Posted on 12/02/2004 6:09:39 PM PST by Missouri
Three St. Louis public schools are experimenting with a new way to make sure pupils get the most important meal of their day, by delivering breakfast to their desks.
Aramark, the district's food service provider, launched the pilot project this week at Froebel, Ashland and Dewey elementary schools. All students and teachers in participating classrooms at those schools will eat free, regardless of whether they qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Most folks simply do not realize that the public school system is a 'jobs program' with education as a by-product. If it were truly an educational system it would not need Federal intervention such as "No Child Left Behind" and all teachers would be "highly qualified" from the day they received their degree ...from our so-called system of 'higher education'.
"Maybe the taxpayers should provide hot cocoa at night before bedtime. Sheesh"
Have the principal come on over and tuck them in, read them a bedtime story about how great the school system is and how it will take care of them and then promise them all sorts of Holiday (can't say Christmas) presents.
Hell, they should just make the kids in a lab and then let the parents have no more contact.
They sure won't learn it reading this article.
And the kids end up fat as ducks and waddle around at 18!
(Hi Happy!)
Here's a pithy little story for you...
As a little boy I grew up dirt poor. Single mom, trailer park, broke down car, you name it, I was a country-western song...hehe.
I got subsidized lunches in grade school, but it was done differently then. (late 1970's Kansas)
All of the kids who had subsidized lunches were required to be in the "helping hands" program.
What this meant was that if you were on subsidized or free lunches you had to earn them through being a school "helper".
For my part, I enjoyed the "Yard Patrol". We would walk the school grounds and pick up litter.
The worst job was "Kitchen Captains", where we loaded the kids plastic trays onto the boxes and slid them into the big metal dishwasher machine. You ended up wet, and hot, and you always ate last, then went back to Ms. Collins class soaking so everyone could laugh at you.
It was humiliating for a little boy, as everybody knew that the helper kids were the poorest kids, and treated them accordingly.
But in another sense it was liberating.
I learned not to take anything, even a school lunch, for granted. You must contribute if you want to eat, a lesson many in America seem to have forgotten.
I also decided at a very young age that I would do whatever it takes to make sure my kids were never in that position. If I have to work three jobs, then so be it.
I'm not suggesting that we go back to that sort of program, the liberals would have none of it, with all of the "self-esteem issues" and such.
But we have gone too far to the other extreme, we give everything, and ask nothing.
Why then we are suprised to find a people who respect nothing and demand everything?
"I'm sure Aramark is maximizing their profit at the expense of the taxpayers as it is."
Of course it is. Companies that deal with government know that there is no "oversight" and hence they can charge what they want. I wonder if while they are bringing the kids their food at their seats, the "waiter" is wearing a tux?
I fear it will not be long before everyone begins thinking like this. Meanwhile the American taxpayer gets ripped off while our kids can attend 12 years of public school and obtain a 'certificate of attendance' that they can not read.
Just make sure no one says Grace............they would surely have to end the program then.
Enough is never enough.
Never, not once in my life, have I ever accepted Government support for my family!
I have been very poor at times, and even homeless for a few months. There have been times when the only food we could afford were potatoes and flour, but we managed.
With flour and potatoes, you can make noodles, dumplings, bread and other meals that will keep you alive. If you are an inventive cook, it is amazing how good these meals can become with a few extra flavorings.
Once you fall into the trap of Government support, you will never get out. My family understood that, and we survived.
I feel nothing but outrage toward parents who fail to provide for their family. There is never an excuse!
If a school must provide meals for the children, then the parents should be arrested immediately!
Pithy story?
Great story!
Thank you for this.
Now that's funny!
"A long as you are giving "stuff" away, I'd like a pony."
That's for lunch.
Ripped off? Just wait till these kids' test scores skyrocket! (/sarcasm)
Yes, it seems that way. The leftist media has had its hand in all of this, too.
I guess we are the ones who have "won life's lottery". So much for being a responsible parent.
Your story is a moving one. Kids can be cruel. I always tried to teach my kids to be understanding of others less fortunate than themselves.
I did not come from a poor childhood but my parents taught me the same lessons I tried to teach my kids.
My Mother had 9 brothers and sisters. She told me that during the depression they almost always had company for supper. People that my grand father brought home with him because they had nothing to eat.
I guess it's a lesson handed down through the generations.
ALL voluntary. The government should not be in the business of redistributing money.
Maybe your on to something. Have these kids learn to make their own breakfast out of scratch in the schools kitchen. They might learn some skills that they could use in a productive society.
LOL ! Now your going to far.
"If a school must provide meals for the children, then the parents should be arrested immediately!"
You would see alot more kids with food on their faces when they came to school if parents started getting hauled off for not feeding their children in the morning.
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