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May 1, 2003
Hot Dogs And French Fries And Cakes (Oh, My!)
Not content with attempting to ban soda, bake sales, and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches in schools, the food police now want your children to think there's no such thing as hot dogs or candy.
Not content with attempting to ban soda, bake sales, and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches in schools, the food police now want your children to think there's no such thing as hot dogs or candy.
California's textbook review process routinely eliminates reference to foods considered unwholesome -- French fries, sodas, cakes, and even ketchup and butter. Some of the outrageous changes made to textbooks and tests include:
A piece on George Washington Carver, the inventor of peanut butter, was nixed because it might offend children who are allergic to peanuts.
A picture of a birthday party was purged because it included an "unhealthy" birthday cake.
The story "A Perfect Day for Ice Cream" was renamed "A Perfect Day." Also cleansed from the tale were the chili burgers and pizza.
Diane Ravitch, who was an Assistant Secretary of Education under President George H.W. Bush, details the "intricate set of rules" governing educational materials in her new book, The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn. Overzealous busybodies, writes Ravitch, believe that if they "can stop people from ever seeing offensive words and ideas, they can prevent them from having the thought or committing the act that the words imply."
That same Orwellian philosophy, apparently, now aims to save America's kids from -- horrors! -- "committing the act" of enjoying their favorite foods.
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