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GOP Rep Suggests Kids Clean Schools In Exchange For Lunch

Kingston is from the "I Got Mine, **** You!" contingent of the GOP, aka Tea Party. His voting record tells you all you need to know.

Kingston, formerly of the Agriculture Appropriations Committee, supported giving billionaires millions upon millions in farm subsidies for doing nothing, no work at all. Kingston supports the heavily government subsidized dairy industry but doesn't want to support poor children who need a good lunch or even breakfast. Kingston supports paying farmers millions to grow no crops, to do nothing while demanding poor children work to eat at school. Kingston talking out of his flabby white ass says poor, largely black children need to learn work ethic. :thumbdown

Yep. Keeping food prices down and the food supply steady hurts those poor folks. Better to give the poor more in food aid and have higher food prices and a fluctuating food supply. ;)
 
Oh shucks! He's also stealing form the rich since they are the only one's that pay for the government. Cry me a river about subsidies for farm production (FOOD WE ALL GET AT A DISCOUNT) when the poor start paying a fair share.


No, he's giving to the rich.
 
This guy is an idiot. I bet he's not against the billions that the government gives out in Corporate Welfare...yet he sees the economic problems of this country resulting from providing poor kids with free school lunch. Wow. (He probably claims to be a "Christian" as well...I bet).
 
For all this talk about making poor kids work and not rich kids...What would be so bad about making ALL children do age-appropriate chores around the school? I think Newt Gingrich had a much better idea when it came to schoolchildren and light physical labor. Now I strongly question his motives, but I think the end result would be good: Work lessons for the kids, and money saved for the school.

That's exactly how my elementary school was run. In the 6th grade they asked for volunteers to sign up for cafeteria duty and patrol duty. I always volunteered. The week I worked in the cafeteria, I got my lunch free. I had to collect milk money from packers, collect trays, load and unload those massive industrial dishwashers and sweep floors. There was a certain amount of pride knowing I truly earned my lunch that week.
 
I see nothing wrong with teaching a child that TANSTAAFL. Heck, I taught my own two sons that lesson at an early age.

Of course you don't. Make those little brats work for bread, right? You guys on the Far Right never cease to amuse.:lamo
 
That's exactly how my elementary school was run. In the 6th grade they asked for volunteers to sign up for cafeteria duty and patrol duty. I always volunteered. The week I worked in the cafeteria, I got my lunch free. I had to collect milk money from packers, collect trays, load and unload those massive industrial dishwashers and sweep floors. There was a certain amount of pride knowing I truly earned my lunch that week.

Whereas those with rich daddies threw their food on the floor for you to sweep up, right? Welcome to America, where children only eat if A) they have parents who can afford to feed them, or B) where they work for their lunch.
 
This guy is an idiot. I bet he's not against the billions that the government gives out in Corporate Welfare...yet he sees the economic problems of this country resulting from providing poor kids with free school lunch. Wow. (He probably claims to be a "Christian" as well...I bet).

and probably thinks if they don't work hard enough, you beat them. You know, the old 'spare the rod' bull****.
 
Yep. Keeping food prices down and the food supply steady hurts those poor folks. Better to give the poor more in food aid and have higher food prices and a fluctuating food supply. ;)

Well, it compares pretty well with the right wing solution, which is if the poor can't afford food, let them starve.
 
Whereas those with rich daddies threw their food on the floor for you to sweep up, right? Welcome to America, where children only eat if A) they have parents who can afford to feed them, or B) where they work for their lunch.

No! My parents didn't have any problem paying for my lunches. Anyone could VOLUNTEER to work in the cafeteria. I chose to VOLUNTEER. At twelve I was working for my lunch. At thirteen I had a lucrative babysitting business for two years. By the time I turned sixteen I was working a part time job after school to pay for my car insurance and upkeep on my vehicle and have been WORKING ever since.
 
Good for you. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have two parents who can provide the basics for you. Unfortunately not every child is so fortunate.
 
