The Times of London reports that for a mere $43,500 per year your child can attend Avenues: The World School in Manhattan, where 4-year olds sit in swivel chairs and are taught in Mandarin or Spanish half of the time. Every student is expected to become a responsible “global citizen” from a “world course” designed by Harvard University. There are courses in humility, too: Students will be taught by their ten-person “success team” to be “humble about their gifts and generous of spirit, but “meekly,” comments the Times. Parents insist that the school canteen offer snacks like seaweed and zucchini bread.
Those fortunate students need not worry about federally mandated school lunch programs. But those in the public school systems around the country must. At the Washington Technology Magnet School in St. Paul, the school nutritionist hopes she has struck the right balance between health and what students will eat, and comply with the 2010 law pushed through by the First Lady as part of her “Let’s Move,” which the Obamas will soon do to the relief of many. The nutritionist offers taco pizzas accompanied by fresh fruits and vegetables. No analysis of the school’s compost heap is available to reveal students’ reaction to the combo plate, or to determine whether the $98 million the Department of Agriculture has allocated to buy equipment and for training is paying off in healthier kids.
