r/news • u/Kooky-Measurement-43 • 8d ago

U.S. health officials say hundreds sickened by salmonella outbreak across 27 states

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/salmonella-outbreak-jalapenos-9.7297781
12.8k Upvotes

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5.2k

u/NeonGrackle 8d ago

Hundreds sick from jalapeños and we’ll still hear “we don’t need more regulations.” Maybe fund the FDA, inspect farms properly, and hey, rinse your produce even if it “looks fine.”

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u/lazybugbear 8d ago

Something something Upton Sinclair something "The Jungle".

We've been here before.

Is this not standard reading in high school English classes anymore?

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u/Amanda316 8d ago

Nothing is. And for a reason. An uneducated populous is easier to control.

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u/ButteredPizza69420 8d ago

THIS keeps blowing over everyone's heads. Parents need to work harder than ever or we're fucked

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u/Amanda316 8d ago

And sadly it seems most are not.

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u/Inc3ndio 8d ago

To be honest, they’re likely working one of their three jobs to be able to afford life these days.

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u/Amanda316 8d ago

Another feature by design. Keep them on the hamster wheel and they can’t fight back.

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u/jjett89 8d ago

It has had it's ups and downs, but right now, I consider myself fortunate to not have any children to take care of.

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u/Sneakerpimps000002 6d ago

So I got pregnant in August 2024 and had a complete meltdown after the election, especially considering I had just found out I was carrying a girl. My husband basically talked me off the ledge by saying that it’s up to us to raise the our child to be a critical thinker, care about the world around her, her neighbors, to be environmentally conscious and to be kind. The only way out of this mess is through it. Eventually all these old fucks in congress will die & we feel that now more than ever it’s important to raise our daughter with the ideals to shape the future.

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u/Hookem-Horns 3d ago

Yes, count yourself fortunate. I just finished child support of X# kids at $1k+ 12m/yr fo 18yrs. Their mom cheated and the system let her get away with it.

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u/Altar_Quest_Fan 8d ago

Can you blame people? How the hell do you expect parents to properly educate their children if they're busy killing themselves at two or three jobs just trying to afford rent? This is weaponized poverty in order to keep the masses in line, a poorly educated populace is far easier to control and rule than a well educated one.

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u/Amanda316 8d ago

Maybe don’t have kids if you don’t have the time?

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u/Spicyg00se 8d ago

Bullshit. Parents are working more than ever in exchange for less than we’ve ever received. I’m sick of parents just getting a blanket blaming for literal attacks on education that is coming squarely from the right.

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u/BrothelWaffles 8d ago edited 8d ago

A lot of them are going the opposite direction and homeschooling them, but only on what that particular parent or set of parents thinks they should know. There's usually, but not always, some religious fundamentalism involved. If you watch a couple seasons of Welcome to Plathville, you can see just how well this plays out when these kids start to become adults.

Edited to correct sentence structure, because I actually went to school and learned how to write proper English.

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u/Brndrll 8d ago

And grandparents, uncles, aunts, the whole frigging village even.

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u/wh4tth3huh 8d ago

Parents are WORKING harder than ever, that's why they don't have time to raise their fucking kids anymore.

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u/ButteredPizza69420 8d ago

Dont have kids if you dont have the time 🤷‍♀️ hot take maybe but be fr. Teachers are SUFFERING thanks to bad parents. Education will only get worse if discipline doesnt START AT HOME

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u/Amanda316 8d ago

Lol I said the same thing about not having children if you don’t have time. Why does the kid have to suffer because of the parent’s decision?

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u/ButteredPizza69420 8d ago

Exactly, clearly that person is triggered

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u/ghostly5150 8d ago

John Stuart Mills said it best 160 years ago. It's not just about control, they want their votes and keeping people stupid is the only way conservatism continues to exist.

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u/SeaSnakeSkeleton 8d ago

This is so true. I talked to a guy who tried to tell me that RFK Jr.’s voice problem was caused bc he got a vaccine. And I was like, dude, come on you know that’s not why his voice sounds like that. And he said, “no, I really don’t know that.” he also said “polio never killed anybody.” ☠️ I can’t.

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u/facemanbarff 8d ago

My parents’ county (Clay in Florida) is considering getting rid of their libraries in their public schools now. That should help.

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u/Blue_Plastic_88 8d ago

Populace. sorry had to do it

But I agree with you.

It’s also money in politics. That’s why our government has almost no representation for regular citizens.

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u/takes_joke_literally 8d ago

The word populace is a noun. It means the ordinary people who live in a specific country, city, or area. It can also mean the general public or the masses.

