Lindsey's "Take Action" on Childhood Obesity

For my "take action" work, I signed a petition to serve healthier lunches and snacks in all schools country-wide. Many schools offer fruit for snacks but these snacks are loaded with syrup and starches that are not healthy for students. It made me feel wonderful to sign a petition like this. I never knew such petitions existed so being able to be a part of it was great. Many of the other websites I visited only seemed concerned with raising money for their program. I understand that raising money is necessary in order to make changes but this website offered a petition that made me feel like they cared more about changing things with our voice and opinions rather than money and donations.

Taking this type of action connects with democratic values because of the petition aspect. Democratic values place high importance on the action of others and others "speaking out." Therefore, by signing this petition, I am speaking my mind on the issue and stating what I believe in. Being able to state where I stand is important and working together plays a large role in democratic values.

I think teaching social justice is very important in schools. The more students are educated on topics regarding our country and even our world, the more engaged and involved they will be. When teaching social justice I think it is important to not only focus on TODAY but also to focus on the later years when our students are old enough to take action themselves. Something we say in a Social Studies class in front of 20 first grade students can play a big role on how they act later in life upon entering college, high school, or even middle school. Their minds are like sponges at a young age, and it is important for them to know what is happening all around us because these things affect their lives as well.

When reading the quote "Struggle for social justice is central to our nations history... Concerns about the common good and the rights of the individual, no matter how humble in social standing, transcends politics and holds a definitive place in the realms of morality, ethics and federal law, and therefore in the world of teaching social studies," I think that it is imperative that we teach about social justice. Social Studies revolves around social justice, morality, ethics, and federal law. The struggle for social justice is something that so many people have endured. It's part of our history and deserves to be discussed and studied.