I have maintained for decades that the true purpose for the existence of local school boards is to funnel local revenues into the pockets of the local business establishment. Education -or, in the case of the school board in the article, indoctrination - is simply a sideline, a babysitting enterprise used to gain the support of local parents so that they'll support the taxes and bond referenda which provide those revenues.

In the case described in the article, the funds in question seem to be Federal instead of local in origin but the principle remains the same. The schoolchildren are simply a captive set of consumers for whatever set of products the local elite choose to shove down their throats regardless of the effects on the children's health. Many Chinese are now suffering the same attitude with regard to building safety.

Everyone on this board has a dream about America becoming a better society for everyone. The most important step that we could take in that direction is the realization that our children are our responsibility, not our economic opportunity.

jj

The last sentence in my previous post should read ". . . Chinese are NOW suffering . . . ."

Lousy editing feature.

jj

"Eat Shit and Die: Contaminated Veggies Are the Meat Industry's Fault

Allison Kilkenny, Buffalo Beast

Environment: The latest salmonella scare shows that even vegetarians are still at the mercy of the meat industry."

the current issue of scientific american includes an article implicating infant formula containing cow's milk in the incidence of type 1 diabetes, apparently by triggering some kind of autoimmune attack on the pancreatic islet cells.

(as saint george carlin might have added, there's another reason to love tits).

As Earl Sinclair put it so succinctly to his teenage son in one episode of "Dinosaurs": "School is a place you go to be out of this house".

Gotta keep that sacred lowest common denominator alive. Government does a marvelous job of that.

The future looks very interesting.

What future?

The future that every person that reads this website needs to start to stick their neck out to ensure.

When was the last time you stopped by your city council person's office?

While the article may not cover the entire issue in this teacher's dismissal, there is absolutely no doubt that more than half the world lives largely without milk and meat. And in these nations with a largely plant-based nutrition approach heart attacks and strokes plus many commom Western cancers are unknown.

The assertions of T. Colin Campbell rest soley on hard, competitive, grant-based science. Though the GOT MILK white upper lip may convince many that cow's milk is healthy, that entire industry-funded ad campaign relies on the flimsiest of evidence. Campell's book, THE CHINA STUDY, recommends changes in American nutrition that would transform America's costly and needless health woes. And spur even more record breaking from vegan athletes.

Thank you for publishing this telling story on Common Dreams.

Though the teachers intentions of revealing to the students a truth most in our society today would prefer hidden, (a commendable intention), he was subverted by his own methods of deceit. There is a lesson here for all of us. The ends don't justify the means. The means are the end. "The end is in the beginning." Though ideologies and beliefs require some form of deceit or violence to promote and maintain, Truth does not. Truth shines by it's own light.

"When one party or another, when one sect or the other, thinks itself to be the sole possessor of absolute Truth, it becomes only natural that it should think its neighbour absolutely in the clutches of error or of the 'devil,' requiring to be redeemed by force or threats or intimidation, i.e., to be shocked into acquiescence by verbal or physical violence. Alternatively, it may attempt to seduce the unwary by subtle propaganda and theological or political bribes."

-- Raghavan Iyer

"..unless every man is brought to understand, and accept as an axiomatic truth that by wronging one man we wrong not only ourselves but the whole of humanity in the long run, no brotherly feelings such as preached by all the great Reformers, pre-eminently by Buddha and Jesus, are possible on earth."

-- HP Blavatsky

~ ITz a NAtZI Werld Order ~

Would love to post, but he's been done in

___ B a n ☠ n e d ___

So, I'd just like to remind people that he would otherwise have dad much to say herein.

