Of School Lunches and Socialism

By Ed Raymond
Staff Writer

                 
My French brothers and sisters outlive Americans by about three years, although they eat more meat, butter, cheese, and cream than we do. Of course, maybe it’s the red wine with its numerous beneficial ingredients that adds to their life span. Actually, I believe they are much healthier than we are because they endorse socialism instead of Darwinism for some aspects of their lives.

When it comes to eating and education, the French believe that government knows best. The schools have a very rigid curriculum designed by the state, and are run in a hierarchical fashion.  French parents are actually encouraged to stay away from schools so the teachers can get their job done. They are not allowed to visit classes to check on teachers.

The only way the parents know what their child “might” be learning is to get the curriculum guidelines from the national government. But what parents do know about their child is what he is eating each day for lunch for a two-month period. As one American mother who is working in Paris for a period of time said: “I cannot tell you what my child learns, paints, or builds on any school day, but I can tell you that for lunch on Tuesday he ate hake (fish) in Basque sauce, mashed pumpkin, cracked rice, Edam cheese, and organic fruits for lunch.”

The French do not allow any non-French food items to be used in school lunches. Every product used in the meal has originated within the borders of France. The lunch menu is prepared for a 32-day period and is kept in every school office. It is carefully posted in a brightly lit place outside the school. What is fascinating about the menu is that over that 32-day period no single meal is repeated. Every meal is composed of an hors d’oeuvre, salad, main course, cheese plate, and dessert.
Serve the Ratatouille Hot
Eating in French school lunchrooms is serious business. Every child sits at an assigned place and has almost an hour to eat. No pigging out quickly to play soccer during the noon hour. The meal, often a five-course one, is served by lunchroom servers. The menu also has suggestions for parents for the evening meal that will complement what the child has eaten for lunch. Your student has had turkey, ratatouille (a splendid mixture of fish, eggplant zucchini, other vegetables, and many herbs), and a raspberry-filled crepe for lunch. Why don’t you fix him pasta, green beans, and a fruit salad for dinner?

French parents do not make outside appointments for children during the lunch hour. If they do, the student is retained until he has dessert. French four-year-olds in preschool generally start their noon lunch with a salad. How many American four-year-olds know what a salad is?

French children are taught early on that all eating is done at a table. Snacking is not permitted in French schools. It is almost a capital offense.
There are no snack or pop machines or any kind of food dispensing machines allowed in French schools. During this latest world-wide recession the French government has had to slash public spending and civil service jobs to the tune of about $2.1 trillion. But not a single politician has even suggested that school food service programs be cut.
Believe It or Not, the French Also Have the Highest-Rated Health Care System in the World
Because of eating habits formed in school and at home there are very few obese French children—or even adults. I must also remind you that my French brothers and sisters have the best medical care in the world, according to the World Health Organization. The United States is 33rd, according to the last survey, just after Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

It’s amazing what fruits and vegetables can do for your health when you are taught in school that they are necessary for a balanced healthy meal. How smart could George W. Bush have been if he had learned to eat and like broccoli instead of feasting on Texas chile and barbecue? 

Of course, French students are also taught to drink a little wine with meals at their parent’s tables. Our kids are taught binge-drinking and chugalugging and 21 shots of hard booze when turning age 21. Some survive, some do not. Well, I guess that’s free market capitalism. Let the stupid buyer beware.

Meanwhile, over 40 percent of U.S. public school cafeterias do not serve fresh fruits or raw vegetables daily. Bring on the pizza, the French fries (which are rarely served in France), and the whoppers, the boppers, and the dogs. Food- and pop-vending machine availability in U.S. schools? Ninety-seven percent of K-12 schools have vending machines of all kinds, dispensing calorie-laden sodas, sugar-based candy, and dozens of different kinds of potato and corn chips.
It’s Time to Eliminate Fat on Humans—and in the Pentagon’s Defense Budget
Numerous reports on the military readiness of this country in the last few years indicate the military services are finding it increasingly difficult to fill ranks with volunteers. Some states (mostly in the South) have found that about 70 percent of our 18-year-olds cannot pass the physical or mental tests of the military forces. Obesity continues to be the main problem. The boppers, whoppers, pizzas, tacos, 30-ounce sodas, and fries dominating the diet of our young people also dominate the square-foot areas of the very round belly and butt.

