Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

If your interest doesn't fit anywhere else, leave it here.
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
https://cutt.ly/meble-kuchenne-wroclaw
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by Mr. PC »

So I'm in Teachers College this year and we have this presentation on the Canada Food Guide with the 4 'food groups', and how we're expected to teach this in class as it's on the curriculum. I protest that none of this information is scientific but in-fact based on economy, to which most of the class was against me (maybe all, certainly know one was helping).

But seriously, in no way is it ethical for me to teach my students that milk and bread is healthy; I simply can't do it. I'm thinking of doing a presentation for the class or something; something that will convince them that grains and milk are not in fact healthy, and showing the sources behind their mis-information.

Anyone have any thoughts, or maybe resources that would be helpful for this cause? I'd already spend most of the day debating the merits of other aspects of the curriculum and the necessity of standardized curriculum altogether for most of the day (most of my year really). It's gonna be a long haul for me.
panacea
Posts: 989
Joined: Wed 23 Jun 2010 22:08

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by panacea »

if you don't believe they are healthy (which I also say you're right on), then you say 'according to the food guide, these foods are healthy' or 'the food guide says..'

you can say before the presentation that these are not your personal views...

if you a teacher you're an employee of the school/government and are required to teach their curriculum, not your own, no matter how wrong they are.

just pointing this out to save you from getting into trouble..

also keep in mind the entire world cannot support this diet, if the entire would took up the wai diet then billions of people would starve or be forced to get off the wai diet.

and so, the most helpful thing you can do is teach your students about the detrimental effects of overpopulation
then hopefully by the time they are older they will support the population control movement
and narrow the population to one that can support a healthy diet
User avatar
Oscar
Administrator
Posts: 4350
Joined: Mon 15 Aug 2005 00:01

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by Oscar »

Actually we don't know for sure how much is needed to support a planet of Waians.

Personally I'd inform in a 'neutral' way, trying to cover both sides of the argument, and encourage the students to do some research and form their own opinion.
panacea
Posts: 989
Joined: Wed 23 Jun 2010 22:08

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by panacea »

It's not only a question of producing the proper amount (even though that is a huge problem as all climates aren't made for wai diet food growth)

it's the higher expense for growing such foods compared to the cheap processed ones
the fact that when you do it on a massive scale it's much more vulnerable to insects and pest problems
much less stable food supply (cold winter)
transporting the food - huge huge problem, even with todays food which can have 3 year long expiration dates on some food
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by Mr. PC »

I'm sure it could be easily covered with the money we've been spending on war.
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by Mr. PC »

I don't need to teach the wai diet in nutrition, but I should at least tell them the harms of Wheat and Dairy, and maybe the effects of cooking on food. I'm sure the world would be able to supply enough food without the requirement of wheat and dairy.
panacea
Posts: 989
Joined: Wed 23 Jun 2010 22:08

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by panacea »

If the war wasn't profitable then there wouldn't be a war. Do you really think that a single terrorist act (assuming all of the propaganda is real about him) started an entire war to 'look' for him? They have the CIA and spies and such for that, called undercover ops, mercenaries, etc. "Iraqi Freedom" is a joke, just like when the British took over India, it's for profit and nothing else. There are a bunch of countries that need help from tyranny, starvation, medical care, etc, which aren't receiving 'help' from the US Military. Could it be because these areas are not profitable, or because Americans just care a lot more about the wellbeing of iraqi people than other countries.

By the way, good thing we got those weapons of mass destruction that were the main reason we invaded.
Oh wait.
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by Mr. PC »

Ditto, the U.S. spends about $600 Billion or more a year on War, $30 Billion/year could solve hunger/poverty. I was just being a smart-ass in regards to there not being enough resources. I think if we focused our energy on planting trees/fruits, we could do it. Even if it wasn't strict wai, at least to get rid of Wheat/dairy.
User avatar
RRM
Administrator
Posts: 8164
Joined: Sat 16 Jul 2005 00:01
Contact:

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by RRM »

Mr. PC wrote:I should at least tell them the harms of Wheat and Dairy, and maybe the effects of cooking on food.
No, you need to teach them what the school wants you to teach them.
And then additionally maybe the school also wants to encourage them to educate themselves?
Regarding the latter you can stimulate them to question the current 'health paradigms'.
But first teach them what you have to teach them before stimulating them to question everything.
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by Mr. PC »