Good for you. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you have two parents who can provide the basics for you. Unfortunately not every child is so fortunate.
That's just it Wiggens, my parents could but didn't. If we wanted something we were taught to earn it. And it was the best damn lesson any child could learn.
 
Nonsense. Children should not have to 'earn' their food, any more than they should have to 'earn' a place to live or the right to go to school. You would have loved Dickens' England.
 
To be fair, in the OP he didn't suggest the kids do this while others are eating, but on Saturdays. So for those who went overboard in reflexive hatred, take a chill pill.

That said, it's still a stupid idea and displays a lack of depth of thought. There are so many other, better ways to get across the idea that TANSTAAFL. Heck, just add a little Heinlein to the reading list.
 
To be fair, in the OP he didn't suggest the kids do this while others are eating, but on Saturdays. So for those who went overboard in reflexive hatred, take a chill pill.

That said, it's still a stupid idea and displays a lack of depth of thought. There are so many other, better ways to get across the idea that TANSTAAFL. Heck, just add a little Heinlein to the reading list.

If he had suggested this for the parents, I would have agreed...
 
Nonsense. Children should not have to 'earn' their food, any more than they should have to 'earn' a place to live or the right to go to school. You would have loved Dickens' England.
Whatever Wiggen, All I know is at an early age I learned good work ethics that stayed with me all my life. I was taught how to save my money. And at a early age learned that once you saved to a certain dollar figure, some of the stuff you thought you just had to have you found you weren't willing to part with the money so easily when you worked to EARN it.

I see nothing wrong offering students jobs within the schools on a voluntary basis to learn good work ethics. Whether their payment is in a lunch credit or something else.
 
Read more here: GOP Rep Suggests Kids Clean Schools In Exchange For Lunch

This guy is the son of a university professor. He had a fairly privileged upbringing and thus has no idea what it is like to grow up poor as a kid. What an asshole. I mean what is he wanting to stand there at the lunch line and tell some 1st grader "Hey kid, you can have your Chilimac today, but first I need you to take this broom here and sweep the floor in front of all your friends".

Personally, I grew up poor. Very poor actually, we did not take free or reduced lunches, we just brought ours instead (the same crappy lunch every day). However, I know what its like to be a poor kid. I know what its like to boil water to take a bath in for months on end because your gas is cut off. I know what its like having no A/C in Arkansas summers living in a trailer. This guy has no idea. Despite growing up poor, I always knew the value of work, indeed growing up poor is what instilled it in me. I got my first real job when I was 15 and have worked my whole life since. Before I was married I worked 2 jobs to get ahead. We would be considered upper middle class now I suppose, but I worked hard to get here and I did not need some privileged extreme right jackass to instill that in me. How crazy and mean do these guys have to get before we all say this is ridiculous, go home, and for God sakes get the hell out of government. We don't want people like you, Jack Kingston, telling us how to run our lives or our country. I don't see this one as a right or left issue, I see it as an anti-jackass issue.

What's wrong? Afraid these kids might learn how to work?...not get on welfare?...Libbos lose some votes?

That would be horrible!
 
If he had suggested this for the parents, I would have agreed...

What, work in exchange for benefits received? "Why I nevah! ," to quote Foghorn Leghorn. :mrgreen:...

Greetings, AP. :2wave:
 
Of course you don't. Make those little brats work for bread, right? You guys on the Far Right never cease to amuse.:lamo

Another liberal with an extreme case of, "I don't understand what the hell you are saying, but it sounds bad, so I'll make a dumbass comment anyway", raises its ugly head.

1. I didn't say any kids should work for their lunches. I said that kids learning the meaning of TANSTAAFL is a good thing.

2. Further on in this thread, I said the parents should work for the "free" lunches, thereby teaching THEM about TANSTAAFL, as well.
 
