Big Brother In the School Cafeteria? 425
AustinSlacker writes "An Iowa school district's lunch program asks children as young as 5 years old to memorize a four-digit PIN code so it can monitor what they eat in the school cafeteria - prompting some parents to claim it's an unhealthy case of 'Big Brother.' An over reaction by parents or an unnecessary invasion of privacy?"
Kids like to share, so the numbers will get shared (Score:3, Insightful)
I predict that at the end of next month, little Debbie Povunktuk will be recorded as eating 500,000 calories all in mashed potatoes.
C'mon... kids that age share all sorts of things... they won't understand that sharing their secret PIN is wrong. Mainly because their mom&dad said to report anyone that tells them "it'll be our little secret"
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I predict that at the end of next month, little Debbie Povunktuk will be recorded as eating 500,000 calories all in mashed potatoes.
C'mon... kids that age share all sorts of things... they won't understand that sharing their secret PIN is wrong. Mainly because their mom&dad said to report anyone that tells them "it'll be our little secret"
But sharing is evil! The RIAA told me so...
And remember to say that when politicians ask for money...
Re:Kids like to share, so the numbers will get sha (Score:4, Informative)
Ftfa: the number will pull up the child's photo so the cashier can verify the identity.
That little check is in place at least.
That said children can go and purchase meals for each other. But it's pretty hard to purchase meals on someone else's account.
An interesting point (Score:2)
That being said, it should be opt-in.
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It's time to teach kids what they're eating affects their health.
So basically, tell them not to eat the "food" elementary schools supply at all?
What happened to lunch orders? (Score:5, Informative)
In the 60's we had a thing called a "lunch order". The parent would write the lunch order on a plain envelope and put the money inside. This was given to the teacher in the morning and at lunch time the lunch would be delivered to class with your name on it.
The results were; Kids didn't spend half their lunch time waiting in line, nor could they blow their money on sweets. Parents knew exactly what their kids were getting for lunch, and bullies had little opportunity to steal the money.
Big Brother? Not Quite. (Score:4, Insightful)
Schools really should be more mindful of what [i]they[/i] serve. If a kid wants to bring their own lunch that's fine, but the school provided meals should be healthy and balanced. Let's get rid of the candy and soda machines while we're at it. Not only does it promote unhealthy lifestyles, but is a disgusting display of consumerism within a so-called institute of education.
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Let's get rid of the candy and soda machines while we're at it. Not only does it promote unhealthy lifestyles, but is a disgusting display of consumerism within a so-called institute of education.
Problem is, these candy and soda machines are often used to fund the schools' athletic programs. So get rid of them in the name of health, and pretty soon the school has no football or basketball team. Which is healthier? Playing sports and cooling off with a cold cola afterward, or drinking water while sitting at home on the couch playing video games? And by the way, healthier alternatives such as juice machines have a much lower profit margin.
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I would have thought someone with the nickname BitterOak would ask to be modded up for being an Ent.
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People aren't willing to pay for healthy... THAT is the problem.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are a boatload more expensive the subsidized high fructose corn syrup, and processed industrial food.
This is how ketchup became a vegetable.
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> By who's definition of healthy? Low fat? Low carb? Vegetarian? Vegan? Kosher? How about we just serve what we all can agree on; Nothing.
Mulligan's Stew would be a good rule of thumb. (too bad it was abandoned)
So would the idea of only serving "real food" instead of corn meal, soy meal and HFCS.
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> What do you mean by "real food"?
>> instead of corn meal, soy meal and HFCS.
That pretty much sums it up right there. Nothing that is terribly industrialized.
Sounds like I stumbled upon a nerve. Perhaps those psuedo-meats you probably ate as a "vegetarian".
Vegetarian eating is not for the clueless. Humans are not herbivores. You can quickly do damage by doing it wrong.
Radical veganism is why this nonsense food pyramid has been imposed upon us and why the nation is so fat.
