Got Milk? Well, I hope its not chocolate...

To be honest, when I learned we would be discussing an issue revolving around chocolate milk in my Paideia II class, I was kind of confused. However, as we began discussing the implications of this issue on a school, I immediately was appalled at what Decorah high school did to their student body. To think that the school readily introduced its students to something that causes bodily harm to them is horrible for me to think about. I understand that the dairy industry is trying to get more people to drink milk because it is healthy, but it has been proven that there is nothing healthy about chocolate milk. As we calculated out how much sugar was in the milk that the students drank, I was appalled to see that the amount was equivalent to the amount of sugar contained in a pop. I was also disgusted by how much this amount was above the recommended average for a teenager. As a school system, Decorah should be making responsible decisions for its students and not decisions that could lead to future health problems. I understand that the money was an incentive for the challenge, but the students spent over $5000 buying the milk that won them $5000. I was also disappointed to find out that students were having milk breaks during class time which takes away from instructional time. Aren't teachers always complaining the lack of instructional time and yet they allow a challenge like this to take away about an hour of of instruction time each week.