“I do not think schools should be preaching veganism to pupils as it is a personal choice they should be left to make.”

A school in England has come under fire for allegedly “preaching veganism” in classrooms and criticizing agriculture’s environmental impact.

According to students, Wymondham High School is “ramming” vegan diets down children’s throats and dismissing those who object.

8^th grader Jacob Lascelles’ parents complained to the school following a lesson on climate change and a discussion on the contribution made by agriculture.

The 12-year-old, who lives on a farm with his parents and has a pet cow called Blue, claimed that his teacher “preached” about veganism during the lesson and when he challenged her criticisms on agriculture, his arguments were shut down.

He told Eastern Daily Press: “The teacher said that adopting a vegan diet was the best way to prevent global warming.

“When I questioned that I was just told to be quiet and threatened to be sent out of the class if I carried on and that I was wrong.

“I was just trying to argue my point and put my views across.”

When Rachael, Jacob’s mother heard about the lesson, she was livid.

“I was fuming when Jacob told me. I do not think schools should be preaching veganism to pupils as it is a personal choice they should be left to make,” she said.

“We live in a rural county where agriculture is one of the biggest industries and we provide some of the very best meat around here.

“Children should be learning about this and I would be delighted to welcome classes to our farm and share with them what we do.”

She added: “It is not fair for children to have something that is a personal choice, like veganism, rammed down their throats.”

School’s response

The school authorities responded to the Lascelles in an email apologizing for upsetting Jacob and praised his “fantastic, contextualized examples” in discussions about farming.

The email written by a teacher and seen by Eastern Daily Press read: “I believe this issue has arisen as Jacob’s class are completing project work on everyday changes that they could encourage their peers to make to help reduce our impact on global warming.”

The teacher continued: “Having taught Jacob throughout his key stage 3 journey, we have had many conversations about farming and he is often able to give the class fantastic, contextualized examples.

“Many of these, such as your sheep breed, have then fed into my teaching further up the school as local examples of topics we teach – please thank him for this.

“Thank you again for your support of Jacob’s science education and apologies for the upset caused.”

Impact of animal agriculture

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), “livestock” make up 14.5 percent of all anthropogenic emissions.

The organization added that cows raised for meat and milk are responsible for more emissions than any other non-human species, making up around 65% of livestock emissions.

A separate report, out in 2021, showed that meat is responsible for 57% of all greenhouse gases from food production – almost twice that of plant-based foods (29%).

Meanwhile,  Joseph Poore from the University of Oxford citing research said: “A vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth, not just greenhouse gases, but global acidification, eutrophication, land use, and water use. Avoiding consumption of animal products delivers far better environmental benefits than trying to purchase sustainable meat and dairy.”

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