School Lunch

[Jingus 0]

You must live in an area where HS sports aren't everything. Go to Texas, California or Ohio. They got huge stadiums there for high school football (not all of them, but they were there)

 

Sports were considered pretty important here in Tennessee, but not to THAT extent. But still, the star quarterback tended to get more preferential treatment than the valedictorian, which I think is ridiculous. And if there really are high school stadiums that have 15,000 seats, well then, they're obviously not spending much money on academics. It's a massively disproportionate waste of time, effort, and resources to put that much emphasis on a football game instead of on doing your homework.

 

Just because you were always picked last for gym, doesn't mean it doesn't have a purpose.

 

I hated Math and sucked at, but you don't see me bitching that it shouldn't be used in HS.

 

Of course it has a purpose. Kids should know about exercise and physical fitness. But lots of PE programs focus more on mindless sports play than actual calisthenics and physiological knowledge. How does getting hit in the face with a dodgeball teach me anything other than to really hate the asshole who threw it?

 

And I never liked math either. I spent most math classes playing Tetris on my graphing calculator. But I might actually use my knowledge of geometry at some point in my life. I don't think it's likely that my knowledge of how to hit a baseball will ever be called into question.

[Hawk 34 0]

You must live in an area where HS sports aren't everything. Go to Texas, California or Ohio. They got huge stadiums there for high school football (not all of them, but they were there)

 

Sports were considered pretty important here in Tennessee, but not to THAT extent. But still, the star quarterback tended to get more preferential treatment than the valedictorian, which I think is ridiculous. And if there really are high school stadiums that have 15,000 seats, well then, they're obviously not spending much money on academics. It's a massively disproportionate waste of time, effort, and resources to put that much emphasis on a football game instead of on doing your homework.

 

 

Most those schools that spend alot of money on sports, make alot of money off it. The ones I was thinking of, that I have seen are also regarded highly for academics as well. High profile athletic institutions and top-quality academics can work together as one. Most decent sized HS stadiums hold about 6,000 seats, these schools are basically adding another set of bleachers to the average venue. My HS stadium was undersized, actually (holding just under 4500) because we had an arena sized building that was our gym that held nearly 10,000.

 

Why was our gym so big? Because they wanted to make money off it, it was used for basketball, wrestling and other events. (not just for our school), it always hosts local tournaments and events for other schools and organizations. Having a big arena was for both the school and city, to make money.

[Slayer 0]

How does getting hit in the face with a dodgeball teach me anything other than to really hate the asshole who threw it?

It should teach you to get out of the fucking way

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Anyone who thinks high school is about academics is deluded anyway. High school is just a larval state for the adult human being, and there's a million things more important than being a nerd. Getting a good GPA is great, but should rank far lower than things like discovering sex and making friends.

 

Just about all I remember from high school was the good times I had on weekends, and dropping acid and playing around in the chemistry lab my senior year.

[lomasmoney 0]

As far as the whole sports stadiums thing is concerned, my high school needs a larger stadium. We have the traditional, bleachers on each side and a press box stadium and when we play anyone good at home, you have to show up an hour + early. Well, thats how it was when I was in high school and we were one of the best football teams in Michigan.

 

My school had a pretty good vocational program where kids would work in the kitchens and prepare the foods, and most of the stuff was legitimately good and healthy and I would usually eat there while I was working in the office fourth period and then go to open lunch at Subway or somewhere similar since I couldnt eat the shit food at McDonalds back then.

 

I think that PE should be a two year requirement if you don't do sports. I know so many kids who I grew up with who have health problems at age 20,21 that could have been lessened if they did any physical activity in high school. I mean I also think that we should be teaching upper level math, science, literature, civics to kids by the time they are in middle school. I was so bored by the time I got to high school with the curriculum that I just dicked around and still graduated in the top of my class. Now, I am in college bored out of my mind. I think America needs to start challenging their kids at a younger age academically or you end up with people like me, who while smart or whatever, don't feel that they are getting anything out of the educational system.

[NoCalMike 0]

Anyone who thinks high school is about academics is deluded anyway. High school is just a larval state for the adult human being, and there's a million things more important than being a nerd. Getting a good GPA is great, but should rank far lower than things like discovering sex and making friends.