Another liberal with an extreme case of, "I don't understand what the hell you are saying, but it sounds bad, so I'll make a dumbass comment anyway", raises its ugly head.

1. I didn't say any kids should work for their lunches. I said that kids learning the meaning of TANSTAAFL is a good thing.

2. Further on in this thread, I said the parents should work for the "free" lunches, thereby teaching THEM about TANSTAAFL, as well.

Maybe it could be based on grades instead of money. Lowest grade cleans the latrine. Bet that would raise some educational scores.

Heinlein fan, are we? He was my POE to Science Fiction. Podykane, how I've dreamed about that girl.....
 
That's exactly how my elementary school was run. In the 6th grade they asked for volunteers to sign up for cafeteria duty and patrol duty. I always volunteered. The week I worked in the cafeteria, I got my lunch free. I had to collect milk money from packers, collect trays, load and unload those massive industrial dishwashers and sweep floors. There was a certain amount of pride knowing I truly earned my lunch that week.

In seventh grade, two of my friends and I learned that the school cafeteria would let us eat for free in exchange for doing a certain amount of kitchen duty. We quite enjoyed it. It was a great opportunity for us to let off some steam, learn the value of work, and just hang out (while working) for a little while.
 
Read more here: GOP Rep Suggests Kids Clean Schools In Exchange For Lunch

This guy is the son of a university professor. He had a fairly privileged upbringing and thus has no idea what it is like to grow up poor as a kid. What an asshole. I mean what is he wanting to stand there at the lunch line and tell some 1st grader "Hey kid, you can have your Chilimac today, but first I need you to take this broom here and sweep the floor in front of all your friends".

Personally, I grew up poor. Very poor actually, we did not take free or reduced lunches, we just brought ours instead (the same crappy lunch every day). However, I know what its like to be a poor kid. I know what its like to boil water to take a bath in for months on end because your gas is cut off. I know what its like having no A/C in Arkansas summers living in a trailer. This guy has no idea. Despite growing up poor, I always knew the value of work, indeed growing up poor is what instilled it in me. I got my first real job when I was 15 and have worked my whole life since. Before I was married I worked 2 jobs to get ahead. We would be considered upper middle class now I suppose, but I worked hard to get here and I did not need some privileged extreme right jackass to instill that in me. How crazy and mean do these guys have to get before we all say this is ridiculous, go home, and for God sakes get the hell out of government. We don't want people like you, Jack Kingston, telling us how to run our lives or our country. I don't see this one as a right or left issue, I see it as an anti-jackass issue.

What you fail to realize today we have 70% of all black babies being born to single mothers, 50% of all Hispanic babies being born to single mothers, and 30% of all white babies being born to single mothers. The MAJORITY of all these women now rely on the welfare system to provide for their children. They see Uncle Sam as their sugar daddy. We the People have made it more lucrative in welfare for the single mom than two parents working at median income trying to raise a couple of kids without handouts.

We have a dropout rate in this country that is just alarming. These young adults sometimes aren't even qualified to flip hamburgers at a fastfood joints yet start families.

The talk about the rich versus poor in your comments and others in this thread are unfair. Anyone who is rich is someone who has more that you. The man/woman who spends several years achieveing a degree will obviously make more money than the one that couldn't finish high school.

The couple that put his/her lives on hold to have a family until they could afford it is going to be more financially prepared than the one who decided to become a single parent mother. Sure there are other scenarios that come into play where people because of no wrong of their own find themselves in need. But the majority that we are dealing with today who solely rely on welfare are single moms. They make up the majority of those who are classified as poor in this country.

Now these kids early on are taught that other folks are "suppose" to take care of them. Those with more are "suppose" to provide for them even though they invested time, money and hard work in his/herself and his mama didn't. Who better needs to learn a life lesson of personal responsibility? The one that makes more in income because he/she made all the right choices or the one that doesn't understand what personal responsibility means?

If someone can come up with programs to teach these kids there is no such thing as a free lunch because someone has to pay for them, would benefit society greatly.
 
