formal instruction on dining etiquette should be mandatory in all US public schools

I will present a counterplan that will minimize the affirmative case. Since the American education system is absolutely flawed, I negate. My sole contention that the money that would be spent on promoting dining education under his plan would be better spent improving the math and science education of American students. First, dining etiquette is completely outdated. In modern society, the masses enjoy eating in fast-food restaurants like McDonalds and Burger King, as he explicitly mentions in his case. Since these foods were designed to be eaten without the use of silverware, and the vast majority of the public does not enjoy food that needs to be eaten in a pompous fashion, there is no reason that to spend resources teaching American children how to eat in public, since they wouldn't be able to use their skills anyways. This means that he has absolutely no solvency in this round. If American students will not be able to use the skills that they learn in the classroom in their daily lives, then they will continue to eat the way they did previously despite their education, which means that the money is essentially being tossed away. Second, even if you do not buy the first solvency turn, look to the fact that popular culture will continue to promote the use of hands and not silverware. Children are more likely to follow popular culture than the material they learn in the classroom as a guide to everyday life, meaning that even if the children did have an opportunity to use the silverware properly, they would probably ignore the instruction they received in the classroom anyways. This further means that he cannot solve the problem because even those students with the opportunity to improve their manners would be less likely to do so. Third, given that the parents' children would continue to consume fast food and would not receive the instruction, the vast majority of Americans would continue to consume food in an "uncouth" manner, meaning that even if the first two points fall, he still only achieves partial solvency, which is not enough to affirm. Fourth, the massive resources that would be spent on dining instruction for the hiring of professors, the purchase of silverware and expensive dishes, and for a proper classroom setting for the instruction would better be spent promoting math and science education. The United States has fallen behind in math and science education in the last century through its focus on instruction through social norms rather than on pure math and science. The money that could potentially be spent on the dining education could be used to created research programs at public high schools that would provide every student the opportunity to advance his prowess in math and science. The impact of the fourth point also solves the affirmative case because as students become more academically skilled, the culture of the nation as a whole gradually improves, and the people of the United States would eventually learn to eat using silverware so that they could properly interact with members of other societies on an academic level. As a side note, do not allow the affirmative to perm the counterplan because he would have to spend even more resources than he is already doing, which is extremely detrimental and counterproductive. Fifth, the affirmative case presumes that not eating with silverware is "savage" and "animal-like." Insofar as he is trying to promote the use of silverware to improve American culture, I would contend that the tacit promotion of Western Culture through dining education is counterproductive to his ultimate goal. Modern culture recognizes the importance of the various global traditions, which include dining with one's hands, chopsticks, etc. Since he is promoting Eurocentrism through dining education, which is no longer acceptable in modern culture because it disrespects the traditions of others, the dining education would actually make the United States less cultured and would thus cause us to drift away from his end goal. Finally, as an extension of the previous argument, I would contend that his "garden-tool" analysis of American dining is flawed because it has become a part of American tradition, so to promote culture, Americans must continue to use their forks in an anti-European manner. Thus I strongly urge a negation of today's resolution.