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Children Slaughtered Chickens in Idaho Community School
“Poultry Project” Condemned by United Poultry Concerns
“Poultry project ruffles feathers” by Terry Smith, Idaho Mountain Express, Nov. 18
“A Virginia-based poultry protection group has condemned a Community School project in which chickens were raised and later slaughtered to teach eighth-graders about the realities of food production.” Read more:
www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005128823
“Poultry project was misguided” by Karen Davis, President of United Poultry Concerns, Idaho Mountain Express, Nov. 18
“As an educator, I’m appalled that The Community School encouraged eighth-grade students to slaughter chickens as a classroom exercise - and in student-made killing cones.” Read more:
www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005128790
Two Background Articles in the Idaho Mountain Express:
“Poultry project yields life lessons” by Terry Smith, Nov. 11
“The Community School’s eighth-graders learned the realities of poultry production in a class project for which they procured 16 fuzzy yellow chicks, raised them to maturity, then killed, cleaned and dressed them for a ‘good foods’ banquet.” Read more:
www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005128745
“You can’t have your chicken and eat it too” by Terry Smith, Oct. 30
“Thirty-one eighth-graders are learning about the realities of food production in a chicken-raising project at The Community School in Sun Valley.” Read more:
www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005128587
What Can I Do?
1) You can post a Comment to today’s article and to Karen Davis’ letter in the above links urging a compassionate education. You can also submit a Letter to the Editor through the Idaho Mountain Express Website at: www.mtexpress.com/contact.php/.
2) You can write a thoughtful letter to the head of The Community School, a private K-12 college preparatory school in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Mr. Andrew Jones-Wilkins
Head of School
The Community School
PO Box 2118
Sun Valley, ID 83353
Email: Awilkins@communityschool.org
Please Note: This was the first time The Community School conducted the chicken slaughter project. Let us speak out and make it be the last.
It appears that while the school is defending the slaughter on grounds of “healthy eating” and “learning where food comes from,” no effort was or is being made to teach the students about the ethical, healthful and environmental benefits of a wholesome vegan diet or how to prepare and serve delicious and nutritious vegan meals.
The claim that students have to kill animals in order to learn “where their food comes from” is as pedagogically false as arguing that the only way students can learn the effects of drug addiction is to conduct a project in which students inject themselves with harmful drugs. There are plenty of videos on YouTube that students can watch to learn how terribly and needlessly animals suffer in being slaughtered. Teachers should not be putting knives in the hands of their students to kill immobilized birds. This is a misuse of education, vulnerable students, and defenseless animals. There is no excuse.
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