 

Just about all I remember from high school was the good times I had on weekends, and dropping acid and playing around in the chemistry lab my senior year.

 

 

When I was in highschool it seemed much more like a lesson in conformity and to try and make everyon try to be the status quo, rather then actually learn much, basically trying their best to churn out the next generation of braindead cubicle workers or button pushers. Anyone who wasn't in the norm or that had an original thought in their head about life, was not only shunned by the student body but even worse in a large part these same harsh sentiments were reinforced by faculty who should know fucking better then to treat kids like that.

 

Ok so yeah, I am probably exaggerating a bit, but there were a lot of these undertones present.

[Quasar 0]

I'll chime in and say something about the PE argument. You can argue that PE isn't important and that other subjects are but you'd be wrong. PE is needed in American High Schools, it's more important to be in shape and have a long life than it is to be fat, alone and dead. We need to teach our kids healthy habits and PE can help do that, if you get a kid in the habit of exercising then they are more likely to continue.

 

You can do well in other subjects and be the future of America but what does it matter if you drop dead from a heart attack at the age of 35?

[BruiserKC 0]

I remember in high school we had whatever we wanted freshman year...you could do the healthy or the artery-clogging. They eventually took away most of the unhealthy shit with the exception of burgers and hot dogs if you didn't happen to like the school lunch that day. Didn't matter because they allowed a lot of kids to go off campus for lunch so they could find the junk food they wanted elsewhere.

[NoCalMike 0]

A Real PE class would help out kids, but PE in Grade School is a joke. If you can't run the mile, you aren't really even encouraged to try. If you suck at sports, you aren't given any special lessons are encouraged at all. It is basically "all the good athletes over here" and "all the spaz kids over here" and it is like running two seperate classes.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Anyone who thinks high school is about academics is deluded anyway. High school is just a larval state for the adult human being, and there's a million things more important than being a nerd. Getting a good GPA is great, but should rank far lower than things like discovering sex and making friends.

 

Just about all I remember from high school was the good times I had on weekends, and dropping acid and playing around in the chemistry lab my senior year.

 

 

When I was in highschool it seemed much more like a lesson in conformity and to try and make everyon try to be the status quo, rather then actually learn much, basically trying their best to churn out the next generation of braindead cubicle workers or button pushers. Anyone who wasn't in the norm or that had an original thought in their head about life, was not only shunned by the student body but even worse in a large part these same harsh sentiments were reinforced by faculty who should know fucking better then to treat kids like that.

 

Ok so yeah, I am probably exaggerating a bit, but there were a lot of these undertones present.

 

That's at any institution in the world. Point is, making a kid run laps and shoot hoops isn't hurting anyone.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I missed a good thread here.

 

I was never a student-athlete, but I mostly enjoyed PE, except for 5th grade when we just played dodgeball every single day. Physical fitness, swimming, track, you have to do that stuff in high school. I was away from any strenuous activity my freshman year of college and I put on weight, most of which I've taken off by now.

 

As for Smitty's "athletes do better in class" theory, I don't think it's that simple. The illustrious model high school students who do two or three sports and lots of clubs, yeah, they do well, but there are many more student-athletes who get free passes on academics because it's easier for teachers to do that than deal with eligibility committees and pissed-off coaches that have been at the school longer than they've been alive.

 

brb class I'll finish this

[The Czech Republic 0]

ok back

 

Anyway, you're right that we need our gym classes, and we should be eating much healthier, but to ban all vending machines and stuff won't work, because the occasional bottle of Coke never hurt anyone, and all that jazz. You're absolutely right that the school lunches are disgusting. My high school had a Subway, which was good, and most people took advantage of, but beyond that kids were eating French fries by the metric ton, dozens of processed chicken varieties, horrible stuff. No salad bar in sight.

 

However, if you want to make some correlation between extracurricular participation and academic achievement, I think music is a better bet than sports, because there's always more than meets the eye when it comes to athletics.

 

Also, Jingus, stop whining about gym classes, you loaf.