It's an inherently unbalanc
Re:Big Brother? Not Quite. (Score:5, Insightful)
By who's definition of healthy? Low fat? Low carb? Vegetarian? Vegan? Kosher? How about we just serve what we all can agree on; Nothing.
Who's definition? The local education authority, I would imagine.
I'm pretty sure we can all agree that carbonated sugar drinks containing 100% the recommended daily sugar intake are unhealthy, no?
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You are arguing for the sake of arguing. Getting the school system to agree on a list of "don't have" items in order to make the menu healthier is trivial. It gets more difficult as you break the list down, but if they have snack and cola machines in the school, then getting rid of those is the easiest first step.
People might not all agree on what is perfectly healthy, but they generally agree on what is UNhealthy: salty, greasy or sugar laden foods.
Re:Big Brother? Not Quite. (Score:5, Insightful)
There are a couple of foods that are by universal definition, healthy. Lettuce, spinach, low-mercury fish, most varieties of beans, cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli, olives (and olive oil), blueberries, almonds, and plenty more.
Wow, you just named a lot of allergens! (Score:3, Insightful)
Wow, you just named a lot of allergens!
I know someone allergic to lettuce. I dated someone who was allergic to fish. A lot of people are allergic to legumes. Almonds are a common allergen, as are most tree nuts.
Google can find you examples of famous people with allergies to every one of those things you mentioned.
-- Terry
Re:Wow, you just named a lot of allergens! (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd get off the "unnatural toxin" bandwagon. The most potent toxins known (lowest LD50) are all synthesized directly by biological systems, not by men running lab equipment. Just because something is an additive, it doesn't mean it's toxic to humans.
I'd really like to see how people get rid of allergies by changing their diet, other than a few corner cases. Citations please?
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I'd think the major contributing annoyance is that complete and honest ingredient lists may not be readily available for stuff we eat. It'd help if there were online tools where you could enter a bunch of UPC codes, arrive with a superset of ingredients, and get guidance for doing binary searches for culprit(s).
Re:Big Brother? Not Quite. (Score:5, Insightful)
*GP may or may not have intended the list as a kid's menu, but there are certainly people out there who would.
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The problem is that the digestive systems and metabolisms of grazing animals are suited to
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Not just in the US. In Europe the same. Netherlands is growing a lot of corn that is then shredded (stems and all, just not the roots) and used as animal fodder. Many cattle will still graze in summer time, in winter they get this corn. Harvesting grass in summer is also still done though. Other countries are growing beets to feed to their animals in winter, or even all year long, as it has better overall meat production than to pasture the cattle in summer.
Still red meat is generally recommended as relati
Re:Big Brother? Not Quite. (Score:5, Informative)
By who's definition of healthy?
If only there was some group somewhere, maybe part of the government, who employed nutritionists and could use peer-reviewed science to separate what's healthy from diet fads. You know, like a department of health or human services or something?
And as science changes, they could maybe update the guidelines on a periodic basis.. like every 5 years or so.
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then pack your kid's fucking lunch!!!
Adult vs. child (Score:3, Insightful)
then of course, there's the human factor of being able to choose wtf we want to eat. sometimes, it's ok to say 'fuck science, I want a burger and fries.'
For an adult I completely agree...but as an adult you are deemed to be aware of the consequences of your actions whereas children are not. It is reasonable to expect an adult to know that it they eat a burger and chips every day there will be health consequences and so this is likely to temper the enthusiasm of most adults. However a 5 year old is extremely unlikely to be that restrained and will quite likely reason "I like burgers so I'll order one" every single day.
To me this school program sounds enl
Somebody's Lyin'... (Score:5, Insightful)
"We're making sure that as they're leaving the lunch line that the menu items they've selected match up with state law, so they're selecting a meal that has all the basic [components] of good nutrition," said school district spokesman Jarrett Peterson. "We're not tracking what each individual child eats."
