Has anybody (locals) checked out the website for these people? Oh my! Freaks.

As a member of PETA.. I whole heartily support the school and teachers in this program.

I agree with another comment. Have a garden and grow veggies. These teachers should be fired.

If children, or for that matter the public, were given tours through the horrors of slaughterhouses there would be many more vegetarians in our society. Vegan lifestyles would become mainstream. The industry hides it, purposely, because of this fact.

Folks, since when is chicken a 'health food'. Studies show that a plant based diet is the healthiest for the prevention of disease. Why not have the kids grow their own vegetables and learn to prepare truly healthy food? This school district is not only teaching bad nutrition but they are encouraging kids to become desensitized to violence and suffering.

It seems to me, of all the things kids need to learn in a school setting, killing is not one of them. We live in a violent society where a significant percentage of young people are or have been drug users. This fact along robs humans of conscience.

The fact that teachers would conjure up such a project for students of this age is extremely troubling. A large segment of society already lacks respect and compassion for food animals, why do teachers need to be contributors?

Those supporting this heinous project provide adequate testimony of callous attitudes formed by those who are indoctrinated from the cradle that food animals are mere commodities for profit and consumption. The notion that young people should have to be exposed to killing an animal to get them to "think" of ways to foster healthy eating is absolutely preposterous. Eating animals is a choice, mainly to satisfy food addictions; it is not a necessity for maintaining health or life. Do these same teachers also have vegan/vegetarian curriculum?

As for lessons taught by FFA and 4-H: they are organizations promoting the commercialization of animals. It does not mean that what they teach is necessarily ethical or morally right. Like sheep to slaughter, many go along without thinking because of trust in a name.

If you don't see that there is a societal disparity in the factions that teach violence in comparison to those that teach compassion, you must have your head in the sand.

It seems to me, of all the things kids need to learn in a public school setting, killing is not one of them. We live in a violent society where a significant percentage of young people are or have been drug users. This fact along robs humans of conscience.

The fact that teachers would conjure up such a violent project (killing is a violent act) for students of this age is extremely troubling; a large segment of society already lacks respect and compassion for food animals. Why does a teacher need to be a contributor?

Those posting supportive comments for this heinous project provide adequate testimony of callous attitudes formed by those who are indoctrinated from the cradle that food animals are mere commodities for profit and consumption. The notion that young people should have to be exposed to killing an animal to get them to "think" of ways to foster healthy eating is absolutely preposterous. Eating animals is a choice, mainly to satisfy food addictions; it is not a necessity for maintaining health or life. Do these same teachers also have vegan/vegetarian curriculum?

As for lessons taught by FFA and 4-H: they are organizations promoting the commercialization of animals. It does not mean that what they teach is necessarily ethical or morally right. Like sheep to slaughter, many go along without thinking because of trust in a name. Mind control should be a fear factor.

If you don't see that there is a societal disparity in the factions that teach violence compared to those that teach compassion, you must have your head in the sand.

While I do applaud efforts to teach students about “healthy eating” and “learning where food comes from,” no effort 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 also inaccurate. You can learn vicariously through watching movies like "Meet Your Meat" and watching videos on YouTube that show 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. I hope this project is discontinued immediately.

tempest in a teapot! those idiots back east have way to much free time on their hands.

Having just read this article, the only problem I have is that the animals weren't stunned before slaughter. In a commercial operation, the birds are electrically or controlled atmosphere stunned.

Teaching the next generation about animal husbandry should be applauded not condemned.

This reminds me of a similar incident in a UK Primary School where sheep were raise from lambs, the children were allowed to pet the animals and treat them as domestic animals becoming emottionally attached to them and then they were sent for slaughter returning to the School as cuts of meat! The reasoning was the same as the chickens in that the lesson was where your food comes from. However as the sheep incident occurred in a farming community the children well knew what meat was and from whence it came. My concern apart from adding to the slaughter toll that other poaters have alluded to. Is the desensitisation of young children to death and destruction potentially leading them to join the ranks of animal/human abusers in the future. This being a well documented route for example of serial killers and even those who kill their classmates and teachers in school massacres!

user.

Did you actually think I thought this organization only condemned small school projects? Are you really that stupid? Your idiotic statement just proves how dumb animal rights advocates really are.

I do not see how this experience could be negative for the children/students. I find it ignorant that people do not realize that their protein food sources mostly come from living, breathing animals.
Typically, the average American is so far removed from their food source that they have no idea how cruel the industry has become. Neither does the average American even care about how mistreated animals are in massed producing feed lots or the pain the animals feel in their cruel deaths.
I believe the closer we are to our food source, the less likely we will be to over eat and to waste our food.
I applaud the Community School for such a forward thinking project that puts children in the very real arena of providing for oneself and to see the entire process from raising an animal, killing it, cleaning and butchering it, and preparing and eating the animal.
These children may well become advocates for better treatment of animals and encourage the change that is needed within the over mass produced industry.
Learning is always a good thing.

You people amaze me, what double standards! I agree we should treat our animals as humane as possible, but they still have to die for us to eat. If this was a wolf ripping apart a chicken or elk and eating on it while still alive, you would be singing the praises of nature and the wolf as a god.

Shouldn't we be teaching compassion rather than animal abuse to desensitize children's forming consciences so they can kill animals when they get older (and possibly be a risk in society)?
Society is getting worse. It's no longer civilized.
Someday, God will hold all of us accountable for every creature (Hebrews 4:13)
Jan

Honestly, if we were really to illustrate how to be healthy and self sufficient we would adopt compassionate programs like Alice Water's Edible Schoolyard www.edibleschoolyard.org
No trauma to kids or animals - Everything is good without the bloodshed.

Both sides have good points, and as a backyard poultry owner, I applaud the school system for helping kids learn that food does not come from the grocery store, it comes from the land and the animals which Providence has provided. I also applaud United Poultry Concerns for their efforts at promoting humane treatment of our feathered friends. Both have good points to be considered.

This sound s like a fantastic way to bring a little reality to a culter of vails and hidden issues. If the Community School gets the feathers of groups like that a little flustered it is a ggod sign they are doing something right. That group from V.A. really needs to look around and find some real problems to fix.

Are you kidding me? This group is worried about 16 chickens? Maybe they don't know that everyday 23 million chickens are slaughtered in the US. That's EVERYDAY! 23 MILLION, in just the United States. I think their time might be better spent condemning slightly larger organizations. And to call this voluntary project child abuse is absurd; these are eight graders, should we just lie to them and and pretend chicken nuggets come from the chicken fairy?

Oh my god! Are you kidding me? Come on people let the kids see A Bit of reality and take responsibility for what they injest. What about FAA and 4H? I guess we should just do away with those clubs because they promote the suffering of steak and pork chops. This is A good program and looked to me to be voluntary with consent given by parent or guardian. If this is going to cost the school money to fight in court then lets all pitch in A few bucks and help to fight these goodie two shoes nothing better to do "chicken activists"!