Even civilian police, fire, and other emergency organizations are having difficulty finding candidates who can pass physical fitness tests. In a USA Today article, the Jackson, Mississippi Police Department found that fully a third of candidates for their spring police academy failed their initial physical fitness tests. Mississippi does have the highest obesity rate in the country, but the police chief said that wasn’t the main problem. He claims that even those that look physically fit lack the strength to pass many of the tests. He said: “They cannot complete the mile-and-a-half run, cannot perform the required number of pushups, fail flexibility tests, and stumble all over the obstacle course.”

Other states have also indicated the decline of strength and flexibility in their candidates. The Lawton, Oklahoma police chief reported about 15 percent of his applicants failed their initial agility tests. A few years ago 100 percent passed the tests without a problem.

Last year, Harvard and Boston University collaborated on a research study that found that 77 percent of Massachusetts fire and emergency medical technician trainees were overweight—with a third actually obese.
Only Five States Require Physical Education for All K-12 Students—and They Eat “Garbage”
The USA Today article noted the attempt of Andrew Nesbit, a vocational public safety instructor in Douglasville, Georgia, to improve the physical condition of his junior and senior students when he heard the local fire department couldn’t find enough fit recruits. His first analysis of his program, which equaled what the recruits would go through for passing the city test, is not reassuring: “At first they didn’t want to do it. They just don’t like exercise. A lot of them don’t even enjoy being outdoors. And their diet is garbage.” I guess eating burritos while playing “Grand Theft Auto” while exercising on the couch is just not conducive to the rigors of fighting a fire.

What did we cut so we could spend more time training our students for the assembly lines of the 20th century under the Leave No Child Behind program? We cut physical education programs for the enhancement of the body and its organs, and art and music for the delight and dessert of the mind. But that’s another column.

The Defense Department is having a terrible time finding enough fit troops to fight two rather tiny wars in the Middle East. The recruits are in no shape to fight a war in the deserts of Iraq or the mountains of Afghanistan. Humping an 80-pound pack, a rifle, and sufficient ammo on an 8,000-ft. mountain pass is a physical test few can pass. Repeated deployment of troops, some for their six or seventh tour, is taking a huge toll on the mental ability of troops to cope. This has nothing to do with diet. It has everything to do with stupidity. Now three soldiers in ten suffer from marital problems or mental illness if they have had at least four tours in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Another USA Today article by Gregg Zoroya revealed that Army commanders are attempting to overrule Army doctors in trying to find enough troops to fill out their next deployment requirements. There is a big investigation going on at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks, Alaska because it is alleged that many troops have been forced on past deployments even if they were classified as mentally ill.

So, what does this have to do with French school lunches and American school lunches? I think it’s funny that my French brothers and sisters are much more physically fit than we are, that their “socialist” system prepares a much higher percentage of its young people for the physical and mental rigors or war. 

But the French are very choosy about what wars they want to fight, while we tend to jump in with both flat and untrained feet to set the world “straight.” Maybe it all boils down to eating fresh green vegetables and fruits. I have heard that broccoli and other “green” veggies are actually brain food. Would it be a stretch to blame the Iraq War on the lack of broccoli in the George W. Bush diet? Bush 41 also often elaborated on his hatred of broccoli…...........
Chicken Tacos and Whole-Wheat Flatbread
We do have some cooks and politicians interested in improving American school lunches. But they have to fight fat kids, fast food joints, and the Agriculture Department at the same time to attempt to “healthasize” school lunches. Sodium-laden food tastes good. Sugar-laden desserts and drinks taste good. They are not good for the belly and butt, however.

Rachael Ray, the celebrity food-talkshow host, has combined with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York to urge Congress to increase the daily school lunch payment of $2.68 by 70 cents. A current Congressional bill would make the increase six cents. Ray’s comment: “Ridiculous!”  Ray, taking on school lunches as a national problem, helped convince New York City to develop a healthy menu by adding chicken tacos wrapped in whole-wheat flatbread, roasted chicken, and a ratatouille-style stew. Naturally, the kids didn’t like these items at first.

For the good of the country and our national defense, I suggest that we cut the Defense Department budget by at least 20 percent and put that money into school lunches like the French do. It will pay off in the long run. We will have millions of fit soldiers for the meatgrinder wars and our health care costs will be cut in half.  The French have the best health care system in the world for half of what we spend on ours in 33rd place.

Do we really need a navy that is larger than the next 13 navies combined? (Eleven of these navies belong to our “friends”) Do we really need a 20-1 ratio over the Chinese in top-rated stealth fighters by 2020? Is it really necessary to spend $719 billion on national defense, which equals what the rest of the world combined spends?

I think we would be better off buying broccoli, green beans, and ratatouille for school children and dumping all of the school vending machines in the Yucca Mountain storage site.

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