Namaste

This is about money. Money to subsidize the beef, poultry and dairy industries. The Government pushes this stuff on the schools, usually dairy products that are overproduced in the form of cheese, milk and other milk products (all saturated with hormones of course). It's been that ways since I was a kid in the 40s eating school lunches full of cheese and various forms of meat and grease. I died several years ago

The main pupose of the School Lunch Program is to provide disadvantaged children with a nourishing breakfast and lunch; if the schools don't do this, many children will have little to nothing to eat for the entire day. There are many children whose parents cannot or will not feed them a decent diet; the effects of malnutrition on children's brains and learning capacity is well documented.
Now, a nourishing meal means many things to many different people. But the school meal programs aim to provide a variety of foods (eggs, meat, fish, poultry, whole grains, vegetables and fruits and yes milk and dairy products). Getting kids to eat this foods [especially when these items are not served at home) can be a difficult task to accomplish. I suggest you speak directly to the dietitians and food service managers who make a concerted effort o implement the programs in a cost-efficient and timely manner. Getting kids fed before school seems to be an issue not confined to the economically disadvantaged or the urban schools.
I know so many do not like the use of animals products, but dairy products do provide a very digestable bioavailable source of high biological value protein and calcium; other animal products also provide the same high quality proteins and a number of vitamins and minerals needed for the diet. Vegetables and fruit are the hardest items to get kids to eat; whole grains also difficult [many kids will only eat the airy white breads or the sugared cereals their parents buy]. Don't get me started on the sugared beverages, chips, dip, fried everything, candy and anything with a ton of salt on the top!
It also wouldn't hurt if parents took some responsibility for their kids diet and exercise activities; not everything should revolve around a video screen or computer.

Rockerbabe1___-Finally, some common sense on this thread. We seem to be getting deluged lately with many far out ideas from people with some kind of agenda to push, so really appreciate your post, it contains much good information.

Milk is not a good source of calcium. Its high calcium content is more than offset by the concentrated protein in milk.

Concentrated protein robs the body of calcium, leaching the precious mineral from bones. Cow's milk is for calves. Babies need breast milk.

Cow's milk has never been a healthy food for humans, and when loaded down with antibiotics, hormones, and the puss that oozes from the udders of the suffering animals, it would be banned by the FDA were that agency not controlled by the dairy industry.

Nothing is allowed to stand in the way of corporate profits, and the god in which we all trust is green paper.

The point seems to be that the teacher deviated from the lesson plan, actively spoke against school policy, and then encouraged his students to deceive their families about what he was doing.

He is employed by the taxpayers' elected officers to teach the lesson plan, support policies such as the lunch program, and to encourage his students to learn what he is supposed to be teaching them.

Seems a fairly open and shut case to me.

If people want these issues and policies to change they should utilize the democratic systems already in place in their local school board.

Attempting to blow this up into a "Veganism" story is a bit pathetic.

I like these Vegans better when they were "animal-rights" activists, before they relized that their position was not popular and began to move away from democratic forms and toward telling people what to do.

I like dead animal, you don't -fine, some guy says you'll live longer than me-super, love it. NOW can we get back to all of the important issues and problems with our Food System?

The floating rationalizations for imprinting one's value system on everyone else are getting old.

Have fun.

-matti.

Milk is good for kids, and everyone else for that matter. I realise some are lactose intolerant however. Regulated, pasteurized milk is better. I needn't give anyone here a history lesson but if you want to see the devastation unregulated milk and the companies providing it can wreak, just check out 19th century history in America's biggest cities, particularly New York. You will find unbelievable child death rates resulting from consuming unregulated products, particularly supposed milk, from criminal businesses. It was nothing less than mass murder.

matti

Teachers are not tape recorders for the county commissioners, the school board, and the state dept. of public instruction to operate.

Most teachers are subversives who teach what they please, and the business community is too busy making money to care, not unlike the parish priest.

If you were not trying to imprint your values on everyone else, you would not be wasting your time here.

As for the taxpayer and the elected officials out there in status symbol land, their commitment to public education can be measured by the money they spend on it.

You are going to do as you please? Fine. Just don't get all judgmental when others do the same. And please don't lecture me on who should listen to whom because taxpayer money is involved. You should be talking to the military-industrial-media complex.

You are a Republican aren't you?

In a few words:

There is shit in the milk (and meat).

There are antibiotics, hormones, and pesticides in the milk (and meat).

