind it`s not worth it.

[KamaAina]

13. It makes me SICK that taunting and bullying is tacitly encouraged BY THE SCHOOL.

at least in the one instance reported here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5147566&mesg_id=5147566

Before I retired as a teacher, I witnessed the struggle when our lunchroom at school began the "cheese sandwich" gambit. It was very obviously meant to embarrass the children whose parents were behind in their lunch payments.

It was done in a harsh way very often, with the lunchroom workers pulling the kids out of line after loudly calling out their name. They presented them their "cheese sandwich" lunch so that it could not be missed by anyone in the lunchroom. After many teachers complained they toned it down a little, but there were still loud arguments with the children who just did not understand why they were being taken out of the line to be given a cheese sandwich....

It's about embarrassing children needlessly when it would be just as economically sound to feel them a regular lunch.

It's a harsh conservative tactic meant to humiliate when it could be handled another way. The fact that it is accepted so easily at a Democratic forum scares me.