I would surely have died…
This is absurd. The LA Times is reporting:
In an effort to promote better health, the Los Angeles school district’s board is expected Tuesday to ban soft drink sales during school hours at all of its 677 schools
The article makes clear enough the potential monetary implications of a move like this; Money that is made from soft drink sales usually fund student activities such as dances. Banning soft drink sales puts this income source in jeopardy (Oakland Unified School District lost $500,00 in soft drink sales per year after banning soda and junk food sales).
However, the income issue isn’t the problem here. The apparent reason for the ban is the growing concern that food and drink made available by the school are contributing to the unhealthy lifestyles of children, particularly blacks and Latinos
. This might hold more weight if soft drinks were the only drinks being offered by the school, which they aren’t. Or if students couldn’t acquire soft drinks off campus, which they can (probably just across the street). The idea then, that the mere availability of soft drinks on a campus constitutes an objectionable practice where a student’s physical well-being is concerned is laughable.
What should be happening then, is a more focused effort on educating both students and their parents about what a healthy lifestyle involves, and leaving the decision of how to live their lives up to them. If this means that people continue to be obese, so be it - provided that they understand that their choices led to their obesity, and don’t attempt to blame (or sue) their school, place of employment, or even the local fast-food.