I got jaded by food policy and schools

 I did my undergraduate degree in agricultural economics, hoping to work in food policy. I don't know what I was thinking. I think most economics-types who work in policy must be saints given that they have been trained in logic and are forced to support idiotic inefficient ideas. That's where I found myself. The worst part was the move to reform school food, which consisted of mainly

• a push towards more fruits and vegetables
• a push towards less meat
• funding for school gardens

The problem for the firs two, as always, is calories. Why are American children so unhealthy? Some studies showed that people who ate fruits and vegetables were healthier, but show me the study that shows that feeding unhealthy people fruits and vegetables makes them healthy. 

People are unhealthy because the majority of their calories come from absolute garbage. Fruits and vegetables don't replace those calories. 

And where are we going to get these calories if meat is so darn evil? Huh? No one ever wants to take about this. No one wants to admit that the answer for some food policy wonks is processed tofu burgers or that it might be a good idea to spend some more money on some decent meat. No one wants to talk about the real crap that's in schools that having fruits and vegetables won't make up for: the sugar and fried foods that are still on the menu. 

As for school gardens, they sound really really nice, but again, how much can this food contribute to a child's food intake? What is the likelihood that these children will grow up and have gardens or that they will convince their parents to have gardens? How much money do these gardens really cost? To make a real impact, you need less glamorous interventions like home economics classes. I'm not saying gardens are bad, I'm saying they probably have a trivial effect, but I'd really like to see some studies on the matter. 

For school we keep kids inside when it's cold, but don't worry, the government has paid for some pathetic and ineffective commercials showing you can trick your kids into running around for a few minutes and that's going to prevent healthy problems. Sure. Just another grasping at the margins and ignoring the fact that for most of their day they will be sitting around. 

But really, the whole matter of school and school lunches is depressing. It's so tragic that every day children are punished for where their parents happen to live. They have no choice what school they go to and no opportunities to chose the best teachers and avoid bad ones. Unless they are lucky to be born to parents who have the time, they will eat garbage for lunch. They will sit at a desk and learn standardized tests instead of real skills. This doesn't bother enough people in my opinion. If there is anything these schools are good at, it's producing people completely unwilling to question them. 

Luckily, my mother wasn't in that mold. When she was told I had learning disabilities, ADHD for one, she didn't want me warehoused in our districts completely unengaging special ed program (most other kids aren't so lucky) or dosed with drugs (there is compelling evidence that those drugs are completely unnecessary and that diet can be just is effective). Not able to afford private school, I was homeschooled until I was 15, when she thought school would be more necessary since the subjects are more specialized and difficult (let's face it, it doesn't take a genius to teach kids basic math, and considering that my own IQ is so far above the average teacher IQ, I'm not worried about teaching my kids).

Am I an unsocialized freak? No one seems to think so, but that makes sense because I did tons of extracurricular activities with other children and played outside a lot. Like our ancestors, I had exposure to a wide range of people of different ages and to many of my relatives on a daily basis. I often finished my schoolwork before 11AM and spent the rest of the day outside. Maybe that's why these schools horrify me so much. I think it's time to fight for school choice and in the meantime opt out. Or start our own awesome school that let's kids be kids. Either way, the likelihood I'll have a second gen homeschooling family is very high.