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Friday, March 17, 2017

Food Is Overrated

Well, we've all seen it by now:


There is no evidence that food helps raise test scores.

One more snowflake wants to eat.

Mind you, this is from the administration that wants us to believe that three million votes were cast illegally, that Obama wiretappppped Trump Towers, that microwaves can be used to spy on us-- all this and more, without a shred of evidence. But children doing better in school because they have gotten food to eat-- that is some wildass crazypants conspiracy nutbaggery. You think being able to eat food helps children do better in school?? Woah-- just let me check you for your tin foil hat.

Reformsters, this is at least partly on you. This is the logical extension of the idea that only hard "evidence" matters, and only if it is evidence that test scores go up. We've dumped play, understanding of child development, and a whole bunch of not-reading-and-math classes because nobody can prove they help raise test scores to the satisfaction of various reformsters. It was only a matter of time until some literal-minded shallow-thinking functionary decided that there was no clear linkage between food and test scores.

Or anything else, actually, since another program that Mulvaney singled out for its unproven worth was Meals on Wheels. This is another impressive piece of brain-twistery since there is, in fact, plenty of proof about the effectiveness for Meals on Wheels.

But biggest crowd ever for inauguration. Illegal voters. Wiretappping. Oh yeah-- and school vouchers. The need for evidence is, I guess, a selective thing.

Meanwhile, I suppose we could conduct a study that establishes that students who have actually starved to death get lower results on standardized tests. And then we could work out the increments for exactly how much food is useful for getting test results. It may be that just some bread and water are all that's necessary (crusts only). Maybe just one bowl of gruel a day.

Lord knows we don't want to waste money feeding hungry children if we're not going to get decent test scores in return. You are never too young to start understanding that if you choose to be poor, you'll have to earn whatever scraps your betters decide you deserve.





3 comments:

  1. Did the elderly get bad test results, too?

    ReplyDelete
  2. What's worse, is that this not even a real thing.

    For example
    Bradley, B, Green, AC. Do Health and Education
    Agencies in the United States Share Responsibility for
    Academic Achievement and Health? A Review of 25
    years of Evidence About the Relationship of Adolescents’
    Academic Achievement and Health Behaviors, Journal of
    Adolescent Health. 2013; 52(5):523–532.
    Kleinman RE, Hall S, Green H, Korzec-Ramirez D, Patton
    K, Pagano, ME, Murphy JM. Diet, breakfast, and academic
    performance in children. Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism.
    2002;46(suppl 1):24–30.
    Meyers AF, Sampson AE, Weitzman M, Rogers BL,
    Kayne H. School breakfast program and school
    performance. American Journal of Diseases of Children.
    1989;143(10):1234–1239.
    Murphy JM, Pagano ME, Nachmani J, Sperling P, Kane
    S, Kleinman RE. The relationship of school breakfast to
    psychosocial and academic functioning: Cross-sectional
    and longitudinal observations in an inner-city school
    sample. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
    1998;152(9):899–907.
    Pollitt E, Mathews R. Breakfast and cognition: an
    integrative summary. American Journal of Clinical
    Nutrition. 1998; 67(4), 804S–813S.
    Rampersaud GC, Pereira MA, Girard BL, Adams J,
    Metzl JD. Breakfast habits, nutritional status, body
    weight, and academic performance in children and
    adolescents. Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
    2005;105(5):743–760, quiz 761–762.
    Taras, H. Nutrition and student performance at school.
    Journal of School Health. 2005;75(6):199–213.
    Murphy JM. Breakfast and learning: an updated review.
    Current Nutrition & Food Science. 2007; 3:3–36.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for your service. Many a time have I spent getting through the "accountability" process for getting some poor Mexican kid a two-dollar lunch.

    ReplyDelete