Over the last couple weeks, I’ve spent some time watching talks from TED2010 to derive their innovation lessons. While all the presentations were interesting, there was one that really sticks out for the content of my blog. It was “Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food.”
I often write about 21st century skills that we need to teach our children so they can succeed in the future. Usually, the skills discussed include critical thinking, problem-solving, flexibility, collaboration and other similar competencies we need to thrive at work and solve today’s critical global challenges. What I learned from Chef Jamie Oliver’s talk is that there’s another major skill our children will need in the future that we should be teaching now, and that is the ability to make positive food choices.
Childhood obesity is a serious problem in the United States and much of the world. According to LetsMove.gov, the Web site for First Lady Michelle Obama’s recently launched campaign to raise a healthier generation of kids, childhood obesity affects around one-third of all U.S. children. The nation spends $150 billion a year to treat obesity-related conditions and obesity rates have tripled in the past three decades, “a trend that means, for the first time in our history, American children may face a shorter expected lifespan than their parents.”
According to an August 2009 article by Sarah Sliwa on TheFasterTimes.com, home economics programs, in which students learn cooking skills, have been dwindling in schools across the world. For instance, “in 1996, the introduction of the National Curriculum on schools in England and Wales relegated nutrition and cooking skills to the realm of optional and elective.”
At the time, an opponent to the new regulation, Scott Stitt, wrote in the British Food Journal that this will cause “an even greater reliance on precooked, convenience foods, which are, in general, nutritionally inferior to home-cooked meals. … Therefore the concern is that the nation’s diet will be adversely affected, which, in turn, will have detrimental influence on the nation’s health.”
That’s exactly what Oliver said has happened in the United States and United Kingdom.
According to Sliwa, in-school cooking classes can do more for a child than just helping fight obesity. “the school kitchen is a great space to fail. …
“You will burn things. You will confuse baking soda with baking powder. Your first omelet will likely resemble scrambled eggs. The school kitchen provides a forum for demystifying food, for making mistakes and gaining confidence along the way.”
And, at school, Sliwa said, kids can be taught “to become more intelligent buyers – more financially literate and more knowledgeable about the food choices we face.”
Right now, our schools are giving kids the wrong messages about the food they eat. School cafeterias are being run by accountants rather than “food-knowledgeable” people.
“There’s a problem,” Oliver said. “If you’re not a food expert, and you’ve got a tight budget, and it’s getting tighter, then you can’t be creative, you can’t duck and dive and write different things around things.”
But, Oliver said, “school was always invented to arm us with the tools to make us creative, do wonderful things, make us earn a living, etc., etc., etc. …
“Under the circumstances, it’s profoundly important that every single American child leaves school knowing how to cook 10 recipes that will save their life. Life skills.”
So perhaps cooking should be added to our repertoire of 21st century skills?
At my kids’ school, they’ve been lucky enough to learn how to find healthy foods. And they’re brought that knowledge home. We have a scale for evaluating what’s “healthy” versus a “healthy treat” versus an “unhealthy treat,” and we consciously eat the treats sparingly. But not all children have access to the nutrition education mine have. It needs to universal.
As Jamie Lee Curtis said in a July 2008 HuffingtonPost.com column about the need for home economics in schools, “we have fallen in giving our children the skills they need to succeed either in the big business world or in the big household world. We are FAILING. In music, art, home-ec, cooking, shop (remember shop?) as well as the basics, according to every study we are FAILING. We are Americans and we are getting an F in educating our children. … Without it, our children, the future of this great nation, will be unprepared …”
What do you think? Should cooking class be required at schools? Is it necessary for survival in the future?
– Kathie
Smart food choices are necessary for survival – literally. Cooking classes in school could possbly reinforce what children see in the home, and in more likely cases offer a different perspective. As parents, like with most other things we hope to teach our children, the most challenging dynamic of the process is accepting that we are constant role models. We can’t say soda is bad for you, while sipping on a diet coke. We can’t ask that they make healthy food choices, if we’re too busy to eat three balanced meals and snacks in between. Sure, schools can help, but parents, guardians, caretakers must also make smart choices and model the choices we wish for the children.
At my childrens’ school they adopted the Spotlight Nutrition Program:
The Spotlight Program™ was developed to help students make nutritious selections at meal times. Foods are labeled based on whether they are very healthy (green spotlight), somewhat healthy (yellow spotlight), or not very healthy (red spotlight).
Green spotlight foods are a great way to add color to the plate. Students are encourage to choose more green spotlight foods for healthy meals and snacks.
Yellow spotlight foods will most likely make up the bulk of a student’s diet. Supplementing yellow light choices with many green light choices should be encouraged.
Red spotlight foods, are foods that are typically high in fat, calories, and sugar. The recommendation for these types of food is consuming only a few servings per week.
This program uses marketing and educational materials to convey a healthy eating message. Signs on the serving line include a green, yellow, or red dot next to the food item being served. Menus are also labeled with green, yellow, or red dots next to each of the daily choices. Additional posters and literature are available in the dining hall for educating the students and parents.