If that were true they would not need a PIN, just a pass/fail for whatever is on their tray. Pass you get to go and eat, fail you get back in line and get your vegetables.
When I was in public school we didn't even have a choice - everybody's meal was exactly the same. Other than outliers with food allergies, why aren't they doing that? No need for any of this technology crap (which, I'd be surprised if it weren't a sweet-heart corporate socialism deal for some company that is owned by a member of the school board) and they probably save money by streamlining preparation and purchasing too.
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And as far as I can tell, it was a component of the electronic gradebook that my school had.
When I got into college it was pretty much the exact same thing, I sorta wish though
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When I was in public school we didn't even have a choice - everybody's meal was exactly the same. Other than outliers with food allergies, why aren't they doing that? No need for any of this technology crap (which, I'd be surprised if it weren't a sweet-heart corporate socialism deal for some company that is owned by a member of the school board) and they probably save money by streamlining preparation and purchasing too.
I was thinking that myself. I don't recall getting any choice in my cafeteria food until 7th grade, when I could choose lunch 1 or lunch 2. If I really caught a wild hare, I could buy a second milk or an ice cream sandwich.
There has been a great deal of publicity in Iowa recently about the amount of junk food available in the cafeterias and vending machines in schools. So much so that parents and other citizens have been demanding that the legislature do something to ensure that kids didn't eat only twink
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WTF (Score:2)
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Salesman of expensive system takes school district decision maker out for dinner and whatnot and explains how this will solve their compliance issues - it's high tech after all!
School guy says, yeah but why don't we just feed them what's required by law?
Salesguy: But this is high tech! By the way, here's the literature and specs of the system in this briefcase - you can keep this old thing. [fashionindie.com]
Schoolguy: Well, it is for the good of the children! Where do I sign?
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How can they possibly justify the need to monitor what children eat. When they are either eating what their parent gave them or what the school gives them. This is has no purpose other than to get kids used to being monitored. For crying out loud, if you're worried they're eating too much junk, stop giving it to them.
Iowa schools were profiting by selling the rights to provide school lunches to outside contractors, who found it more profitable to sell kids junk food. Parents got sick of this and demanded the legislature step in. Some administrator took this mandate a little too far, possibly on purpose.
i hate big brother but... (Score:5, Insightful)
I would appreciate it if my kid's school would tell me what he was eating or if he was eating.
Makes sense to me, wonder if these parents complain when their children take state mandated tests.
Also why is the parent making a huge deal about memorizing 4 numbers? Don't these children know their 7-digit home phone numbers?
I feel very sorry for whatever teachers and administrators that have to deal with Garry Howe, the parent making a big deal about nothing, hate to see what happens when one of his kids bring home a B!
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According to the article they can't tie their shoes yet, so maybe 4 digits is too much for them.
Re:i hate big brother but... (Score:5, Funny)
Don't these children know their 7-digit home phone numbers?
Nope, they just scroll to "Mom" in the Contact List of their cell phones. These *are* 5 year olds; they might not be able to tie their shoes yet but they're not savages!
Beat the System (Score:2)
Protest by having all the kids use the same PIN.
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Protest by having all the kids use the same PIN.
Sorry, the system is one step ahead of you. Quoth TFA:
"The PIN pulls up the child's picture for validation"
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Billy has a pin of 1234, Billy has an account balance of $35.50, when Billy uses his pin of 1234 and has a $1.50 lunch, it decreases the balance on Billy's account so he has $34 left. Billy's parents can log in and make sure that Billy isn't buying everyone lunch whenever Billy says that he needs more lunch money.
The idea that this PIN is being used solely for tracking things is silly, its used like a debit card that reports things
4 digits (Score:2)
That's nothing... (Score:2)
...in my kids' school district, each child receives a 6-digit PIN, in kindergarten. The children are expected to memorize their PINs in kindergarten, where they must use the PIN to purchase lunch. So there's really nothing new under the sun here. Identification numbers are a fact of life: You'll get one in primary and secondary school, you'll get one in college, and then you'll get an employee ID when you get hired on. Every aspect of one's life is dictated by an identification number.