There are blood & guts (from reprocessed excess cow parts for feed) in the milk (and meat).

Oooo, AND:

There is pus in the milk.

--------------
PS to matti:

BLOW ME

You think the shining democracy of the local school board would handle this properly? Grow up, you naive, complicit douche.

Well, regardless of the source, vegan, or FAO, or otherwise, there's serious problems with the way information gets out to people. Posters promoting milk in middle schools should be embarrassing to everyone, considering who's doing the promoting, and what we now know about the effects of dairy on our bodies. Given the facts at this time, our society should be encouraged to move away from all animal based food sources, yummy and rich as they may be, to eliminate the associated harm, waste, and medical expenditure.

So, to see milk being promoted as a life-long indulgence is... eh... Opposite-Land.

Schools that have improved the quality of their lunches, incorporating more vegetables and less cheese, soda, and meat, have seen a dramatic increase in the attention, performance, attendance, and discipline of the students. As bodies are fed well, minds gain clarity and calmness. From a place of natural equilibrium, students can focus, engage, and learn more effectively. Harmony is improved, teacher morale, and the whole feedback loop of involvement.

It is an affront to education (and it undermines the general welfare) to cut costs by using cheap and highly processed food sources in school lunches, outsourcing to the lowest bidder. It's like "we'll just fill the kids up with crap, and they'll be happy." The result has so many net negatives, not only for physical health but for the development of young bodies and minds at a critical point. The older kids get, the harder it is to regain lost opportunities.

In my view Dave Warwak didn't abandon his curriculum, he augmented it and brought it to the level of real art. Unfortunately, he raised some inconvenient truths, things important to him at this time in his life. He engaged students on a personal level, which I suppose may be controversial in itself. But if he had sprinkled stories about Magellan into his art class, and students created works around that theme, there would be no dispute from the school. But instead, Dave brought truths which are controversial (compassion for other beings) and realities of the school itself (mindless hypocrisy) into the art class, as engaging fodder for his students to think about how creativity can confront real life problems.

We may not feel comfortable with unpopular ideas being placed in students' hands, to examine and know for themselves, but... they should! Students coming into their teenage years should be presented with as much contemporary knowledge as we can provide, from all sides of the ideological spectrum. Far from being confusing, with guidance and collaboration students in an environment of free exchange are capable of grasping subtle connections with surprising agility.

I believe that a lot of my school years were poisoned by the sense that there are things you shouldn't talk about, there are ideas that are too precious to challenge. Far from being encouraged to ask questions about things, we were rewarded for keeping quiet and accepting doctrine.

Frankly, I feel more uncomfortable with parents and teachers playing it up for the students that Dave is some kind of menace, when in fact he's just a big-hearted force of nature, telling it like it is. He's the sort of person who should be admired, appreciated, and encouraged, and to see him summarily dismissed is a heartbreaking confirmation that education at Fox River Grove has totally misguided priorities.

What should they have done instead? I think they should have hosted a public debate, at the very least. Some dairy farmers could bring people to share their side, and Dave Warwak with his boundless energy, could organize a few experts on his side, and they could have a lively discussion about the benefits and deficits of milk.

That would be educational!

I am not going to discuss the issue of whether milk is good for us. The thought of what could be in my milk makes me feel ill. I buy organic milk because I love milk. I have heard that organic milk is tainted, too. I think I'll get some goats! What I want to talk about is what I see during school lunch. A very large percentage of the school lunches are thrown in the trash every day by these elementary school students. Sometimes the ENTIRE main course is thrown away. Then the children line up to buy cheese puffs, brownies, drinks laden with sugar, ice cream sandwiches or cups, cinnamon rolls, fruit rollups, cookies, etc. and these they devour. Many kids take the milk and then throw it away. When I question the selling of those products I am told that the only way the school lunch program can "stay out of the red" is by selling these snacks. The school lunch menu contains mostly prepared/precooked foods, canned vege and canned fruit. It seems the quality of the food is marginal although some effort has been made to use more healthy options such as oven fries instead of deep fried french fries. I believe the kids prefer the snack foods because in the majority of cases that is what they are given in their homes and it's because that is what their parents eat. Many parents don't even try to get their children to eat things other than mac and cheese, hot dogs, or chicken nuggets. They assume the kids won't even try anything else thus the kids are taught to only eat those few things. So many American families these days don't know what good nutrition is or have the time to cook. It's a sad commentary on American life.

