A Greenwich, Conn., elementary school has banned cookies, ice cream and other sweets from the lunch menu. This might sound harsh, but we say the school couldn’t have made a better choice. With high rates of childhood obesity and diabetes, good nutrition should not just be emphasized, but rather enforced. We need to curb unhealthy eating at an early age. \nA healthy diet is expensive. Fruits and vegetables are costly. Children should be able to get good nutrition in school because many times their parents can’t afford it at home. That way, even underprivileged children can be exposed to a healthy diet.\nAnd let’s face it, kiddies are often unable to make sound decisions. They will usually eat nothing but sweets if you let them. That’s why, legally, tots have no decision-making power; they have parents and guardians to do the decision making for them. When the children are in school, the school serves in loco parentis — in place of the parent. \nReducing the sugar content in school lunches will not only reduce the frequency of obesity in children but it will also reduce giddiness and antsiness in the classroom. This will make many a teacher happy; addicts tripping on their sugar high just aren’t effective learners. \nSchools are educational institutions and education is not limited to readin’, writin’ and ‘rithmetic. Schools should teach good nutrition not only from books, but in real life. Nothing is more real than the practical application of good nutrition in a school cafeteria.\nKids might not like a strict no-cookie diet now; they’ll throw tantrums like any addict in the withdrawal stage. But they’ll be thankful later. When the youngsters come of age, they’ll have their chance to decide whether to stuff their faces with donuts and ice cream or to nourish their bodies with vegetables and proteins. For now, schools should try to hook the tots on a healthy diet. Hopefully the children grow up to follow a healthy diet for the rest of their lives. It’s easier to build good habits from the start than to break bad habits later.
DISSENT: \nTeaching nutrition? Fine. Providing balanced meals? Even better. Banning cookies and ice cream from elementary school lunches? Give me oxygen! Kids are supposed to eat cookies and ice cream, and then they’re supposed to go out to recess and run around to burn off all the calories — that is, of course, unless recess is too dangerous now; we wouldn’t want any children scraping up their cute little knees, now would we? \nWe all love children (even cruel, cold-hearted conservatives like me), but this is way over the top. All this does is train children to grow up to be stick-in-the-mud Democrats that want to legislate how everyone else lives. Children shouldn’t be brainwashed that cookies are inherently bad; they just need to be consumed with moderation. Moderation! Now that sounds like something many parents and school boards could use a little more of.\n-Chase Cooper
