Childhood Obesity

[00Syd]

I didn't have any sort of real PE after elementary school, but that's only because I went to middle/high school in NYC, and we shared our building with two other schools. While I had a PE class period a few times a week, my school was hardly ever given use of the gym, and the times when we did have the gym rarely coincided with my PE period.

During PE, if it was warm out, we would sometimes be taken to the park where we could basically do whatever, and if it was cold we would stay inside either in the "small gym" which was too small for any real game (I would usually do homework or read), or the "weight room" which didn't have any functioning gym equipment (homework or read), or in the computer room (play games online).

If there are schools with the space and resources to offer their kids a PE class, and they aren't, that's terrible. I wasn't lucky enough to go to a school like that. Not everyone is. In that case, its really not the school's responsibility, because the school literally CAN'T do anything about it. In that case parent's can't rely on the school to keep their kids fit. Its their responsibility, whether they like it or not.

 

[WriterDom]

I lot of you want cradle to grave government health care. Shouldn't health and PE play a bigger role in education? Instead of fish sticks and mayonnaise? I don't think people understand that a 1500 calorie fried fish lunch isn't healthy.

 

[ecstaticsub]

Where my son just started middle school he has PE every other day. They emphasis fitness for life. They have yoga,aerobics, dancing, mountain biking and in the winter they do cross country skiing among other activities. The focus is teaching the kids ways to keep themselves fit and healthy.

 

[culloden]

PE has certainly changed. When I went to HS, it was a state requirement that we take PE every year. In my HS, it was every day, and it was nearly always oriented around a game. Not being an athlete, I found it humiliating my freshman year, but by senior year it was something I looked forward to, and I actually came to enjoy sports because of HS PE.

Fast forward thirty years. My own kids only get PE about every other semester. It's one of the classes we've sacrificed in the attempt to make education more broad. That's a mistake (both the broadening of focus and the diminishment of PE).

 

[Netzach]

What kills me about things like this is that they have these kids. They know these kids are overweight. But then, instead of, say, using gym to give them actual workouts (biking, lifting weights, stairmaster, stretching) they make them play basketball, or do track and field things.
That
doesn't
help.
In fact, its downright pointless anyhow. Gym shouldn't be about playing games. It should be about learning how to take care of your body and stay fit.
In practice, most of the time gym is more about putting the weaker kids down.

This is a really good point. I know some people THRIVE on team sports, but the president's thing was the only time we didn't have a team sport emphasis in gym as smaller kids. It was fucking lame for me - I hate team sports, being among others, being judged on my so so performance, the whole damn thing.

I mean at least split that shit UP some and you might have more physically engaged people.

Thank God I was able to choose 3x a week dance for an hour 30 in HS. I recognize this as one of those amazing perks of my educational history.

 

[Netzach]

OK, we have no PE, but we still have varsity and junior sports teams almost everywhere, am I incorrect?

Anything WRONG with this picture?

 

[intothewoods]

What kills me about things like this is that they have these kids. They know these kids are overweight. But then, instead of, say, using gym to give them actual workouts (biking, lifting weights, stairmaster, stretching) they make them play basketball, or do track and field things.
That
doesn't
help.
In fact, its downright pointless anyhow. Gym shouldn't be about playing games. It should be about learning how to take care of your body and stay fit.
In practice, most of the time gym is more about putting the weaker kids down.

You don't need a gym to exercise, but I agree that an introduction to that in PE is a good idea. At some point, kids should be able to choose what they wan to do for a workout - team sports, gym, running, etc.

 

[intothewoods]

Where my son just started middle school he has PE every other day. They emphasis fitness for life. They have yoga,aerobics, dancing, mountain biking and in the winter they do cross country skiing among other activities. The focus is teaching the kids ways to keep themselves fit and healthy.

Mine too.

 

[Netzach]

why is everyone concerned about whether the kids are happy?
its
school

The Lord of the Flies nature of childhood should be the source of their unhappiness, IMO. Not their work. The learning of stuff doesn't have to suck, there's nothing wrong with some options and some say in what you learn. As a kid who would have preferred yoga to standing in center field being called a retard for missing a pop fly once every 15 minutes at most, I'd have loved some other option.

 

[Vail_Indigo]

The Lord of the Flies nature of childhood should be the source of their unhappiness, IMO. Not their work. The learning of stuff doesn't have to suck, there's nothing wrong with some options and some say in what you learn.