[Guest The Satanic Angel]

However, if you want to make some correlation between extracurricular participation and academic achievement, I think music is a better bet than sports, because there's always more than meets the eye when it comes to athletics.

 

Most of the brightest kids in my high school were in music classes.

[EricMM 0]

Music is sooo key, as is art, and PE.

 

Because humans aren't calculators, we're not grammar books, thesaurauses, or dictionaries. We're not history books or science books.

 

We are somewhat that, but we are also creators. We are wrapped in musles, ligiments (sp), and bones. If we let that shit break down, we will break down.

 

But, devils advocate, if everyone died at 35, we'd still have plenty of people.

 

Of course, we don't discuss the 30-35 age range on public healthcare...

[The Czech Republic 0]

lols u said music is key!!!!

 

Just a quick note (I did it again!): in our fervent and correct defense of physical education in our schools, we're saying "I MEAN GEEZ KNOWING HISTORY AIN'T SHIT CUZ U GONNA DIE, FATTY." There's still something to be said for the pursuit of knowledge, which is being ignored almost as much in public schools as everything else. Nobody is learning for learning's sake, and few teachers that I've had have even tried to foster that. It's just assessment, assessment, test, exam, quiz, ace it, lose it, next chapter, repeat. There's no retention there. It's bad enough with the IBs and APs and ACTs and SATs and XYZs and SOLs and on and on and on, now throw in the NCLBs, and education has been completely reduced to bubble sheets, it seems.

 

If I have kids, I don't care how maladjusted they end up (they're half me, so they're already fucked), I'm keeping them out of public school as long as I can. Just hand them some World Books, atlases, and let them go nuts. That's how I learned the countries, their capitals, and languages of Europe at age 6.

[Slayer 0]

And thus "The Czech Republic" was born

[The Czech Republic 0]

It just hit the scene right after I memorized it all! Velvet partition, December '92. Ah, the fall of the Communist bloc. Those were fun times for geography!

[MrRant 0]

Indeed. Everything is now geared to making sure you can pass a test rather than learning IMO.

 

Up here in WA we have the WASL (pronounced like "Wasul") and is now required for the graduating classes of 2008 to pass or no graduation for them.

[theintensifier 0]

I laugh when I hear people complain about school lunch, or food on college campuses.

 

Okay.

 

Come eat at the chow hall I go to every day. You'll regret saying those bad things about school lunch.

[EricMM 0]

Two wrongs doesn't make a right.

 

And Americas soldiers deserve the 2nd best food!

 

(kids need the best. because they're potentially pre-soldiers!

[The Czech Republic 0]

Life is all about choices. It's either (A) You do, or (B) You don't.

You joined the Marines, not known for cuisine. What we're talking about here--or were before all the tangents--are underprivileged children of low-income families who rely on their public schools for some modicum of nutrition that they cannot get at home, and instead of providing what growing kids need, they're getting greasy pizza slices and fries. There's a reason why people are upset here.

[theintensifier 0]

Yeah, I hadn't really read the whole thread.

 

That is a problem in schools. I know this, because it wasn't too long ago I was in school.

 

If all they had at schools was healthy food, how many students would actually eat it ? Besides the ones that couldn't afford to bring their own lunch, I don't see many choosing a salad over a basket of french fries with ketchup.

[NoCalMike 0]

Yeah, I hadn't really read the whole thread.

 

That is a problem in schools. I know this, because it wasn't too long ago I was in school.

 

If all they had at schools was healthy food, how many students would actually eat it ? Besides the ones that couldn't afford to bring their own lunch, I don't see many choosing a salad over a basket of french fries with ketchup.

 

 

Well in reality, the the lifestyle of healthy eating does BEGIN at home, however with today's economy and both parents working, I think they are counting somewhat on the schools to feed their kids something DECENT.

[CanadianChick 0]

Sorry if this point has been brought up...

 

Jingus, you say that PE highlights problems for out of shape kids who are clusmy. Fair enough. But doesn't math classes highlight the problems of stupid kids? Or music the problem of tone deaf kids? Or English the problem of ESL kids? Should an exchange student not have to be forced to take English because she isn't good at it?

