I heard about something interesting happening in Hays, Kansas, which is around 135 miles northwest of Wichita. A pair of McDonald’s restaurants has a “McTeacher Night” program where a portion of the receipts during a two-hour period on a given night are given to one of the elementary schools in Hays. The local school puts the word out to students and teachers that if they go eat at McDonald’s between the hours of 5-7 p.m. on a certain Tuesday night, then McDonald’s will make a nice donation to the school’s playground or landscaping program. If business is good, then a school might receive a $1,000 check.

 

Now, all this sounds altruistic. McDonald’s is shown to be a good corporate citizen, a partner in the local community that’s helping out local education. Think about it, though: the participating elementary school has a financial incentive to steer as many parents and kids into the local McDonald’s as possible since the size of the “donation” is dependent on the amount of business done during dinner time on Tuesday night. One hand washes the other.

 

So what lesson is the local school teaching? I’ll raise my hand to answer: that parents are being urged to feed their kids—and themselves—some junk food, all under the guise of doing something “good” for the community.

 

Yes, I know you can order one of their Asian or Southwest Salads with Newman’s Own salad dressing, and while these non-organic salads wouldn’t pass muster in the Rubin household, they are certainly way better for your health—and your waistline—then a Big Mac value meal. (By the way, the “all-natural” Newman’s Own salad dressings contain sugar, corn syrup solid and hydrolyzed soy protein, so they wouldn’t find a place in our pantry, either.)

 

The problem is that most customers—okay, most parents and their kids—don’t order the healthier salads. Going to McDonald’s on a school night is looked on as a “treat,” and I can guarantee you that means the kids are thinking Chicken McNuggets and Double Cheeseburgers with the iconic French fries. Even parents take their eyes off the ball. Anthony Shorb, the father of two young children, took his family to McTeacher Night to support their local elementary school. A Hays Daily News article reported that Mr. Shorb “threw caution to the winds” and ordered two hamburgers and an order of French fries even though he had joined Pound Plunge, a local weight loss program.

 

“I could have had a salad,” Shorb told the Hays Daily News, “but I didn’t. This is my one (higher-calorie) meal for this week.”

 

No kidding.

 

Listen, I wish the Shorb family all the best, but I don’t think supporting your local school by eating McDonald’s food is a good way to go. I don’t think eating unhealthy junk food—no matter how worthy the cause—is the lesson we should be teaching our children.