Big Macs and Credit Cards vs Defiance and Truancy

I have monitored the health care debate over the last few weeks.  The cost to provide health care is growing, in part, because greater numbers of people require health services.  One idea to mitigate the problem is to have every American simply consume more healthy food.  Changes to dietary habits could save millions due to reduced obesity and lower cholesterol.


One solution offered in New York City is that the government should impose regulations to address the problem. 

Restaurant News

reports “By calling on fast food and chain restaurants to provide information on the nutritional quality of food products and menu offerings and encouraging healthier food choices, we hope to improve the diets and health of Americans,” said Dr. Joseph P. Annis, an AMA board member, during the group’s annual meeting in Chicago, where the recommendation was adopted.

While the goal is noble, the method does not address the real issue. Everyone knows that an apple a day is better than a Big Mac a day.  The real problem is individual choice.  How do you convince a person to choose long term gain over short term indulgence?  

The same problem is reflected in all areas of our society.  Why do many of us find ourselves deep in debt?  It is a result of hundreds of small choices to “get it now” and pay for it later.  Given the choice between immediate gratification and long term planning, too often most of us chose the short cut.

Our schools face the same problem.  Most of the literature about education is not focused on how to teach but rather how to motivate the students to learn.  Any educator will tell you that delivery of instruction is easy compared to the task of classroom management.  While many adults choose Big Macs and credit cards over long term physical and financial health, many of our children choose defiance and truancy over learning.

At

Blueprint Education

, our alternative education programs focus on dealing with basic issues of personal discipline before academics. We employ strategies to repair families, provide counseling, meet basic needs, and address anti-social behavior before we are able to teach.  Our efforts are aimed and reversing the affects of a multitude of poor choices by students and parents in an effort to rescue the child from a vicious cycle.

In our alternative education programs student success only comes from one thing.  In every case where a student has changed course from poor choices to positive choices it has been the result of a relationship with a principal, counselor, teacher, classroom aid, or school secretary.  Programs and strategies are important but there is no positive result until the student is connected to an adult.  The only path from a life of destructive choices is through a relationship.

I am convinced that every child who chooses to join a gang understands they are not making a good choice.  Every child who chooses to skip school understands on some level that the decision will hurt them in the long run.  The problem is the inability to delay immediate gratification for the greater long term benefit.  

Ultimately changing a food label will not fix the health of Americans any more than the “truth in lending” labels have kept us out of dept.  It comes down to making the right choice as an individual.  The only way to help is to have a relationship with a person who cares and who has permission to assist in making the right choice.