Excerpted from the Causematters blog
by Michele Payn
Is bias in teaching going the same way as the rampant bias in journalism? Should we be questioning teachers who promote their own agenda in a classroom? This is not a new problem, but a social studies teacher showing a Chipotle film to our friends’ seventh grade class has left me questioning what is wrong with our educational system.
Last week, in a central Indiana suburban school district with some rural influence, my 12 year-old friends some serious questions about their food brought up by a food marketing video. This one hit close to home because it impacted the son and daughter of one of my closest friends (and also why I’m not disclosing the school name). While corn and soybeans were being harvested around the school, the teacher chose to feature one of the Chipotle videos as their social studies lesson.
These are kids that have followed my daughter in our pasture since they were toddlers, played on hay bales in our barn, and even helped bring one of our newborn calves home last March. They know our cattle by name, have visited the milking parlor of our neighbor, and their grandpa had beef cattle. Both kids are smart, raised by wonderful parents, and know the difference between right and wrong. They now question what farmers are doing to animals after hearing cows don’t see grass, chickens are injected with hormones and pigs are kept inside. Their words. Heartbreaking to hear this is part of their “education.”
Why would a teacher put these thoughts into kids heads from marketing propaganda from a food service company with a questionable track record? There was no debate, no other side presented, no lesson in marketing. The result? Kids feeling bad about their food and questioning farming. It broke my heart
Read more of Michele's post here.
If you would like your children to learn more about agriculture from a real farmer, rather than a food marketing company, please contact Joey Myers, coordinator for NDFB's Promotion and Educaton Committee.