McDonald’s chicken McNuggets are made with mechanically processed chicken (eyeballs, ligaments, guts, etc) that are squeezed into a pink paste and dipped in vats of ammonia. It’s not such an outrageous claim when you consider the McDonald’s company, a business that is accused of having unnaturally preserved burgers that are made by cutting down rain forests. There’s only one problem – the claim isn’t true.
Nuggets may not be the healthiest treat on the menu, but McDonald’s has used all white meat chicken (no guts or eyeballs) since 2003. And while ammonia is used to prevent bacteria, they are hardly soaked in a bath of it.
I wouldn’t have even thought twice about trashing the nugget production habits of everyone’s favorite fast food pariah until I heard the same mistake corrected on Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, one of my favorite podcasts. Then I saw the same claims about McNuggets being forwarded around on facebook with a picture that is sure to cause revulsion…
If you ever receive a forward via email or facebook that makes claims (even ones you assume are true), check with the urban legend website Snopes first… just to be safe. And even though you are confident in sites like Snopes, you should also question anyone who has all the answers (even yourself).
On the flip side of questioning assumptions, you should also question facts that you assume are true because you want them to be true. For instance, the PTA at my daughter’s school was eager to spend a lot of money on an “Accelerated Reading” program, and I was very on board with the idea without checking the facts.
AR is a points-based reading system that helps to encourage kids to read books that are appropriate to their age level, which sounds like a great idea until you analyze the system and it’s claims a little closer. Luckily for me, there are a few skeptical librarians and reading lovers who have voiced their objections. Some of their complaints are the following:
- The points are unfairly (or arbitrarily) assigned so that Harry Potter earns 40 points while Shakespeare’s Hamlet only receives 7 points.
- By offering points and rewards, the system discourages a true love of reading and teaches kids that reading is a chore worthy of bribery.
- Many kids spend far more time thinking about how to game the system rather than actually reading naturally.
- There hasn’t been much research on the subject, and the little research that has been done is inconclusive and misrepresented.
I’m sure that Accelerated Reader has many anecdotes of how they have encouraged reading in younger kids, but I’m always fascinated when my assumptions are challenged.
blotzphoto
Chris
littlez2008
Ticktock
I saw that awful image on facebook as well and immediately thought of that SGU episode. Unfortunately this is a common tactic of, shall we say… militant vegetarians and vegans, exaggeration or outright falsehood in the service of their higher cause is often par for the course.
By: blotzphoto on January 21, 2012
at 10:55 am
I’m a teacher and I HATE AR. It discourages reading. I had kids refuse to read books in our library, because they were not AR. I was told I had to use AR or else how would I know kids were reading their books.
I don’t know I could TALK to them about the book. I have kids post reviews of books, post recommended book on a poster in the classroom, and once a nine weeks they have to produce a video review of a book.
By: kherbert on January 21, 2012
at 11:56 am
I’m married to a teacher and we are ;parents of 3 sons and we have hated AR for a long time. About once or twice a year on my blog I revisit how much it does not create a lifelong love of learning. My husband is required to mention it to his students (5th grade) but he tells them if they want to read AR and get points and get treats as a result then go for it. My youngest son is in 5th grade and is a stellar student. He loves non-fiction. He has had teachers steer him to AR books in the media center. He is already tested out the yazoo every month of the year for a myriad of state, local and nat’l tests it is ridiculous. His public school is about 50% of ESOL children and maybe it helps get them to read and learn English more as a result but it hurts my kids to have one more test to take. Plus, some teachers get competitive and love how they look to the Principal by having so many points in their class. When a book is not AR the media specialist asks me if my son and I want to make up a test. Um, no. Not a good use of time. How about something creative? Oh, yeah–no time due to all the teaching toward the big testing week every April. The questions are so stupid, i.e.: What was the name of Billy’s teacher? My son’s teachers tell the students that they need to have x number of points by x day or else they will stay in from recess and read. OK, I’m all riled up now. Off to write the principal. How can I get more parents to say no?
By: Michele R. on January 31, 2012
at 9:26 am
I’m a school librarian. AR is one of many many tools I use to encourage and monitor reading among the students in my school. Like any tool it can be misused. However, I have found that it provides useful insights into my students’ reading habits and abilities. It is an easy target for a skeptic; it has a ring of corporate-ness to it and it just feels so good to say, “why not just read for the joy of reading” and to recite anecdotes of teachers or students misusing the program. But I’m skeptical of the knee-jerk skepticism. My six-year, 8,000 student experiment with the program has me convinced of its merits (and aware of its faults). Without it, my library can provide excellent service to my students. With it, I can do better.
By: Wade Burtch on April 24, 2012
at 6:08 pm