So...somebody finally says it: All the talk about giving our children the best is just so much bull shit. The food isn't fit to eat, the buildings are inadequate, and the No Child Left Behind program is pretty much like the clean skies initiative---Orwellian doublespeak.

I understand that war is the most efficient way to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich, even if huge waste, theft, and graft are necessary evils, but these kids may not be healthy enough for cannon fodder at age 18 if they are not fed better.

rebelde,

By all means, if you have land that has lots of things growing on it, get some goats. They will improve the land by eating up scrub brush you don't like and by leaving behind lots of fertilizer to make fruit trees, for example, flourish. They do tend to eat bark off of trees, however, but not to excess. Nevertheless, you may have to fence off young fruit trees, for example, to give the trees a fighting chance. We have five goats and drink delicious raw goat's milk every day. The dogs drink the excess. The goats are fun and playful but you have to predict their joyous antics and outsmart them at times. For example, ours seem to go out of their way to leave goatie footprints in wet concrete. But it is a nice motif. In order to not be overrun with goats not to mention be witness to bloody dominance fights, we eat the young males, unapologetically, once the mother starts butting him away from her at about 3 months. Allowing overpopulation to burden limited terrain is not a kindness. However, with extra females and extra milk we hope one day to be more self-sufficient by way of feeding our chickens curdled milk rather than commercial feed. Maybe one day we will even be able to support a pig or two with milk and fallen fruit. My husband and I are strong and fit, take no medicines, and run our farm all by our middle-aged selves plus one part-time laborer. If vegans want to be vegans, let them. However, if they want to learn from India (where they are largely lacto-ovu vegetarians, but some meat eaters, I've met them), they may want to ensure that there are plenty of bugs in their grains. Bugs are good nutrition! Our goats sure love their bug-studded molasses, and they are pretty picky. Also, just try to separate a just-given-birth nanny goat from her juicy, meaty, placenta. The rest of the time, she relies on the bacteria in her 4 stomachs to manufacture vitamin B12 from her constant greens munching or cud chewing. Having 4 stomachs is a must for herbivores, in my opinion. We also eat our excess roosters and spent layers. Even a lacto-ovu vegetarian has to know that someone has to die to keep their egg and milk producer populations in check, but I am happy to eat their share of the meat for them.

Meanwhile, we strive one day to have a completely grain-free farm with the only input being unrefined salt and molasses for the goats. We don't touch the stuff ourselves.

Goats and other ruminants like sheep and cows need plenty of greens and sunshine. The turn-of-the-century urban, confinement dairies were dreadful places where the cows ate brewer's waste and were deprived of sunshine. That type of raw milk has nothing in common with the Certified Raw Milk of the same era. Please see realmilk.org for more information on raw milk. Today, more people die from contaminated pasturized milk than raw milk, on a per capita consumption basis.

Thanks nomoresoy4me for all the detailed advice on keeping goats. We all must get our heads out of the sand and be more responsible for our own food. Getting back to the original article, I hope the courageous teacher comes out OK in the end. We must remember that Mr. Warwak is a middle school teacher. Certainly in middle school teachers should be allowed to introduce some "alternative" ideas to their students. After all, this was not a discussion about politics, abortion, sexual preference or anything else deemed off limits. Children of middle school age are old enough to understand nutrition and food choices, how animals are raised, and healthy alternatives to mainstream America food. There should be a much clearer connection in the minds of children about where their food comes from and then maybe they'll be able to make better choices. Maybe THEY'LL educate their parents. More power to them. And.... on the topic of school lunches check out the website called "Two Angry Moms." They are trying to raise awareness and improve the lunches. I wish them lots of luck.