My opinion is government schools should teach basic academics, things like reading, writing and arithmetic. Public schools should not be the catch all where we dump the latest fad, sounding good, but with little substance.
ParentDish reports on a classic example of public schools trying to do so much that they will fail in most things. New York schools will monitor students' weight starts off with:
-----------
New York Schools will soon be tracking more than reading, writing, and arithmetic, they'll also be watching students' waistlines. Starting this fall, New York Schools (excluding New York City) will be required to collect and report on students BMI, which is a number based upon a person's height and weight. The data will be collected in annual health physicals which are required for attendance, and will be submitted in the second, fourth, seventh, and tenth grades.
The goal is to be able to track where childhood obesity is a problem so that district leaders can offer parents and children resources for leading a healthier lifestyle. But some people are asking the question: Does this kind of information belong in the hands of school and/or state officials? Is childhood obesity a government problem or a personal, family matter?
-----------
It is a noble sound goal, but like most government programs involved with schools I expect it will do little to help and probably have many unintended side effects.
---------
Technorati tags: children, government schools, public school, public education, education
8 comments:
Oh that is really awful!
Sounds just a little too Orwellian to me.
There have been cases where child services have come in and tried to take children because of their weight. It happened several years ago in FL. The judge dismissed it and even apoligized to the family. There is also a case in England right now like this.
This is just a way to get the info to take control of the kids. Before long (actually in some places now) you will have school officials lamenting they have no control over what the children eat. So they will propose that the schools serve all meals. Some of you may laugh, but that coming close to be real in many schools. Some schools near me ban students from bringing a bag lunch. They have to eat the "nutritious" school lunch.
Those unintended side effects will get you every time.
Ugh.
~Luke
The only way the schools should be involved is making sure that they support healthy lifestyle choices while children are in their care. Things like offering daily PE, recess for the younger grades, and ensuring that food and beverages sold on the school premises are nutritious. If there's a serious problem with obesity in the student population, I could also see replacing individual birthday celebrations with once-monthly group ones to limit the frequency of sweets being sent in by parents.
Beyond those types of measures, it really becomes the family's responsibility.
You so got that right! My middle daughter who has always been slightly short for her weight shall we say, was never approached by her doctor about this till she was 16yo! Now all of a sudden, they tell her to her face that she is fat! Her height/weight chart has always been the same yet NOW they care. Geesh...
mrs dani says: They have to eat the "nutritious" school lunch.
Yeah, the school lunches are often notorious for being anything but healthy.
Luke - one of the problems I have is when you try to explore what unintended side effects there might be, many people either can't figure out why you are concerned, or say you are exaggerating.
Wow. I find this appalling! Why on earth would parents let schools get away with this?
I can think of a couple reasons:
1) They don't always know how bad things are.
2) They don't think they can do anything else.
3) It takes effort to change, and there is comfort in being part of the herd.
I believe that as the number of homeschoolers grows there will come a tipping point and lots of parents will leave the government schools.
Post a Comment