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Exactly. All three of my children have had to memorize a 6 digit pin, which is also their student ID number. It's not used to monitor what they eat, specifically. It is used to charge the student's account for the meal. We put money into their accounts via an online portal. That way there's no lost lunch money...
School lunches are set up to be nutritious by design. I think someone read too much into this and Fox is being a bit sensational with their coverage...
Shoot (Score:2)
My kid's school gives them credit card like objects with their picture on them so they can do the same thing but it works great because I can log in and see that my kid ate what I told them to eat.... or at least purchased what I told them to.
In the old days... (Score:2)
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Your parents said the same thing when they were your age, and your kids will say the same when they are your age.
Don't see the big deal.... (Score:2)
Re:Don't see the big deal.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't really see the huge deal here.
I have a theory about why it's a big deal. The story is coming from Fox News, the same organisation that is owned by Rupert Murdoch who just made a big walloping donation to the GOP, has kicked up a stink about a so-called "ground zero mosque" that they actually supported nearly a year ago when the story first broke, and are now approaching mid-term elections with the smell of Democrat blood in their nostrils. Anything that helps to build up a picture of "Americans losing their freedoms" is just part of a broader campaign to portray everything that's happening in the world as bad ever since that black dude got elected. So "School implements technology to comply with laws combating the obesity epidemic" becomes "Big brother in Iowa" with the requisite question mark on the end to fool the impressionable reader into thinking that this piece of commentary is actually an NPOV news story.
Meta-moderators, please pay attention on this one. This is neither a troll nor flamebait, it's a valid comment. As the OP says, there is no -1 disagree option.
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I always find it hilarious the double standards on both the left and the right.
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Back in the day... (Score:2)
Whatever happened to the days when there were no choices for lunch at school. You ate the slop they served or you went hungry. Worked just fine when I was a kid (~30 yrs ago). The food wasn't even that bad and we got all milk refills we wanted (was served from cafeteria-style dispensers not tiny cartons).
There were no kosher menus, no vegetarian menus, no alternates if kids didn't like something, no alacarte line, and no salad bars. Kids with food allergies had to bag it when they couldn't eat that day's lu
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Whatever happened to the days when there were no choices for lunch at school. You ate the slop they served or you went hungry. Worked just fine when I was a kid (~30 yrs ago). The food wasn't even that bad and we got all milk refills we wanted (was served from cafeteria-style dispensers not tiny cartons).
There were no kosher menus, no vegetarian menus, no alternates if kids didn't like something, no alacarte line, and no salad bars. Kids with food allergies had to bag it when they couldn't eat that day's lunch (menus were posted monthly so parents could keep track). The only food served other than that day's menu was PB&J (with milk and some sort of fruit), which was always available, even for kids who couldn't pay and weren't on free lunch program.
A simple menu would be cheaper to serve, both in terms of food costs and labor (kitchen and serving), and easier to track who ate what: (a) school lunch, (b) bag lunch, or (c) PB&J.
It was the same in my day too. I particularly liked Thursdays, they always had the best food and the nicest desserts on a Thursday.
This is a question? (Score:2)
Nutrition tracking in the middle of an obesity epidemic isn't a privacy issue, it's a small step in the right direction.
That doesn't really sound like the best way to implement it though. On the other hand, it should at least sort of work, which is better than nothing.
Hello FOX, Welcome to 1985! (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously! My elementary had a PIN code to pay for lunch over 20 years ago. It was a very helpful system that allowed parents to deposit money into the lunch account. Kids didn't have to worry if they had money or not in the account either. The account would go negative and a letter would be generated to be sent home reminding the parent to deposit money into the account.