I don't know if I could do that. I'd feel so terrible about lying to them. On a side note I realized the 4 food groups can be satisfied using almonds. Almond milk (alternative), almond flour bread, almonds as a fruit/vegetable, almonds as a meat alternative (because it has protein). What does grain even mean? Simply something that has been ground up and baked?
User avatar
RRM
Administrator
Posts: 8164
Joined: Sat 16 Jul 2005 00:01
Contact:

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by RRM »

Mr. PC wrote:I don't know if I could do that. I'd feel so terrible about lying to them.
Teachers have to lie to kids all the time.
History, for example.
History is written by those who win the wars, covering up all that they dont want the world to know.
Telling lies is standard.
and its okay, as long as you also teach them to question all given info.
Look at it differently: we need enemies (bacteria, viral infections etc) to train our defense.
Equally so, we need lies to train our 'truth-finding capacity'.
And, there is always some truth to every lie, so that when you train kids to find those little pieces of truth,
and connect them, they can find the truth themselves.
If you never feed them lies, they dont know how to deal with them properly.
Make them become independent.
They dont become independent thinkers by telling them 'the truth' only.
They become independent by telling them lies and teach them how to deal with those.
What does grain even mean? Simply something that has been ground up and baked?
A member of the family of grasses.
The term grain usually refers to those grasses that have been cultivated for consumption.
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by Mr. PC »

I don't understand the lie philosophy. I know many people who were fed lies growing up; they never learned to question them. So the issue it how to teach the kids to question knowledge, which you could test by giving them false knowledge, but the falsities don't by themselves cause them to question.

On the other hand, if they're eating foods that impede mental functions, they're less likely to question because they're being sedated.

I know teachers lie to students all the time, but that in no way justifies me doing it. Teachers also bully their students. In fact many qualities common to teachers are qualities I loath. I'm not becoming a teacher because I'm inspired by the current teachers, I want to teach because I sincerely care about children and I believe teaching is an important factor in creating social progress.

I know most of the history taught is untrue; the other day I asked another teacher "how do you teach actual history while keeping it 'appropriate'?", she didn't get it, but I meant that if you teach actual history there's a lot of "immoral" behavior, and a lot of things that makes the government, and religion look really bad. They're fine with any amount of violence however.

It seems to me the purpose of history class is to bore the students enough to keep them from ever wanting to discover history on their own.
User avatar
RRM
Administrator
Posts: 8164
Joined: Sat 16 Jul 2005 00:01
Contact:

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by RRM »

Mr. PC wrote:...the falsities don't by themselves cause them to question.
No, thats right.
First of all, you need to teach them what you need to teach them, so that you will not lose your job.
Besides that, you need to teach them to question all info,
so that it doesnt matter that you teach them lies.
So that if you want to teach them some truth about diet:
first teach them the lies, and then question that info 'as an example'.
"it could also be that..." "...or...".
I know teachers lie to students all the time, but that in no way justifies me doing it.
A lie is not that harmful and may even be very useful if you teach them to question everything.
Teaching them lies may be part of the whole process of teaching them to question stuff.
Wai says articles are based on studies that tell a lot of lies.
That does not make those studies any less useful.

Similar as you need exposure to viruses and bacteria to train your defense,
you need lies to train your brains.
I want to teach because I sincerely care about children
Then teach them how to question things,
by using the info that you have to teach as examples.
abicahsoul
Posts: 230
Joined: Sun 19 Dec 2010 16:35

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by abicahsoul »

You also need to teach them what mainstream society holds to be true. The same as with law for example. You have to teach students what the laws are, even if you question them. :D You can't just teach them what you think is right instead. :lol:
User avatar
Mr. PC
Posts: 617
Joined: Sun 25 Jan 2009 05:16
Location: Canada

Re: Being forced to teach 'food groups' to kids.

Post by Mr. PC »

Even the food chain. I'm looking for images for lesson plans but the food chains I find are all like these,

http://www.mindfully.org/Food/Food-Web.gif

http://www.snakebytestudios.com/columns ... age010.jpg

They don't even show us eating vegetables! Where could I find an accurate drawing of the food chain? Should I show it in terms of how modern people eat, or how we've eaten for the past million years or so? Maybe both.
Post Reply