I agree
so why do we put them in a Lord Of The Flies situation that makes them miserable AND is useless?
You CAN make fitness fun. What they do now is just a way to make kids who hate school feel better in ways that ultimately fail them. I can tell you thus, had PE been more practical, I'd have spent many more years happy than the transitory sadness I might have experienced

 

[Netzach]

I didn't have any sort of real PE after elementary school, but that's only because I went to middle/high school in NYC, and we shared our building with two other schools. While I had a PE class period a few times a week, my school was hardly ever given use of the gym, and the times when we did have the gym rarely coincided with my PE period.

During PE, if it was warm out, we would sometimes be taken to the park where we could basically do whatever, and if it was cold we would stay inside either in the "small gym" which was too small for any real game (I would usually do homework or read), or the "weight room" which didn't have any functioning gym equipment (homework or read), or in the computer room (play games online).

If there are schools with the space and resources to offer their kids a PE class, and they aren't, that's terrible. I wasn't lucky enough to go to a school like that. Not everyone is. In that case, its really not the school's responsibility, because the school literally CAN'T do anything about it. In that case parent's can't rely on the school to keep their kids fit. Its their responsibility, whether they like it or not.

But I think your school failed you, in addition to the taxpayers and allocations of NYC, IE the parents in question and their elected officials, fucking up. Yeah, you had no options if softball and volleyball are the ONLY acceptable paradigms for PE, but if you had a yoga instructor, if the whole thing was re-imagined in terms of fitness and not just baseball and football, then meager space and means can still work. The "small gym" can still be used.

I know I'm biased, but seriously, yoga is the shit and even eyerolling teens can love it. How can anyone be paid to throw up their hands and sit there while everyone does homework?

 

[Vail_Indigo]

But I think your school failed you, in addition to the taxpayers and allocations of NYC, IE the parents in question and their elected officials, fucking up. Yeah, you had no options if softball and volleyball are the ONLY acceptable paradigms for PE, but if you had a yoga instructor, if the whole thing was re-imagined in terms of fitness and not just baseball and football, then meager space and means can still work. The "small gym" can still be used.

I know I'm biased, but seriously, yoga is the shit and even eyerolling teens can love it.

You'll notice that's basically what I've been saying. PE should be about fitness. The only reason I made the remark you quoted was because some said "you'll never make everyone happy"

 

[Netzach]

You'll notice that's basically what I've been saying. PE should be about fitness. The only reason I made the remark you quoted was because some said "you'll never make everyone happy"

No I agree totally on that count.

In an ideal world everyone would be exposed to some of each. I mean I only know I hate anchovies from them showing up on my pizza. Then being force fed them every single day (well every other day or whatever, I honestly do NOT remember) because team sports are good for you - well it makes for sedentary asses.

 

[WriterDom]

Yoga wouldn't go over well here. Once the city passed a law outlawing it from being taught at the Y. They thought it would suck souls away from Jesus Christ. In the end, the yoga people won. But still a lot of people don't like it.

 

[intothewoods]

Yoga wouldn't go over well here. Once the city passed a law outlawing it from being taught at the Y. They thought it would suck souls away from Jesus Christ. In the end, the yoga people won. But still a lot of people don't like it.

So call it something else without the woowoo.

 

[FurryFury]

When I was in high school I avoided PE like the plague. Fortunately I was able to do concert choir instead. Also fortunately, I was not overweight. I was underweight though and took a lot of grief for it.

My teens have been homeschooled for six years. Over that period of time I've always insisted on some sort of PE. It could be anything they wanted, skateboarding, biking, walks, games.

Upon the first year in High School I insisted we were "required" to document P.E. from an outside source for at least a year. This wasn't strictly true but I wanted to motivate them to try something organized.

They are now each sports obsessed. Each is involved with their sport at least four times a week, sometimes more, for at least three hours a day or night. Each has been to tournaments and won first place becoming state or regionally ranked.

I never expected this but I welcome their found passions even if it means more work and expense for me. They are both currently in the best shape of their lives. They had to find the thing that worked for them though. It couldn't be forced.

I think a huge part of the problem with childhood obesity is the food system. What is cheep and easy isn't generally healthy. We've always made a point of having veggies and balanced meals, mostly made from scratch. We rarely eat fast food, preferring to save our money and health. When we eat out it tends to be a better establishment with complicated food we crave but don't wish to make ourselves.

 

[WriterDom]

That was years ago. They offered a class at the Tech school a few years ago but only me and some lady signed up so they dropped it.

