There's a teacher in my district telling her students to not eat "Animals"

I am not opposed to the idea of being vegetarian or vegan, however these children are between 9 and 11 years old, very impressionable, and I don't think it's any teacher's right to try to coerce children into a lifestyle that for one could be very unhealthy for them. You see these children do not have the capability of being able to distinguish how to get the correct protien replacements nor do they have the mental capacity to understand what kind of critical nutritional information they need to know so that they don't deprive their bodies of the needed calories or nutrients they need. Also they have not got the mentality to be able to understand making a committment like not eating meat. If this was my child's teacher you'd bet I would pull her from the class. It is not healthy if children don't understand (which at that age they can not possibly) they just can't say to the parent I am not eating the meat on the plate because I am not eating"animals"...they will not get enough calories, nor the nutritional protien their GROWING bodies need, besides that, they need twice the amount that adults need!!!! This could cause a child a great many deficencies from mental/ developmental delay to anorexia. I think this teacher should be removed from her position.

I wasn't even going to post about this, but given all the craziness we have seen teachers display lately, there seems to be a need for closer monitoring and better training for school staff these days. Something is wrong here!

[edit on 11-5-2010 by ldyserenity]

[edit on 11-5-2010 by ldyserenity]

[edit on 11-5-2010 by ldyserenity]

I couldn't agree more. It's bad enough that teenagers get stuck on crap like that just for rebellion's sake, but now parents are constantly barraged with kids who are picking up their hippie teachers' politics? The worst part is that if enough of these reprobates get together, they can get stupid local laws passed that can get the parents in trouble if they try to teach their OWN kids something that is deemed unacceptable.

Certainly not acceptable. The teacher is I suppose aware that the children are not mentally able to take a second to realize that what the teacher says may not be true so the teacher takes advantage to change children's future as they are at the point where they learn a lot, thus they accept a lot.

reply to post by ldyserenity


so what?

they kids dont cook their own meals do they?

It is the parents responsibility for the children to get all the right vitamins, carbs fat or protiens in their diet not the kids themselves.

kid wants protien, give him a pint of low fat milk, its not hard.

Vegetarianism for kids really isnt a bad choice. increaingly we are seeing cases of rickets and malnurishment, in first world countries. because of all the take outs, and crap some parents give them.

A vegetarian diet, IS healthier than the normal diet. vegetarians, usually have a longer life too..

It's not exactly new either, people have being doing it for thousands of years.




[edit on 11-5-2010 by MR BOB]

I agree that the teacher should be removed or reprimanded for influencing students on the morals of eating animals. To some extent, there are vegan's and vegetarians who aren't afraid of pushing their agenda at the expense of kids, and they stop at nothing it seems. Is this part of the school curriculum?

Originally posted by MAJESCOTT
I agree that the teacher should be removed or reprimanded for influencing students on the morals of eating animals. To some extent, there are vegan's and vegetarians who aren't afraid of pushing their agenda at the expense of kids, and they stop at nothing it seems. Is this part of the school curriculum?

AHAHAHAHAHAH. WAIT YOUR SERIOUS?

Agenda, what agenda is that? this is hilarious.

Diets, should be part of the school curriculum, in ALL schools. and yes, vegetarianism should be taught, as well as people who only eat meat. thats pure meat no veg.

Children should be taught it all, and be given the choice themsevles.



[edit on 11-5-2010 by MR BOB]

Are you sure that the teacher wasn't merely doing a lesson on where our food comes from?

The reason I ask is because we had a similar situation in a nearby town. The children were coming home from school completely disgusted because they "found out" they were eating "cute" pigs, "cute" baby sheep, etc. Suddenly, parents were going nuts because kids were refusing to eat meat or anything on the table that came from an animal. Apparently, and this was in 2nd and 3rd grade, these kids [for the most part] had no idea they were eating "the chicken" from Chicken Little. You get the idea.

There was a huge outcry, many meetings, etc., but the final decision was that teaching kids where their food comes from is important. They did however ban a [very disgusting] video on how it goes from farm to table. Was it true? Yes. Did a second-grader need to see it? Not according to the parents.

This teacher should recant this method of teaching. Any fool knows that God wants us to eat animals. If he didn't, he wouldn't have made them out of meat.

reply to post by ldyserenity


At their age they need the nutrients vegan/vegetarian meals don't supply. When will people get it through their heads that just because you believe in it doesn't mean the rest of the world will? Especially when they are so fervent in that belief like most vegans I've met seem to be.

reply to post by MR BOB


Your missing the point. If the child's parents decide, for good or bad, that their kids should eat a strict vegetarian or vegan diet, that's their choice... I don't happen to agree with it, but it's still their choice. It however, should not be the choice of the child's teacher. The goal of those who work in education should be to arm their students with as much knowledge as possible so they can go home, discuss it with their parents and go from there. It shouldn't be to make lifestyle choices for them... especially ones that affect nutrition in such a major way.

Originally posted by MR BOB
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

so what?

they kids dont cook their own meals do they?

It is the parents responsibility for the children to get all the right vitamins, carbs fat or protiens in their diet not the kids themselves.

kid wants protien, give him a pint of low fat milk, its not hard.

Vegetarianism for kids really isnt a bad choice. increaingly we are seeing cases of rickets and malnurishment, in first world countries. because of all the take outs, and crap some parents give them.

A vegetarian diet, IS healthier than the normal diet. vegetarians, usually have a longer life too..

It's not exactly new either, people have being doing it for thousands of years.




