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What is “lunch shaming?” It happens when a child can’t pay a school lunch bill.
In Alabama, a child short on funds was stamped on the arm with “I Need Lunch Money.” In some schools, children are forced to clean cafeteria tables in front of their peers to pay the debt. Other schools require cafeteria workers to take a child’s hot food and throw it in the trash if he doesn’t have the money to pay for it.
In what its supporters say is the first such legislation in the country, New Mexico has outlawed shaming children whose parents are behind on school lunch payments.
Source: The New York Times
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New Mexico Outlaws School ‘Lunch Shaming’
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There will be big changes for you but you will be happy.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by tftp on Monday April 10 2017, @02:04AM
In university quite a few teachers threw some optional assignments at us, like "by the way, what will happen with the spectra of these signals if this and that is done? Prove this to me, and you get one point. Get $n points over the duration of the course, and then from the $m questions at the exam you can pick and answer only $k." Students are always interested in such things. There is no loss to the education because each independently researched and proved theorem is worth ten that are copied off of the blackboard and then visually memorized.
How can a poor child be motivated to earn his own lunch? By studying beyond the minimal norm, for example. Education is the mandatory job of children anyway. Poor children will benefit from learning far more than those born with various utensils in their mouths. Creative teachers can always put together a bunch of interesting assignments that entertain and educate. For example, an independently researched and delivered short lecture about "why is the sky blue," or some very gentle introdution to advanced math subjects, or some interesting facts about some book... perform the research, get a brownie point - a ticket for a free meal. That would be valuable to anyone if the saved money can be later spent on, say, ice cream... and will demonstrate that knowledge directly translates into wealth :-)