Hey ya Ron... back in the day (and this would be late 50s early 60s) I lived in farm country. We kids were encouraged to join 4H and by way of that club, we raised our own calves which in the end wound up at the slaughter house. All along we pampered those animals just like any kid naturally would. On achievement day (I think that's what they called it) we'd parade our prized animals in front of judges to win ribbons and such in categories such as;
- best groomed
- best behaved ('cause we were parading), and among other things...
- best assessed value ($/lb)
Then we'd auction them off one by one, take the money and do it all over again next year. So we kids were part of the loop (of the food chain) from around the age of 4 on up. It was normal. Of course I never wanted to eat my own calf... but there were plenty of others to eat, so no probs.
Now maybe I was traumatized at a young age by all of this which could help explain why I've never been a status quo kinda guy, or why I choose vegetarianism at a relatively young age, but I don't think so. I think raising them animals for market made me appreciate more than the average joe, what it's all about to eat. So as far as those kids involved in the story that started this thread... they're just fine. And the teacher is excelling at her job, which is to teach.
Where was I going with all of this? Nowhere really... not trying to make a point or force an opinion. Just relating a story of my own life as a child, doing something similar to what these kids were doing... raising an animal for human consumption. Now those kids know meat doesn't really come from a nice and pretty cellophane wrapped Styrofoam tray. It comes from something with a face!!
And in keeping with the gist of this thread... that teacher was victimized, end of story. Might as well have burned her at the stake!!