The only difference between then and now is that school districts are watched under a microscope about what food is being fed to the kids. So now the lunch lady records what food you eat so the school can use that data to improve the food and prove they are meeting state/federal guidelines. Where is the harm in that?
I'd certainly like any school to stop my kid from draining his lunch account by buying nothing but Twinkies!
astroturfing (Score:2)
Keeping track of food consumption, and maybe supplying that information to parents, sounds like a good idea. It is not like a school, especially in the lower grades, don't already know what kids eat.
This is clearly an attempt by the fast foo
Just get the junk food out of the cafeterias. (Score:2)
I don't know whether school lunch programs actually increase student performance or not. It is unconscionable that children go hungry while others eat in front of them, so I consider the programs necessary.
The three of my four kids who are in school take a lunch box. One of them is overweight, and we found out he was spending his allowance on a la carte junk food in the cafeteria line, particularly ice cream bars.
Frankly, there isn't any reason for the junk food to be there in the first place. I was astonis
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And its his money, he should be able to spend it how he wishes. You've got to let kids grow up at some point and make their own decisions about their lives. When people place too much control over their kids, the kids go wild at some point in their lives, perha
The source (Score:3, Insightful)
Check out the source of the story, folks. It says at the top of the page that it's coming from an organisation called "Fox News, Fair and Balanced".
Just thought you should know.
At my old highschool the card system did not work (Score:2)
At my old high school the card system did not work that well at times.
This was years ago but what I saw was Power over Ethernet cash registers / POS with 2? Line mini LCD's that did not work that well. Some student said they were getting over billed on their cash / free lunch card. The systems when down many times and lunch stuff had to write the card numbers down and the cost of the food. Some times when paying with cash they would ring it up look at the price (to high) says that's not right and have to st
Memorization is so low tech (Score:2)
unhealthy foods are cheaper then healthy stuff and (Score:2)
unhealthy foods are cheaper then healthy stuff and schools don't have the funds to have good healthy food. Also some of fatty foods / vending make cash for the schools.
This is nothing new (Score:2)
Sounds Good To Me (Score:2)
Training kids to eat poorly and to select the wrong foods is a form of child abuse. I do realize that our society has wrecked the idea of mom being at home to instruct children properly and many people simply do not take care of their kids. A school using technology to catch these problems sounds like a great idea to me.
Those sniffers that can spot drug use of parents in the home from the child's clothing are al
My old school started doing this too! (Score:2)
And it only happened 15 years ago!
RFID, that's the ticket (Score:2)
They need to be using biodegradable RFID tags instead. If we can make edible underwear, why FFS can't we make edible RFID tags? Think of the (unhealthy) children!
As an actual parent speaking... (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, I scanned the first 75 replies or so and I cannot recall a single one being from someone who actually claimed to have a kid in a school. So here's my take on the situation, as someone who has had 5 kids in school.
1) This isn't news. This has been going on for a long time now, as school districts strive to stop handling money. As a parent, I would *FAR* rather write a check every few months (or, better yet, this year they take Paypal!) to pay for my kids lunches, than try to find the exact damn change every day for my six year old.
2) I have a child who has struggled with weight issues from birth. Seeing as how she has two rail thin sisters (and they eat the same things), we have been working with her for about a year to emphasize better food choices and controlled portions. However, the simple fact is that schools do have choices in the cafeterias, especially starting in middle school. As such, I consider it a good tool for me to keep track of all my kids *SPENDING* and eating habits. I can tell if my high school freshman is guzzling down four packages of twinkies a day, or eating a real meal.
3) What, exactly, does anyone believe the schools will do with this information? They are already legally restricted in terms of dietary requirements (by state and federal regulation) and they are already legally restricted from divulging personal information of students. So, does anyone her seriously believe that they will start selling Hostess the names and eating habits of every child? Or that they will start writing contracts with companies simply to, what? Increase profit margins? Violate laws by bringing in unhealthy foods? Sorry, it won't happen.
