I’ve been a big fan of Jamie Oliver for a while now. His Food Network show, The Naked Chef, was always entertaining, and I’ve even made a couple of his recipies, and they are quite good. And there is a much better reason to like him — he’s trying to change the world — and he’s succeeding.

Jamie Oliver was horrified by the state of school lunches in Britain, and he decided to use his celebrity to change it. He started small — at one school — and despite many setbacks (funny thing, kids like junk food,) he didn’t quit. He found ways around… he changed the minds of students, parents and lunch ladies that didn’t even realize they wanted to change. And those folks came to realize that they did want to change — that they could change.

School lunches are are tough nut to crack. Everyone expects them to be terrible and unhealthy. No one expects them to be real food. Why do we accept that? Why do we accept that the food that is supposed to sustain our students throughout the learning day is unhealthy and inadequate?

Jamie Oliver didn’t.

What was his secret? He invested in it personally… he saw it through… and he kept trying when most people would have given up.

Why do we accept the idea that schools can’t personalize education? Why do we keep feeding kids the junk food of standardized tests and NCLB curriculum? Why do allow ourselves to accept that what we are doing in our schools as a nation is unhealthy and inadequate?

If we don’t, what are we prepared to do to change it?