[edit on 11-5-2010 by MR BOB]

Believe me some of these parents aren't even capable of that, for one the child who told me about this her parents are not capable of knowing the proper diet of a vegetarian. And if I hadn't been in nursing school, I would not be capable, it isn't common knowledge it takes a committment and research!

reply to post by ldyserenity


so it is okay for a teacher to say or "teach" that it is okay to eat meat? but not okay to say or "teach" that it is okay to consider not eating meat?

the education system is just as broken as everything else in this country and it is not the fault of the teachers. it is all of our faults. teachers cannot win. no matter how good their intentions are. no matter what they do or say or try or share with their kids everybody still complains. people sue, people judge, people say it is not right. so what are they to do? seriously? what are they to do?

people need to stop judging - everybody. it is okay for kids to be exposed to different opinions and perspectives. it is not going to hurt them. you never know it may actually (GASP) broaden their horizons and make them better people.

I do agree that the teacher should be reprimanded for trying to push her views or beliefs on the children if that is what happened. However she is a teacher and kids should learn about various eating lifestyle choices in their health classes. The teachers job should be to present the facts and teach the class about the pros and cons of whatever subject is being taught. Ultimately it is on the childs parents to ensure that their children are eating a healthy balanced diet that provides all of their nutritional requirements. Unfortunately for many parents they fail in this.

reply to post by MR BOB


I am not opposed to that, however this is not the case here, there is no education, just a teacher telling them to "not eat animals". There's no curriculum or the nutrition courses here, unless you take parenting and culinary ops, which my older hs daughter does. So she is equipped to make her own choices.

reply to post by nltkn


There is a difference between conveying facts and forming an opinion. The role of a teacher is to inform, not to persuade.

If the lesson was simply-

There are people that choose not to eat animals and they are called vegetarians or vegans [I know there's a difference between the two but that's not the point]. Their diet consists of only.....blah blah blah.

That's teaching.

If instead the teacher said -

There are people that choose not to eat animals. They are healthier, more environment-friendly people that know eating animals is wrong. blah blah blah....

That is persuading the students.

It's a fine line but it most certainly can be walked.

Originally posted by nltkn
reply to post by ldyserenity

 

so it is okay for a teacher to say or "teach" that it is okay to eat meat? but not okay to say or "teach" that it is okay to consider not eating meat?

the education system is just as broken as everything else in this country and it is not the fault of the teachers. it is all of our faults. teachers cannot win. no matter how good their intentions are. no matter what they do or say or try or share with their kids everybody still complains. people sue, people judge, people say it is not right. so what are they to do? seriously? what are they to do?

people need to stop judging - everybody. it is okay for kids to be exposed to different opinions and perspectives. it is not going to hurt them. you never know it may actually (GASP) broaden their horizons and make them better people.

Nope that would not be okay, especially if there are vegan vegetarian students whose family have provided them that diet, with their experience, it would be offensive. Period. It's not right either way, what the child and his/her family does beyond those doors as far as diet goes, should be none of the teacher's beeswax!

reply to post by ldyserenity

Goodness, that teacher must really hate plants!
I'm vegetarian, but I don't think it's a teacher's place to say that in a public school.
I do worry though, those kids are probably going to become the biggest carnivores ever! I mean I grew up in a meat centered society, where being vegetarian was considered a form of suicide - and I turned against that, so kids usually end up doing the opposite of what they told.
A balanced vegetarian diet is nowadays seen as advantageous, although I wouldn't put my kids on a vegan diet (I mean vegetarian includes cheese, eggs and sometimes fish). It can be done however. It appears that anorexics use veganism to justify increasingly restricting diets and not eating family meals, however that doesn't apply to normal vegans or vegetarians.
I suppose those kids are nowadays old enough to hear different opinions, as long as it isn't intimidating or pushed along with some religion. I bet a few of those kids already come from vegetarian households.
I mean its not exactly too many vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and fruits that is killing people...
And to be honest, I'd rather have a field trip to an orchard, than a slaughter house or factory farm to show my kids where their food comes from.

There was a proud tradition of vegetarianism before the hippies, going back to Genesis, and even the Christian channels don't use the words "vegetarianism", but watch the health shows, and meat is no longer on their list of foods.

reply to post by halfoldman


You make good points, however those that have not grown up in a place where they know proper nutrition or even grew up at all, cannot possibly know what the heck they're doing to provide for their kids. They fail even with meat in their diet, but it is far worse if their kid doesn't eat the meat and the parent is ignorant, you can't expect the kid to do their own research, not at the age of ten.

Originally posted by lpowell0627
If instead the teacher said -

There are people that choose not to eat animals. They are healthier, more environment-friendly people that know eating animals is wrong. blah blah blah....

That is persuading the students.

And that is exactly the problem. Most of the vegetables can't accept different lifestyles they need to advertise their veggielifestyle as the only right one. You even see it here were people once again need to tell the old "You live healthier, your life will be longer" and all that stupid crap, just to push their agenda of "my lifestyle is the only right one".

Personally i don't have anything against Veggies (Except PETa i hate them and they should be treated like terrorists) and can accept it. But that's the problem: Most vegetables can't accept that i like to eat meat (every day :-p) and see the need to tell me that it's "unhealthy" and tell me about those "poor animals" and #.
I would never go to a vegetable and say "come on, eat a steak bastard" because it would be stupid.

IMO if we weren't meant to eat "animals" then we wouldn't have the necessary equipment to do so. Whether u believe in evolution or creation/design there's no arguing that we aren't designed to eat meat. That is why we have the teeth of an omnivore. If one chooses to adhere to an herbivore diet then more power to them, I for one will eat meat. Because by god its just so YUMMY!!!