I think that the bottom line here is that this really isn't a privacy violation. It's a tool to allow parents to control diet and spending of kids who might not be able to make the best decisions about such issues.
Bill
Re:As an actual parent speaking... (Score:4, Informative)
You're right. My reaction to this was, "This is news?"
They've had this at our local elementary school as long as I've had kids there, which has been 10 years. The kids each have an ID number they enter when they purchase lunch and we write checks for lunch money. They get to keep the same ID number all through their school "career" (my oldest is in 11th grade) and it saves them the trouble of having to deal with money for lunches and saves us the trouble of dealing with it too.
Bah! (Score:2)
Thumb scan (Score:3, Interesting)
In some ways, this was genius. While you couldn't control (or tell) exactly what they purchased, you at least had control over how much they spent. Also: there was no risk of lost or stolen lunch money.
On the other hand, it was a privacy nuts worst nightmare - scanning kids. There were assurances that the ID gathered from the thumb was reduced to datapoints which could NOT be used to produce a new image, so no larger database concerns, but still creepy.
In the end, we just had our kids bring their lunches. The school lunches were high-fat crap, usually something fried or made entirely of cheese. Best estimates from our kids was that over half the kids brought lunch, and this was a reasonably affluent town. Crud, if they would just throw in an apple or something once in a while, they'd get more takers.
Hold on a sec (Score:2)
My children each have a seven digit code, given to them in kindergarten. Its sole purpose is to track money on their account so they don't have to carry cash and the school doesn't have to mak
Maybe do some reporting, /. ? (Score:2)
Program website:
http://ankeny.schoolfusion.us/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=190047&sessionid=5df71ce111dfbc72890cf7f887fa1c5c [schoolfusion.us]
More info:
http://ankeny.schoolfusion.us/modules/cms/pages.phtml?sessionid=5df71ce111dfbc72890cf7f887fa1c5c&pageid=64839&sessionid&sessionid=5df71ce111dfbc72890cf7f887fa1c5c [schoolfusion.us]
Maybe instead of quoting/directing to "Fox News", interview the person in charge (page 1, bottom). /. can do better.
PIN Has Been Around For a While (Score:2)
My children have had this set up in their school since my daughter started 4 years ago, but we don't use it. We pack our kids' lunches. Not really that expensive to do if you want to ensure your kids are eating healthy.
Re:indoctrination (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps not. A short pin number is easy to remember. You're not going to send your five year-old to school with a pocket of cash for lunch. Often times schools will simply have a running tad, controlled via an identifying number. It can be paid off as the semester goes, or filled with credits ahead of time. I seriously doubt that most schools offer much variety in food, so tracking what they're eating isn't going to varying much from student to student. About the only thing it'll show is who does or doesn't bring their lunch from home.
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I actually just have a personal identification number. I think a personal identification number number would be a bit harder. Is it like a matrix of vectors?
Like PIN[0]=1234, PIN[1]=5678. So my PIN number for school would be 1, but my PIN number for my luggage would be 0.
Now from the summary I don't even know what a personal identification number code is. Unless you have a secret code to unlock a little brief case that contains your PIN.
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Now from the summary I don't even know what a personal identification number code is. Unless you have a secret code to unlock a little brief case that contains your PIN.
Obviously it's the code you'd use to decrypt the DAT tape on which your PINs are stored, including this one, the one for ATM machines, the one for EBT benefits, and so forth.
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Re:indoctrination (Score:4, Insightful)
You're not going to send your five year-old to school with a pocket of cash for lunch.
That's how it used to work and it was never that big a deal.
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I wouldn't know, personally. I brought my own lunch 99% of the time, right up to when I left public schools altogether.
I imagine however that there are plenty of nerds her eon Slashdot that might disagree with you. Certainly the lunch money stealing bully has some basis in truth? :P
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At my high school, we had an hour break and were allowed to leave, so the nearest McDonalds, nearest pizzeria and such got a lot of business.
