'F' is for Fat

[Gawain 0]

Students to Be Graded on Weight

Friday, June 04, 2004
Fox News

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — To combat childhood obesity (search), every Arkansas public school student this month will be receiving two report cards in the mail: one assessing them on math, science and social studies, and the other grading them on their weight.

"We're going to know how many are overweight, how many are underweight, how many are normal weight," said Margo Bushmiaer, health services coordinator for the Little Rock School District (search).

As soon as next week, each parent will receive their child's ranking. The report cards also come with helpful health information, which aims to help parents make better meal choices for their kids, as well as reiterating the importance of exercise in everyone's life.

But not everyone's on board with this anti-obesity plan.

"There are some children that probably will be teased with other children knowing how much they weigh and starting to make fun of them," said Karen Phelps, the parent of a fourth grader.

There is also concern that the weight-oriented report cards may cause an epidemic of anorexia and bulimia among older students. The school district says it will now be on the lookout for those health problems.

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I have a question, do kids still have to go through the "President's Physical Fitness Test"? I remember having to go through that in elementary and middle school. Is that still around?

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[turtlespeed 212]

No - the competition was too high - it hurt the little feelings.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[Tonto 1]

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There is also concern that the weight-oriented report cards may cause an epidemic of anorexia and bulimia among older students.

yeah, right! Like a thinness problem is going to break out in the US...

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[PhillyKev 0]

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There is also concern that the weight-oriented report cards may cause an epidemic of anorexia and bulimia among older students.

yeah, right! Like a thinness problem is going to break out in the US...

t

Yeah...no more not fat chicks....that would be horrible. A little anorexia can do wonders for a girl's body.

[kallend 1,646]

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No - the competition was too high - it hurt the little feelings.

Well, my son the Illinois High School State Champion Gymnast didn't qualify for the Presidential award! His brother the couch potato got it. So something is screwed up.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kelel01 1]

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"There are some children that probably will be teased with other children knowing how much they weigh and starting to make fun of them," said Karen Phelps, the parent of a fourth grader.

Yeah, like the kids need to see their friends' report cards to know that they're overweight. That's the weirdest argument I've ever heard.

Personally, I think it's a good idea for elementary aged children, but in older kids it really might create an anorexia epidemic.

Kelly

[rickjump1 0]

Hurt feelings? TS Take a look at the mommies and daddies coming out of Walmart. These poor kids don't stand a chance. In Arkansas some of the schools had coke machines and candy machines. The food served at school is greasy with fats like the local restaurants only the restaurants have a smoking section. A lot of the parents are "working poor". No medical insurance, minimum wage. I know education is the answer, but maybe to speed things up they should pay kids for good grades and to loose pounds. (I know im gonna get flammed)
PS Having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a special corner in the pool to pee.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

[DrunkMonkey 0]

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...Walmart...

Heh... I've always said if one ever feels badly about their personal appearance, all they need to do is to go to Wal-Mart for a half hour. You'll leave feeling like you look like Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston...

Edit: Why not institute a REAL Phys Ed class? Hire old Marine DI's to conduct ball-breaking PT classes... That'd get some of these butterballs to start sweating Crisco...

[pajarito 0]

I say that's not the school's job. It's the parent's job. This is a very bad idea. Humiliation is not what the kids need.

[Darius11 12]

LOOK We agree bro.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[pajarito 0]

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LOOK We agree bro.

Whoops!!!

[kelel01 1]

Yeah, but some parents aren't doing their jobs. There are too many kids who are 4 feet tall and weigh 200 pounds. I think the point of this is to get the parents in line, like a wake up call. "Hey, your kid's too fat! Stop feeding him so much McDonald's and cook for once!", or "Hey! Your kid is dangerously thin. You need to make sure he/she eats, so stop spending your welfare check on crack cocaine."

I still think it's a good idea.

Kelly

[Darius11 12]

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4 feet tall and weigh 200 pounds.

hey did you just describe me

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[turtlespeed 212]

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Hurt feelings?

Obviously you missed the sarcasm here -

It was a stab at the way that the school systems are becoming anti-competitive.

Competition is what drove us to become more intelligent - Competition is what makes us better - WHO cares if kidsare going to get thier feelings hurt - If they lose, they need to learn how to deal with it. That's life - might as well teach it to them early.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[kallend 1,646]

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Yeah, but some parents aren't doing their jobs. There are too many kids who are 4 feet tall and weigh 200 pounds. I think the point of this is to get the parents in line, like a wake up call. "Hey, your kid's too fat! Stop feeding him so much McDonald's and cook for once!", or "Hey! Your kid is dangerously thin. You need to make sure he/she eats, so stop spending your welfare check on crack cocaine."

I still think it's a good idea.

