Don't Ban School Bake Sales

The PJ Tatler spoke about one of the most incredibly stupid bans I've heard about in my twenty-one years.  The folks in charge of the education system in Massachusetts have passed a law that bans bake sales in schools claiming that selling cakes is contributing to the obesity crisis.  

This is incredibly ridiculous and asinine for several reasons.

Reason Number 1: There is no evidence that these bake sales are in fact causing people to become fat.  I've noticed that the portion sizes at these bake sales are usually very small.  This is because they are sold by the slice so as to make a bigger profit, because the average person wants to by a small piece of Dobos Torte that costs only about two bucks as opposed to a full size torte that costs around twenty dollars or more.  
           I have frequently gotten pastries from the bakery in the Madison College building.  Whenever I got a cake slice or a tart, I shared it with my family.  And the money from the pastries sold helps keep the Madison College Baking Program going.  I have also gone to bake sales (not very many though; they're often not going on where I am).  I have gotten mostly small things, however, because that's what I can afford.  And bake sales raise money for rent, field trips, and other things that a class, church, or school might need (it also gives people an opportunity to make something they love and share it with other people).  

Reason Number 2: Banning a food item just because "it contributes to obesity" is ham-handed and has a tendency to backfire.  You only make things worse by saying "This food is forbidden".   When you send that message, the forbidden aspect makes it all the more desirable, and contributes even further to the problem of obesity.  Besides, it's okay to have a piece of cake once in a while (I eat cake whenever I can get it, which is not as often as it might seem).  And being ham-handed is more likely to turn people off to your point (believe me, I know this from personal experience).  If you want to curb obesity, this is not the way to go.  

Finally, it's the schools' own business what they do to raise money for field trips and whatnot.  Unless the schools are doing something obviously illegal (which is almost never the case in my experience), the state should keep their abnormally large noses out of it.  Bake sales have never done anyone any harm, so why should it even be an issue? 

 Are the folks in the government so hell-bent on lowering obesity rates that they want to exterminate anything that sounds like "junk food"?  I'll agree that Americans do eat too much junk food, but outright bans are the wrong way to go about fixing the problem.  And bake sales do bring in much-needed cash for schools to help further their students' education.  

My personal experiences: My high school choir class did pizza sales once a years in order to raise money for field trips.  My class actually assembled the pizzas in the school cafeteria, so that also taught us how to work together and get a job done; not to mention it also helped us build work skills.  The Asian Club would sometimes sell spring rolls in the cafeteria after school and the Latin Culture Club would sell churros.  And all were fund-raisers to help further students' education.  \

So to the politicians in Massachusetts I say this: Get rid of this ban right now.  There is no real evidence to prove that these bake sales contribute to the obesity crisis and it is foolish to even say so.  Pastries are big money spinners, so why shouldn't people be allowed to make them and sell them?  Seriously, please don't make baked goods into forbidden foods.  It only makes them more desirable and contributes even more to the obesity problem.  

Now if you all will excuse me, I think I hear a slice of Dobos Torte calling my name.