[lbo-talk] Digesting equality

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

> HindustanTimes.com
> 
> Thursday, July 24, 2003
> 
> Digesting equality
> 
> Jean Drèze
> 
> Recent media reports of upper-caste opposition to school meals in
south
> Karnataka underline the ‘socialisation’ role of mid-day meals. Indeed,
> restrictions on the sharing of food play an important role in the
> perpetuation of caste inequalities. Teaching children to sit together
and
> share a common meal at school, irrespective of caste, is a good way of
> defying traditional prejudices.

What food is in India, clothing is in the US - as far as class/caste
differences are concerned.  Schools uniforms in the US would have the
same equalizing role as mid-day meals do in India - and that is why they
are so much opposed by the Brahmin class in this country, albeit in a
subtle way, under the guise of preserving children's "individuality and
freedom."  What a ruse.

Wojtek