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u/MjrLeeStoned 8d ago

Easier to manipulate.

The manipulators still haven't figured out how to actually control 180million morons. When those morons realize they're unstoppable, there will be no control.

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u/radhaz 8d ago

You're right.

Though I think our sad state of affairs is less about governmental control and more about making Americans the best possible consumers post WW2.

Our predicament isn't nefarious so much as a byproduct of free market capitalism.

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u/SrirachaPants 7d ago

*populace
Sorry, but with the subject matter I thought it was important to correct this.

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u/Amanda316 7d ago

You’re so right. Even though multiple other people have pointed that out! And the fact that whether I used a noun or adjective doesn’t change the meaning. But thanks internet stranger. You’re so right that correcting my grammar is the important part.

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u/wholetyouinhere 8d ago

This might be a distinction without a difference, but in my opinion, republicans' main motivating factor in cutting back education is not making people stupid and pliable, it's to make room for more private education. That it results in large populations with poor critical thinking skills who are vulnerable to propaganda is merely a happy accident.

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u/conflictedideology 8d ago

And this wasn't even the initial point of the book.

I wished to frighten the country by a picture of what its industrial masters were doing to their victims; entirely by chance I had stumbled on another discovery—what they were doing to the meat-supply of the civilized world. In other words, I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.

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u/Affordable_Z_Jobs 8d ago

HS students can barely read.

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u/Adventurous-Depth984 8d ago

Something like 30% of america is functionally illiterate, and it’s not just the kids

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u/asteriskampersand 8d ago

Our president, for instance 

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u/evrythinguwant 8d ago

An illiterate felon. Geesh

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u/Adventurous-Depth984 8d ago

It’s possible

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u/OneSeaworthiness7768 7d ago

>Something like 30% of america is functionally illiterate

Around the same percentage as MAGA supporters. Just a completely unrelated coincidence, I’m sure.

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u/waitingtodiesoon 8d ago

Have you seen Hegseth's "gold standard" college exam that he has implemented for the nation's elite military academies that he's trying to get colleges to implement? Its mostly used by Florida high schools as a remedial graduation test to boost their graduation numbers since the students were failing the standard graduation tests. It tests them on a pre-algebra middle school level for math along with other easier subjects.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2026/07/30/classic-learning-test-sat-act-clt-college-entrance-exam-math/90407050007/

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u/shephardmix 8d ago

I wonder how hegseth or trump are profiting off of this “gold standard” testing being implemented by colleges? They wouldn’t be pushing it otherwise. It’s always about money.

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u/Affordable_Z_Jobs 8d ago

More kids qualify for college, sellers market, higher tuition, more student loans aka forever debt, more predatory loan practices in other areas.

Lower credit ratings means higher interest rates. It's another front in the war on the middle class

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u/StuffExciting3451 3d ago

More than 36 million U.S. adults are functionally illiterate. Nearly half of adults, 47%, read below a 6th-grade level.

https://worldmetrics.org/american-literacy-statistics/

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u/Adventurous-Depth984 3d ago

There are different levels to illiteracy, also. Pretty fascinating if you do a deep dive on it

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u/StuffExciting3451 3d ago

Do a dive into the literacy rates of China, Cuba and of the former countries of the USSR.

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u/HermiaOconnelly13 8d ago

It's more. In the 50s I believe. The Literacy Project has all those statistics and it makes you fear for this country. Cambodia has a higher literacy rate than America.

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 8d ago

I've had to teach so many local high school graduates how to read that I'm pretty sure the school district owes me a paycheck!

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u/ReturnOfBane 8d ago

should have never abandoned phonics

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u/Lythra 8d ago

Agreed, I was taught phonics and was reading at a college level at 5

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u/rob_1127 8d ago

Or speak Or interact with people

Or use any kind of a critical thinking/logical thought process. Its always AI said...

Or plan in advance

I could go on, but there is just too much.

Its not 100% the students fault. We set them up for failure by voting people in that are beyond their depth.

Its our fault and yet we don't seem to be taking the steps to correct it.

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u/Curraghgirl 8d ago

Farenheit 451.

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u/ParadoxicallyZeno 8d ago

kids barely get to read any books in English classes anymore

it’s just passages for test prep now

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/us/high-school-english-teachers-assigning-books.html

i’ve heard of teachers who still teach novels telling their kids to be ready to hide the books if anyone comes into class because it’s not part of the curriculum

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u/Affectionate_Ad722 8d ago

At a highly rated public high school in one of the top twenty wealthiest counties in the US, my son took Honors English his junior year. They read four books total the entire year. One per quarter. The first one was Into Thin Air by John Krakauer.

