Thirty years ago children played outside. They ran, played ball, and in school they had recess and gym class. Now, with 300 million TV channels, scores of electronic games and high speed Internet access, children have no reason to leave the house. The lack of exercise coupled with two wage earner families and expanded fast and junk food choices has resulted in wider, heavier children. Of course, all this is coming from a man who spends hours on his computer, but I digress.
The issue is, do we want our schools taking over the responsibility of keeping an eye on a child’s weight? Will these weigh ins be public events where children are herded to an area where they stand in line and everyone hears the results (I can see the law suits now)? What will be done with the results? If a kid is over weight and a note is sent home, what happens if the kid is still over weight the next time around? If nothing is going to be done with the results then what is the purpose of the drill?
It is not enough that they will inform parents. After all, parents can look at their children and see they are over weight. In addition, children are supposed to be in school to learn and the schools have not quite gotten that down yet. Perhaps money would be better spent by having schools actually focus on teaching the subjects that children need to succeed in life. There are already classes on condom use, acceptance of homosexuality, and Muslim indoctrination. Maybe we could go for broke and get rid of the feel good stuff and have a required health class where children are taught about proper nutrition.
In any event, it is beyond me how we can continue to pile things on the school system, a system that is woefully inadequate in its basic responsibility. This whole notion further erodes parental responsibility and gives the system yet another excuse for its failures.
Source: WBAL