76-08-B5
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Junk Food
TranscriptWhen if ever will do-gooders, busy bodies and bureaucrats learn that human beings don't like being regimented, even when they're told it's for their own good. I'll be right back. Just recently, the Arizona Republic carried an editorial about the latest caper in public education as carried out in Washington D.C. The editorialist opened with a provocative line that contains more than a kernel of truth and apparently more understanding of youngsters than some educators possess. He wrote, "You can lead a high school kid to yogurt but you can't make him drink." Now this isn't a criticism of yogurt, which is unquestionably a fine, healthy source of nourishment. It is instead a story of about $64,000 worth of foolishness by the Washington D.C. School Board. Of late, there's been much ado about so-called junk food in schools. Like so many of the do-gooder causes a grapevine communication system carries the word all over the land but in the nation's capital they had their way. The Washington School Board banned the sale of, quote, "junk food," unquote, in schools and even at football games. Happily the school nutritionist went to work on a new menu for teenagers and from a health standpoint you can't fault them. The soft drink machines were emptied. Bake and candy sales were hauled. In the cheering sections at football games carried on without hot dogs, cokes, popcorn or potato chips. Available were milk, hot chocolate, vegetable juices, hard boiled eggs, sandwiches made of whole grain enriched bread, unsalted nuts and yogurt. Now, I'd have no quarrel, indeed I'd help in a program to educate and convince all of us that such things are good for us. Good heavens, as a ex-sports announcer I remember when the great Babe Ruth missed a ballgame because he at 13 hot dogs, washed down by as many bottles of root beer. But kids are kids, and sometimes persuasion is better than dictatorship. When the lunch bell rings now in the Washington schools the students happily flock to the nearest places where the so-called junk food is for sale. The school eats shops with their healthy new menus are deserted. One school reports it used to net two thousand dollars a year from soft drink sales alone and an equal amount from such things as candy. All this profit went to support sports and other school activities. It even bought gasoline for the lawn mowers. You might think the school board would admit it had made a mistake, but no, the ban on junk food remains. And here's where you and I come into the picture. To make up for the loss of profits, the school board is giving the principles of the various Washington schools a total of $65,000 from federal impact aid money. In other words, the nation's taxpayers will underwrite this failing experiment in nutrition. No one wants children to fill up on junk food instead of a proper diet, but whatever happened to, "Eat all your spinach, junior, or no television tonight." This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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