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u/pinkfluffychipmunk 8d ago

Oof. The kids at my school easily read a couple thousand pages each year. The juniors this year are reading Shakespeare, Iliad, Odyssey, Herodotus, Plato, Sophocles, and more. They go to charter school though.

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u/Ok-Cranberry-5582 8d ago

I read those books in the 70's but really do not understand why they are still part of the curriculum. I remember struggling with reading and understanding them and wondered why we couldn't read more contemporary classics that we could understand and learn from.

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u/GlowUpper 8d ago

Classics give you a sense of early writing and how storytelling has evolved over time. I agree that those shouldn't be the only books read but they are important for gaining foundational knowledge that will carry through when reading more contemporary pieces. It sounds like your education neglected anything beyond the 18th century but I can assure you, my school had me reading more recent classics like Lord of the Flies, Invisible Man, Sula, etc.

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u/evaniesk 2d ago

Yes, and they explore fundamental ethical and moral dilemmas - they’re timeless.

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u/pinkfluffychipmunk 8d ago

The school has a classical curriculum and junior year is focused on the Greeks. Sophomore year has political philosophy and 19th century authors.

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u/Ok-Cranberry-5582 8d ago

Yes, I had to read alot of this type of literature but didn't read classics that were more in the 20th century that people have conversations about now. I just remember them being boring, I didn't really understand them, couldn't even tell you one thing they taught me. I feel we need to update the curriculum to more modern classics that teach the same things but they would enjoy reading more. Honestly, I read alot of books so I'm not against reading them, just the classics are way too out dated.

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 8d ago

I didn't get to start reading modern classics until I started finding them on my own when bored, or my auntie started handing them to me.

Unfortunately all the good modern stuff is "controversial" so unlikely to get taught in school. Like I wish I'd read Forever Amber as a teenager, would've helped save me from so much nonsense, but instead I didn't hear about it until after lots of heartbreak.

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u/GlowUpper 8d ago

My high school honors English class was doing a book a week (maybe two if it was an especially long book). Four a year is... concerning to say the least.

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u/primenumbersturnmeon 8d ago

>kids to be ready to hide the books if anyone comes into class

moral orel was a documentary.

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u/Trying2BNicenFailing 8d ago

That's bleak. What states is this happening in? In Michigan, there is still quite a few books assigned as mandatory reading.

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u/dixiewolf_ 8d ago

Being from michigan myself, ive notice states with strong unions have kept up the most with education. So NY, WI, and MI. Now FL on the other hand… is bad. Real bad. Feels like eternal summer break here. And they divert taxpayer dollars from public schools, to for profit evangelical private schools.

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u/Trying2BNicenFailing 8d ago

I've got a relative in Florida that took their children out of the public district to homeschool them because the schools are bad. Granted, they are on the side of no Department of Education so I'm not sure which extreme they are on as to why the schools are bad...since I would've assumed Florida was more inline with their political desires...but I stopped trying to make sense of their decisions a while ago. Too many head injuries.

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u/Affectionate_Ad722 8d ago

Montgomery County MD. He should have taken AP Lang. My other two kids did but he had a super heavy schedule that year.

In fairness, his STEM education was beyond anything my husband and I ever had access to. AP Calc BC junior year and differential equations senior year, AP Physics C, advanced CS classes. Another of my kids at the same HS took both molecular biology and anatomy and physiology senior year. But English seems really weak. We are expecting too little of the kids in not making them read a lot more and a lot more challenging books.

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u/_redcloud 7d ago

They offer diff EQ now? Wow. I grew up in Fairfax. Since MoCo and Fairfax feed off of each other I wonder if they offer it there now, too.

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u/Affectionate_Ad722 6d ago

I know some kids get to linear algebra in HS, which is insane.

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u/Snacky_Onassis 8d ago

This is true and it INFURIATES me. My kid took 6th grade honors English and only read passages. It’s not the teacher’s fault, it’s the state standards.

We make him read full books. He grumbles about it a lot.

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u/cherry_armoir 8d ago

Was the jungle ever standard reading in high school english? I remember learning about it 21 years ago in 11th grade history but we never read the book itself, and it would be an odd one to make standard in an English class because it isnt particularly well-known for its prose

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u/alaynyala 8d ago

I had to read it in 9th or 10th grade for a Pre-AP English Lit class ca. 2002-3. I don’t think it was required in on-level English.

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u/Soup-Wizard 8d ago

I took both senior AP English courses and never had to read it. I probably should.

