Internation fight breaks out as boy is punished for eating with a spoon
You read that right. This isn’t an article from The Onion either.
A Filipino-Canadian boy was punished after it was noticed that he was eating at school with a fork and spoon, and not with a fork and knife, as the Canadians insisted he must. The article reports:
The story first made headlines in Canada last month, but in recent days it has garnered renewed attention globally, even sparking pro-knife-and-spoon protests in the Philippines.
The boy, seven-year-old Luc Cagadoc, was allegedly reprimanded and made to eat at a table by himself after a lunch monitor at his elementary school on Montreal’s West Island noticed his table etiquette.
His mother, Maria Theresa Gallardo, claims her son had been reprimanded on numerous prior occasions for his culinary habits, which she said are typical to their country.
Headlines splashed across a number of Filipino newspapers and media sources expressed outrage at the boy’s punishment, which school officials claim was based on disruptive behaviour, not eating technique.
In the Philippines this week, protesters expressed outrage and officials slammed the school board.
On Friday, activists staged a protest outside the Canadian Embassy in Manila, carrying knife- and spoon-shaped placards with slogans reading “Respect cultural diversity” and “We eat with spoons and are proud of it.”
What is this world coming to?
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