Feeding kids facts instead of fatteners... Teaching Tubbiness, Part 2 In the last Daily Dose, I wrote to you about a recent study showing a strong correlation between certain "food practices" allowing increased access to food in schools and the prevalence of childhood obesity. Among these factors are frequent bake sales, the presence of vending machines, and... The issuance of candy or junk food rewards as ACADEMIC INCENTIVES. Yep, you read that right. Teachers in the Minnesota study I cited in part one of this essay were found to routinely offer sweets and other edibles as perks for peak performance in learning. In fact, the numbers from that groundbreaking study showed that no less than 69% of the school systems studied allowed - either as a matter of policy or by tacit approval - the use of food incentives as part of the teaching process. According to the AP article highlighting the study, such items as candy, cookies, donuts, pizza and full-sugar sodas were commonly used as rewards in these schools. Can you believe this craziness? Here we are squabbling and hand-wringing over the junk food content of school lunches - and the doggone teachers are the ones doling out candy like it's Halloween for every correct answer! Giving food as a reward is how you train animals like dogs and porpoises, not how you teach children. If I were the parent of a middle-schooler in Minnesota, I'd be furious about this - even if my kid was as skinny as a rail. And you know this practice isn't limited to just the North Star state. I guarantee it's happening to a similar degree everywhere in America. What's really warped about all of this is that some teachers are actually defending this practice. One "educator" quoted for the AP article said she couldn't imagine NOT giving out candy as an incentive. Others balked at the proposed limitations on bake sales, claiming it's the only effective source of fundraising money... Fundraising?!? What are our tax dollars for? I wrote about this just last month (Daily Dose, 12/2/2005), revealing that in at least one U.S. state, Illinois, the amount of money spent per public school pupil is more than 3 TIMES what a typical private school charges for tuition to educate a child to a far higher standard. I'm sure this is more or less representative of every state in the U.S. Keep reading... **************************************************** Bottom line: Is it even legal for teachers to feed kids candy and sweets? What if they're diabetic, or allergic to peanut oil or some preservative? It's not legal for teachers to dole out aspirin or other medicines that MAY be harmful, so why should it be perfectly OK for them to feed kids junk foods we KNOW are harmful? It's bordering on criminal, I tell you! And why is it legal for teachers or schools to market ANY foods or drinks to kids beyond their lunches - either during bake sales, from vending machines or breakfast carts, or whatever? Don't "educators" realize that the only money most elementary and middle-school children have is what their parents give them for their lunches? Any revenue they get from such sales or machines is money kids aren't spending on their lunches (which aren't always so healthy, either - but surely better than vending-machine candy or bake-sale cupcakes). What schools need more than a few more yearly dollars from junk-food revenue from bake sales and vending machines is real teachers who reward the right answers with appropriate grades - not tooth-rotting, diabetes-causing sweets. We also need some sort of fiscal accountability in our schools. If the private schools can educate effectively for X amount of dollars, the public schools should be able to as well. They shouldn't NEED to raise more money by raising students' weights. It is my solemn hope that this new study will make it to the mainstream's consciousness, and lead to the eradication of not only school bake sales, but the availability of food of ANY TYPE in schools, except in the lunchroom during lunchtime (and we can continue to argue about what makes for the healthiest foods there). They're moving toward this in Texas, where according to the AP piece, there's a statewide moratorium in effect on both vending machines and bake sales in public schools. If this were the law everywhere, I guarantee we'd see an instant difference in childhood obesity rates. Debating (and crusading) for proper educating, William Campbell Douglass II, MD | 