But as I later did in college, I packed lunch very often, both to save $ and avoid making the trip.
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Just like then, you can get pizzas, hot dogs, hamburgers, pastries, sweets and pop
Makes you wonder, why are kids so fat these days when they have quality dining like this available?
Actually the first three are relatively healthy, but the last three.. welcome to obe-city.
Re:indoctrination (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, maybe I need to patent that process.
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Yeah, this is nothing new. My school system implemented a system like this years ago. My school system assigned 6-digit student IDs when I was in 4th grade or so, probably around 1997. I don't remember when we implemented debit accounts for lunches - maybe 5 years later. It's convenient.
Re:indoctrination (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't even understand this idea that data about your eating habits is yours to keep secret. It's not like going to a doctor. If you ask the lunch lady for mac and cheese, and no chicken thank you, she's not legally bound to respect your privacy.
People seem to be saying "the human element is fine, but systematic tracking of eating habits is a concern" but that doesn't make sense. Either it's protected or not, there's no sense of security in relying on people's poor memory to ensure your privacy. If someone wants to spy on you and know what you're eating for lunch, then they can ask the lunch lady, there's no expectation of privacy.
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she's not legally bound to respect your privacy
This way of thinking is why we have more laws than anyone can keep track of. Do you really want to live in a society where the goal of the legal system is to completely and fully represent an "ideal" system of ethics? Perhaps the lunch lady gabbing about what your 5-year-old has for lunch is a bad example (anecdotal observations of this data are probably less than worthless), but in general should we really justify an activity by pointing out that there is no law against it (or excuse lack of an action by
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How on Earth is it "dehumanization" to enter your fine account number at the "register" in order to deduct lunch funds from your account?! Get real.
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That was a joke. Over here we usually reserve "stall" for the toilet, or perhaps for where you'd milk a cow.
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Obviously the fnord agency is trying to get our youth preprogrammed and conditioned to accept monitoring as a normal part of membership in our society.
And this is certainly the first time a school has done anything like that . . .
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'the agency'?
I suspect the CIA has better things to do with our time than brainwash our children.
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Hey now, let's not get personal...
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The conditioning happens earlier than that, I'm afraid.
You need to put a television show on aimed at preschoolers. Make it have a fuzzy stuffed bear who helps kids with things they don't know how to do themselves. Make it a "special assignment" for this bear to help the kids.
The kids are told to do X or Y (make their bed, change the lining in their rabbit cage) by themselves with no parent guidance. That's key number 1.
So how does this external agent, this "stuffed bear" change agent, know how to visit the
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Beyond the privacy concerns you also have the real issue that the busybody teachers that would be in charge of this have no clue and are not terribly literate.
They are going to give kids flack when they really don't warrant it and push them to eat trash because of deceptive packaging.
Simply OFFERING civilized food would be a welcome change.
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Does this mean they don't eat?
Maybe it's training them for air travel - bizarre and excessive punishments for simple infractions.
At my secondary school some low income pupils qualified for subsidised meals and got a meal ticket in the morning which they would hand in at the canteen. There used to be a system where if you lost your ticket you could put your name in "the book" and get your meal. They later found that people were appearing in "the book" on a daily basis. They were selling their tickets and claiming to have lost them while going on to claim their free meal. The school closed that loophole and made a rule that if you lost
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Yet these same parents willingly sign up
Keyword is willingly
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Why can't Johnny just give his name to the cashier?
Because when the kid says his number is 8241, that's pretty unambiguous. When the kid says her name is Carie, is that spelled Carie, Karie, Kerry, Kari, Carry, or Care-e (I'm sure some parents can get even more creative these days). Even using soundex algorithms don't always help when dealing with people who refuse to acknowledge the true pronunciation of their name (sorry, but Congressman Boehner's name is not really pronounced Bayner). Foreign names can be fun too (especially when you mix unfamiliar spell