Is it really schools' job to help students lose weight and get fit? The state thinks so, but its voluntary plan to have schools measure the weight and height of Indiana's 1 million public school students this year is running into school concerns about privacy. Only 320 of Indiana's nearly 2,000 public schools have signed up to participate. The privacy concerns are legitimate; I can remember being a fat kid in school, and I wouldn't have wanted my weight in a database (although, way back then, it would have been a notebook). But I think an even better reason to take a pass is that it's just one more task in the ever-growing list of things schools are expected to do. We keep piling it on, then seemed shocked and angered that the schools don't have time to actually teach students.
Comments
I think Step One is to get the crap food out of the schools. Get rid of the vending machines and the twinkies and the unhealthy stuff available at lunch. No extra burden on the teachers. It would be an extra financial burden on the schools, but I think it's extremely bad public policy to fund our schools by selling exclusive access to soda companies to peddle their wares. Sure the kids are going to get all of that stuff out of school, but there is no need for schools to add to the problem.
Step Two, to the extent it's not already being done, is to teach the kids about healthy eating. The more we can get kids eating healthy now, the better off our society will be in the future. Fewer diet related medical costs, for starters.