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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (103438)	5/8/2005 5:25:04 PM
From: ManyMoose	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

I had the same reaction, and I'm greatly relieved that you don't think teaching kids political points of view is OK for teachers. I was so bothered by the idea, that I thought about how I would respond to Grainne's poem the entire time while I was out mowing the lawn. My idea was to post the poem I wrote about hunting when I was in the eighth grade. I wrote it because it was my own idea, not because my teacher assigned me to write poems about hunting. I could post a similar poem about trapping. I'm sure Grainne doesn't want teachers assigning kids to write trapping poems, although I think it's perfectly fine. Teaching kids to write poetry is a vital part of teaching them to think for themselves. But teaching kids political views by having them write poems for PETA is WRONG WRONG WRONG! Because: If PETA can do it, the Ku Klux Klan can do it. Neo-Nazis can do it. Osama bin Laden can do it. I don't think Grainne thought that one through very well.

To: epicure who wrote (103438)	5/8/2005 6:05:32 PM
From: Grainne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108807

I think school children should be exposed to a wide range of viewpoints. I thought the poem was interesting and provocative because I think animal rights as one philosophical viewpoint is a reasonable subject, taught in age-appropriate ways. I realize some people might think that this is a radical idea, but in all fairness, we are already teaching children by the products that they eat in school cafeterias and vending machines, that meat and milk and eggs are totally normal and healthy foods, and there are clearly problems with that because it is not true. The reason these products are in schools to the excess that they are is because of surpluses and government subsidy programs. So I think this also crosses over into health and nutrition teaching. Some animal sanctuaries have large groups of children visiting them, clearly organized school field trips. I don't know if this happens in California, however. The documentary I saw which showed this was about an animal sanctuary in the East. I think children should visit slaughterhouses, factory farms (although good luck arranging a visit) and animal sanctuaries. I think that all children should have a good understanding of how their food gets to the dinner table. And I think it is not unreasonable for children to think about what they want to eat. I think this only crosses the line into a quasi-religious area when only one viewpoint is presented.