 

I feel that PE is the most important class I ever took in high school, aside from AP Calculus and AP Art History (more because of the teacher for that one rather than the actual material). High school academics are hardly important once you hit college or university. They are like night and day. But being in good physical shape and learning methods of being in shape? That's important.

 

Kids are getting lazy as it is. Instead of joining a soccer team or playing tag outside, they're sitting on their fat asses playing video games. Now, if the parents aren't going to get their kids active, I fully support the education system taking matters in their own hands and doing it for them.

 

As for school lunch? Yeah, my school had absolute crap, like fries, selling for $1.25, while a tiny fruit bowl was $3.50. Luckly, I was able to go out for lunch by grade 11/12 and have decent, healthy food. I don't really care if there is junk (although I fully support taking away pop machines, because pop is just the worse if you have it everyday), but at least have healthy choices for the same price.

[The Czech Republic 0]

That's how I learned the countries, their capitals, and languages of Europe at age 6.

God, I've squandered all my potential in life. I think at this point my responsibility to myself is to cut my losses before it's too late.

 

I feel that PE is the most important class I ever took in high school, aside from AP Calculus and AP Art History (more because of the teacher for that one rather than the actual material). High school academics are hardly important once you hit college or university.

What about English classes? Don't you think it's important in life to know how to communicate well? I think at this point we're overcompensating in our reaction to the problem at hand, and now we're acting as if sit-ups are more important than anything in North American school curricula. P.E. is a necessary respite from the traditional academic subjects over the course of a seven-hour school day, which leave us sedentary and stressed. It needs to be there, but my God, people, it's not more important than American literature or European history unless you have no aspirations whatsoever to amass knowledge in life.

[EricMM 0]

The idea that kids WILL NOT eat healthy food is a myth of the most insiduous type.

 

THAT is the effect of the McDonalds commercials. THAT is the effect of the indoctrination of kids by commercials, that they'll only eat something if they see it on TV. I know the turtles made me love pizza, but dammit, kids can eat anything.

[Guest pedro_mendes]

Its important to feed poor people bad food. I do not want them to be happy, or healthy. Keep them alive through their working years, then let them die off once they require pensions and handouts. I hate poor people.

[CanadianChick 0]

Czech, the reason why I didn't mention English because the English program at my high school was terrible. I feel a good English program in important, but for me personally, English was hardly important. I learned more about English Literature in Art History than English. And I learned quite a bit of history in Art History too that was not art related. I should have communicated that.

[theintensifier 0]

Its important to feed poor people bad food. I do not want them to be happy, or healthy. Keep them alive through their working years, then let them die off once they require pensions and handouts. I hate poor people.

 

I see that your post count is low, keep it that way.

 

Czech, the reason why I didn't mention English because the English program at my high school was terrible. I feel a good English program in important, but for me personally, English was hardly important. I learned more about English Literature in Art History than English. And I learned quite a bit of history in Art History too that was not art related. I should have communicated that.

 

My school's English department, well, I'm not even sure if I can call it a department. It's grossly underfunded, and the teachers who are there don't care anymore, they're either close to retirement, or are brand new and haven't developed their work ethic yet.

[spman 0]

THe one big problem that everyone seems to be missing is that Teenagers enjoy the garbage food, the greasy Pizza, The Baked Potatoes, THe Fried Chicken, etc., you take that food off then menu and replace it with Salads, Tofu, Vegetables, etc., and you know what will happen? A lot less kids are going to be eating lunch at school. That healthy crap is much more expensive then the junk the schools can purchase in bulk, so not only will the prices go up, but much of it will end up being wasted, becuase no one is going to eat the healthy stuff. Yeah sure, every High School has the handfull of ultra lib teens that refuse to eat the junkfood for whatever misguided reasons they might have, but that's far from the norm. The government shouldn't have to babysit and make sure you eat healthy.

 

As for Gym class, it was rapidly on the way out when I graduated in 2003. By the time I graduated, it went from 4 years manadatory, to 2 years, and now I hear that it's only one year now. Schools are so afraid of Lawsuits now that stuff like Gym often ends up being the first thing cut because it basically lends itself to children getting hurt.