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Maybe it could be based on grades instead of money. Lowest grade cleans the latrine. Bet that would raise some educational scores.

Heinlein fan, are we? He was my POE to Science Fiction. Podykane, how I've dreamed about that girl.....

I don't agree. I'll stick with having the parents work for the free lunches. The kids aren't really responsible for the situation their parents put their families in.

Having said that, I think giving kids the opportunity to learn about TANSTAAFL is a good thing. Just don't tie it to something that's not their fault.


"Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" was my first.
 
I would be I favor of having these poor children's parents be the ones cleaning up the school so their children can eat free. Maybe then they will get a job and care for their own children without always needing a handout.
 
Read more here: GOP Rep Suggests Kids Clean Schools In Exchange For Lunch

This guy is the son of a university professor. He had a fairly privileged upbringing and thus has no idea what it is like to grow up poor as a kid. What an asshole. I mean what is he wanting to stand there at the lunch line and tell some 1st grader "Hey kid, you can have your Chilimac today, but first I need you to take this broom here and sweep the floor in front of all your friends".

Personally, I grew up poor. Very poor actually, we did not take free or reduced lunches, we just brought ours instead (the same crappy lunch every day). However, I know what its like to be a poor kid. I know what its like to boil water to take a bath in for months on end because your gas is cut off. I know what its like having no A/C in Arkansas summers living in a trailer. This guy has no idea. Despite growing up poor, I always knew the value of work, indeed growing up poor is what instilled it in me. I got my first real job when I was 15 and have worked my whole life since. Before I was married I worked 2 jobs to get ahead. We would be considered upper middle class now I suppose, but I worked hard to get here and I did not need some privileged extreme right jackass to instill that in me. How crazy and mean do these guys have to get before we all say this is ridiculous, go home, and for God sakes get the hell out of government. We don't want people like you, Jack Kingston, telling us how to run our lives or our country. I don't see this one as a right or left issue, I see it as an anti-jackass issue.

This seems a little........ I dunno, degrading to me.

I'm all for community service in exchange for things like college grants, but maybe we could do this in a way that doesn't embarrass kids in front of their peers?
 
What you fail to realize today we have 70% of all black babies being born to single mothers, 50% of all Hispanic babies being born to single mothers, and 30% of all white babies being born to single mothers. The MAJORITY of all these women now rely on the welfare system to provide for their children. They see Uncle Sam as their sugar daddy. We the People have made it more lucrative in welfare for the single mom than two parents working at median income trying to raise a couple of kids without handouts.

And shaming a 2nd or 3rd grader by having them sweep a floor in front of their friends is not going to fix that. It is not the kids fault that they are poor or that their parents may have not made the best of decisions in life. They are just there to go to school so that the hopefully get a good education and do better themselves.

We have a dropout rate in this country that is just alarming. These young adults sometimes aren't even qualified to flip hamburgers at a fastfood joints yet start families.

I agree, but it doesn't fix that by shaming their kids.

The talk about the rich versus poor in your comments and others in this thread are unfair. Anyone who is rich is someone who has more that you. The man/woman who spends several years achieveing a degree will obviously make more money than the one that couldn't finish high school.

Of course, but the kid that comes from an upper middle class family has no idea what its like to be truly poor yet someone feels like they should pass blanket judgment on them. For example, I grew up quite poor. My kids grow up in an what would be considered demographically an upper middle class home. I am certainly happy that they get a lot more opportunities than I had when I was their age because of that. However, they have no idea what its like to be poor. It's a "free lunch" to them because they show up at school and the lunch money way pay for is in their account. I hope they all grow up to be successful. I also hope they do not grow up as sanctimonious as this congressman is.

I am all for teaching kids the value of hard work. I just think what the congressman is proposing is a despicable way of doing so. If you don't think most kids living in poverty don't know the value of a dollar, then you don't know anything about being poor.
 
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