"In the universe of dumb ideas, free breakfast and lunches for all is about at the top. What a great way to teach dependence instead of independence. We should be teaching youngins to be our brother's keeper - not the government being the nanny state to all."
The "spend-o-rama" going on in St. Paul, has had zero problem in finding ways to spend your tax dollars. The latest one is a whopper. Free breakfast, and free lunch for all kids, no matter the income level. Huh? Is that a bad idea? I think first, a trip down memory lane might be in order.
When I was in school, school lunches were either hot (bought by lunch ticket), or cold (brought by the student in a lunch bag). I lived in a blue color neighborhood. Most kids, had lunch tickets. Some brought lunches. Once in a while, one of the kids would forget his or her lunch, or be out of lunch punches. Then what? Then most kids would share part of their lunches with the kid who was without. Kind of like, learning how to be "our brother's keeper" at a very early age. Was government involved? Absolutely not!
My parents were similar to other parents in our neighborhood. Maybe even the city. They would have given up quite a bit, before they allowed one of their kids to go to school without a lunch. That was unthinkable. That feeling transferred down to my generation, when my wife and I had kids. The thoughts of sending out kids to school without having a lunch was unthinkable. My wife and I would have gone without quite a bit, before I allowed that to happen.
But what about today? Do the parents still feel the same? I know my daughter (the mother of our grandies) does. Each day, every day, her kids go to school with a lunch. So what is up with all these kids in Minnesota who get no breakfast at home, nor lunches at school? What has changed in our country? Have we become collectively that poor, that most kids are going without? Is that the decline in our test scores, or our growing achievement gap is a part of that poorness?
As an aside, I heard on the news yesterday that the new test scores are in from the Baltimore School District. Students in third through eighth grade, who were tested at 23 Baltimore schools, were (get ready for it), zero percent accomplished at their grade level. In other words, not one third through eighth grader in 23 schools in Baltimore, is where he or she should be in math or reading. A major city, 40 miles from our nation's capitol, is flunking. Badly.
Why bring that up? One more thought from the past. The PTA (which stood for Parents, Teachers Association), had a foundation on teamwork. It was a three legged barstool (so to speak). One leg was the student, one leg was the teacher, and the other leg was the parent. When one leg was gone, or did not function properly, the stool did not work. Today, we don't have the three legged bar stool as we once did. Our new barstool does not work well at all. Why? One leg teacher union, and the other leg is big government. Parents? Gone with the wind. Students? Playing Mario on their devices.
In the universe of dumb ideas, free breakfast and lunches for all is about at the top. What a great way to teach dependence instead of independence. We should be teaching youngins to be our brother's keeper - not the government being the nanny state to all.
The greatness of our country is slowing being replaced with the rot of big government. As was said by a great President, "Government does not solve the problem, government is the problem."
No comments:
Post a Comment