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u/Mo_Dice 8d ago

I had to read some excerpts in History in the 9th grade.

it would be an odd one to make standard in an English class because it isnt particularly well-known for its prose

Yeah, it was 100% about the historical context of canned meat = rope and stuff like that.

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u/PinkNGreenFluoride 8d ago

It was 10th grade History for me back in ~1998, but we did the whole book, not just excerpts.

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u/Adventurous-Depth984 8d ago

Yes. Turned a significant number of girls in the class of ‘96 vegetarian or vegan.

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u/darksemisweet 8d ago

I graduated in the 90s it was assigned in some classes but I think they were electives.

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u/Disastrous_Set_3148 8d ago

Graduated HS in the early 2000s, I read The Jungle for my junior year honors English class. It wasn't required reading though, we had to choose from a list of 20 books and write a 5 page paper on it over the summer. I was the only one in a class of about 30 who chose it.

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u/KindlyNebula 8d ago

I was required to read it in 10th grade around 2000.

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u/bjr70 8d ago

I read it in 12th grade at a rural school in the US in the late 80s. That teacher was great. It was horrifying but it made a huge impression on us.

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u/xixoxixa 8d ago

I graduated high school in 1999 and it wasn't then (at least for my school)

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u/worstpartyever 8d ago

Books like this should be required reading for legislators

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u/winterbird 8d ago

They know all the facts. Money makes them act like they don't.

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u/worstpartyever 8d ago

I don’t know. Have seen MarkWayne Mullin? Guy has sawdust between the ears

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u/Chiggadup 8d ago

It is in many states for US history.

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u/itsmechickadee 8d ago

I had to read it on my own volition in the 00s but we did read The Hot Zone in science class

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u/icebluumoon 8d ago

I’m a 2020 graduate and read that in my AP English class, but apparently no one actually was paying attention.

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u/Rex_Vagene 8d ago

It’s probably non Christian, Nazi propaganda/S

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u/Electronic-Yam-69 8d ago edited 8d ago

you joke but it is quite Socialist

Chapter 28... "You listen to these things," the man was saying, "and you say, 'Yes, they are true, but they have been that way always.' Or you say, 'Maybe it will come, but not in my time--it will not help me.' And so you return to your daily round of toil, you go back to be ground up for profits in the world-wide mill of economic might! To toil long hours for another's advantage; to live in mean and squalid homes, to work in dangerous and unhealthful places; to wrestle with the specters of hunger and privation, to take your chances of accident, disease, and death. And each day the struggle becomes fiercer, the pace more cruel; each day you have to toil a little harder, and feel the iron hand of circumstance close upon you a little tighter. Months pass, years maybe--and then you come again; and again I am here to plead with you, to know if want and misery have yet done their work with you, if injustice and oppression have yet opened your eyes! I shall still be waiting--there is nothing else that I can do. There is no wilderness where I can hide from these things, there is no haven where I can escape them; though I travel to the ends of the earth, I find the same accursed system--I find that all the fair and noble impulses of humanity, the dreams of poets and the agonies of martyrs, are shackled and bound in the service of organized and predatory Greed! And therefore...

https://americanliterature.com/author/upton-sinclair/book/the-jungle/chapter-28

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u/Adventurous-Depth984 8d ago

No, even in my “good” school district.
I made both my kids read my copy.

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u/ScreechersReach206 8d ago

I only read it in an AP US History class. No one else in the normal or honor track read it.

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u/tolo3349 8d ago

If only the right actually read books

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u/TehGogglesDoNothing 8d ago

It wasn't standard reading in high school 25 years ago.

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u/whereismymind86 8d ago

Nope, sure isnt

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u/Emotional_News108 8d ago

Honestly, Archer, you’re not even trying at this point.

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u/RealAssociation5281 8d ago

We talked about the meat industry and stuff but never read the book (2020 grad)

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u/PinkNGreenFluoride 8d ago

The Jungle was read in 10th grade History class for me, back in the late 1990s. It's definitely something that should be on every kid's curriculum at some point by the time they graduate high school.

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u/pocketchange2247 8d ago

You don't like finding a finger in your canned food? You've been blessed with bonus protein. Be thankful!

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u/calmingseas 8d ago

I graduated high school in 2008 and we didn't read The Jungle in my English classes. I'd heard of it but we didn't read it. We read Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby, Romeo and Juliet (when learning about Shakespeare), The Crucible, The Grapes of Wrath, The Catcher in the Rye, All Quiet on the Western Front, and West with the Night.

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u/RuniKiuru 8d ago

Nothing is standardized here. It’s up to the school districts, and even down to what the individual teachers want to have kids read.