Kelly

Some parents are not capable of making wise decisions on account of their own ignorance. At some point society has to step in and take action. You can't take what the best parents do and generalize it to everyone. For every parent with IQ above 110 there's one with IQ below 90.

It's rather like the home schooling debate. Home schooled kids outperform (on average) their peers. But home schooled kids have (on average) the smartest, best educated parents. So using home schooled kids as a blunt instrument to bash the public schools is disingenuous. Taking kids from an inner city ghetto school and telling the parents to home school them would have negative benefit.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kelel01 1]

Ok, I'm not sure I see your point. This is a way of society helping out, but we can't go to their houses and feed them every morning before school and every night after. This is society stepping in to say, hey, you need to do something. They can act on the suggestion or not. Maybe it would help if the school system would offer nutritional counseling to the parents (I can't remember if that was in the original post or not).

Kelly

[shedao 0]

I can understand teaching the kids to eat healthy, but what is next? Should school be resonsible for teaching the kids _everything_ they need to know in life? Is this really the solution? I just see school taking the place of parents more and more and it's a little disturbing.

[kelel01 1]

Yes, but the number of shitty or too-busy-to-take-time-for-their-kids parents seems to be increasing exponentially as well. Someone has to do something, and really, how much of an involvement is this? Not much, but I think it's a start in the right direction.

Kelly

[kallend 1,646]

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I can understand teaching the kids to eat healthy, but what is next? Should school be resonsible for teaching the kids _everything_ they need to know in life? Is this really the solution? I just see school taking the place of parents more and more and it's a little disturbing.

For every parent with an IQ over 120 there is one with an IQ less than 80.

In the absence of compulsory sterilization of the stupid, society has to step in at some point to help the kids of incompetent parents.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[kallend 1,646]

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Ok, I'm not sure I see your point. This is a way of society helping out, but we can't go to their houses and feed them every morning before school and every night after. This is society stepping in to say, hey, you need to do something. They can act on the suggestion or not. Maybe it would help if the school system would offer nutritional counseling to the parents (I can't remember if that was in the original post or not).

Kelly

I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm disagreeing with those that say it's entirely the parents' job. Some parents just can't do the job of parenting.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[rickjump1 0]

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I say that's not the school's job..

Like it or not, the school is providing an ever increasing amount of things to the kids that they just don't get at home. Discipline, basic hygiene, love, and encouragement are just a few. Without breakfast and lunch programs some of these kids would eat nothing. If a parent won't tell them to take off the pounds, who should.

Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts.

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[Kennedy 0]

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Yes, but the number of shitty or too-busy-to-take-time-for-their-kids parents seems to be increasing exponentially as well. Someone has to do something, and really, how much of an involvement is this? Not much, but I think it's a start in the right direction.

Think maybe more and more parents are becoming that way due to a welfare state and a nanny school system?

I agree with you though, especially at younger ages. A slap in the face to parents who aren't paying attention might be a good thing, though I'm not going to expect results.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[pajarito 0]

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Yeah, but some parents aren't doing their jobs. There are too many kids who are 4 feet tall and weigh 200 pounds. I think the point of this is to get the parents in line, like a wake up call. "Hey, your kid's too fat! Stop feeding him so much McDonald's and cook for once!", or "Hey! Your kid is dangerously thin. You need to make sure he/she eats, so stop spending your welfare check on crack cocaine."

I still think it's a good idea.

Kelly

I think it's the school's responsibility to offer alternatives in the lunch line. Maybe offering a diet for the more over or underweight kids to address the problem. It's not their job to do the job of the parents, though. However much they may need to in some situations. We can't, as a society, take over the job of the parents. If we do, parents will continually get more and more dependent and will continue to get worse and worse at doing their jobs. Doing the work for them is not a solution. It's a bandaid fix for a problem that will only get worse.

[Darius11 12]

I think nutrition programs would be a great idea to teach the kids what to do and how to eat. Losing weight on the other hand is totally different.
No one can make you lose weight you have to want to your self.
I also fear what they would think is normal. We are all different and have different shapes. I don’t want every one to try too look like the guys and girl we see on TV.
We should just have better physical education and increase the days they are offered.
You can be healthy and still be considered overweight.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[kelel01 1]

I'm not so sure that I agree with that. If we go into their houses and start spoon feeding their children, yes, they may become dependent on that. If we tell them when there's something wrong, just like if their grades are slipping or they're not getting along with classmates, the parent still has to act on that on their own. It's like Kallend said (but much more eloquently)-- some people are just fucking idiots. The state of parenthood these days is not a good topic for me, because I have really lost faith in some of the people that procreate nowadays. I feel like a judge should be required to approve a hetero couple to have children, just like he must approve anyone adopting a baby-- that's how sad the state of affairs is. I'm all for society helping out any way possible, especially in some way as small as this.

Kelly