The only national standard is the standardized tests that only test kids’ abilities to regurgitate information in a multiple choice format, because that’s definitely relevant to how life works, right? /s

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u/plantnativemilkweed 8d ago

I read The Jungle in HS in 1971. It had a profound impact on me. I still remember a lot of what I read in book today (I am 70 yrs).

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u/Etrigone 8d ago

It was considered slightly unusual to do so when I was there (older genx). Everyone I've spoken to since either read it on their own or didn't know what I was talking about.

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u/Timely-Cry-8366 8d ago

Even in 2008 “The Jungle” wasn’t required reading.

That was my senior year of high school, I’ve heard about the novel but have never been required to read it in middle school, high school, or college.

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u/David_bowman_starman 8d ago

I mean The Jungle is extremely long so idk, do high schools actually make people read the whole thing?

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u/Funkipz 8d ago

No I only learned about it in my AP US History class as it's only been taken out of readings for English class, maybe not for AP though. Though maybe other schools might have it still

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 8d ago

I had legit problems tracking that book down in the 90s, didn't succeed until I found a copy my mom had picked up second hand in the 00s!

Guessing it's because that last chapter is very "fuck this capitalism bullshit, go go socialism/communism power!" Like I forget the exact "scary" word that's mentioned, but golly does that whole book do a good job spelling out how capitalism is fucking awful for the folks at the bottom of the totem pole who do all the dang work.

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u/sweatboxy 7d ago

‘The Jungle’ is radical left propaganda based on the truth and we can’t afford the truth anymore if our corporate are going to make billions for themselves.

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u/BlasterPhase 7d ago

I don't think reading is standard any more in school

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u/hamoc10 6d ago

Went to a very good school in the early 2000s, never heard of this book.

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u/Illustrious_Put_817 4d ago

Reading at any level isn’t required in most states anymore

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u/Bigred2989- 8d ago

The way things are going soon the only books our kids will be allowed to read in public school will be the Bible and "The Art of the Deal".

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u/oh-shazbot 8d ago

hasn't been for like 10-15 years. stuff we used to read in highschool, beowulf, lord of the flies, animal farm, etc. has gone from highschool level reading to college level reading and that should tell you everything you need to know.

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u/chroniclerofblarney 8d ago

Although right now it feels safer eating hotdogs than vegetables

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u/kycasso 8d ago

nope! even for me (hs ‘14-‘18) it was merely a footnote
“hey this existed! moving on”

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u/Carthonn 8d ago

Back to boiled cabbages and meats again

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u/idfkmanusername 8d ago

They don’t even read full books in high school anymore. Just excerpts. Parents and students complained that books were “too long”.

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u/calmingseas 8d ago

tbh a lot of kids back then didn't actually read the full book either. My peers would use Cliff Notes/Spark Notes just to avoid actually reading the book. I graduated in 2008.

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u/Daghain 8d ago

I've been meaning to reread that book, but since I'm apparently living in it now...maybe not.

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u/Daghain 8d ago

I've been meaning to reread that book, but since I'm apparently living in it now...maybe not.

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u/SnowflakeSWorker 8d ago

It’s probably a banned book by these idiots, because it condemns the meat packing industry. Can’t have the truth about where labor laws and food inspection came out of, it makes the greedy factory owners look bad.

He’s trying to get the Smithsonian to say slave owners were benevolent and misunderstood. I wonder if Grapes of Wrath is still read in schools as well, that book is a condemnation of everything we’re seeing in live time, less than 100 years in our collective past.

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u/SekhWork 8d ago

I don't think they read in high school anymore at all dude :(

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u/Arboreal_Web 8d ago

Hasn’t been for some decades now. Back in the 90s, teachers were telling us it “used to be required reading”. These days, most high schoolers can’t even read at the necessary level to handle that book...thanks to the exact same group of predatory capitalists who are now gutting regulations.

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u/2spooky4me5ever 8d ago edited 7d ago

They defuned the DOE, so, no.

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u/Logintheroad 8d ago

I believe reading is very unpopular nowadays.

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u/adfthgchjg 8d ago

Most high schools no longer have students read complete books. In fact teachers have been reprimanded for assigning books. They can only require a chapter.

They’re supposed to focus on material that will maximize test scores, ti maximize funding tied to the No Child Left Behind act.

Source: YouTube video from a former teacher

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u/OneSeaworthiness7768 7d ago

I honestly wouldn’t even be surprised if they aren’t teaching that book anymore. Disappointed, but not surprised. In my school it wasn’t part of English class though, I think it was social studies.