 

[00Syd]

But I think your school failed you, in addition to the taxpayers and allocations of NYC, IE the parents in question and their elected officials, fucking up. Yeah, you had no options if softball and volleyball are the ONLY acceptable paradigms for PE, but if you had a yoga instructor, if the whole thing was re-imagined in terms of fitness and not just baseball and football, then meager space and means can still work. The "small gym" can still be used.

I know I'm biased, but seriously, yoga is the shit and even eyerolling teens can love it. How can anyone be paid to throw up their hands and sit there while everyone does homework?

Yeah, I guess my school in theory could have hired a yoga instructor, or some sort of fitness instructor who could oversee us doing crunches and jumping jacks or whatever. Unfortunately the money that would have been used to pay some specialized instructor was being used to buy printer paper and pens. These are basic school supplies that we continually ran out of the money for. My school was often reduced to begging the parents to donate paper and pens and printer ink and dry erase markers.

Someone was paid to supervise us doing homework because they could be paid much, much less than a yoga instructor. I really don't blame my school. They tried. I commend them for even keeping a gym class on the schedule. Cutting it out entirely would have been much easier for them and solved a lot of hassle, but they did the little they could. I blame the board of Ed, the ever smaller public school budget, and how little space schools in NYC have. My specific school is not the problem. The problem is the NYC school system in general.

 

[00Syd]

I don't think its a bad thing that schools are trying to widen the bredth of education (if that's in fact what they are doing. I'm skeptical.), but time should be made for PE. Even if its the terrible kickball kind. Something is better than nothing.

(And I actually liked kickball.)

 

[WriterDom]

I really believe fast food is addicting. And one of the worse things you can eat is a white potato boiled in fat then loaded up with sugary catsup. With all that sodium too. I don't eat fries anymore. They are good but damn.

 

[00Syd]

OK, we have no PE, but we still have varsity and junior sports teams almost everywhere, am I incorrect?

Anything WRONG with this picture?

I think so. It makes it so those students who are already athletically fit and able are the only ones playing sports and getting exercise. The rest of the students are left to sit in tech class or whatever (do they even still have that?) and then cheer on their betters at games.

 

[JMohegan]

OK, we have no PE, but we still have varsity and junior sports teams almost everywhere, am I incorrect?

Anything WRONG with this picture?

If you want to change the picture, you'll have to start with college admissions.

For some, athletic prowess means the difference between attending College A, vs. attending a school farther down the prestige ladder. For others, it means the difference between obtaining a bachelor's degree on NCAA scholarship, and never attending college at all.

Until all of that changes, the issues surrounding physical activity in schools are far more complex than the question of how we keep kids healthy.

 

[Netzach]

If you want to change the picture, you'll have to start with college admissions.

For some, athletic prowess means the difference between attending College A, vs. attending a school farther down the prestige ladder. For others, it means the difference between obtaining a bachelor's degree on NCAA scholarship, and never attending college at all.

Until all of that changes, the issues surrounding physical activity in schools are far more complex than the question of how we keep kids healthy.

This is true. Let's say for a moment that I'm really disenfranchised and show musical talent, and my school has cut music.

Tough shit for me, but go team.

 

[00Syd]

This is true. Let's say for a moment that I'm really disenfranchised and show musical talent, and my school has cut music.

Tough shit for me, but go team.

On a somewhat but not entirely related note, I think my highschool (I'm not totally sure on the details as I haven't been there in a few years) cut down on PE for a music class. I'm pretty sure everyone has to pick up an instrument, at least for two or three years, and then they have the option to continue on with it if they like. I'm not entirely displeased with the change PE at my school wasn't working out anyway, and music is a nice alternative.

 

[Netzach]

On a somewhat but not entirely related note, I think my highschool (I'm not totally sure on the details as I haven't been there in a few years) cut down on PE for a music class. I'm pretty sure everyone has to pick up an instrument, at least for two or three years, and then they have the option to continue on with it if they like. I'm not entirely displeased with the change PE at my school wasn't working out anyway, and music is a nice alternative.

I think it's bogus that arts and PE have to compete for budget.

This is an interesting fact though -

arts programs targeting at-risk youth consistently, CONSISTENTLY outperform midnight basketball, teams, sports, fresh air fund, and every other kind of program, in terms of how many kids involved have improved overall quality of life, school test scores, self-esteem, diversion from criminal activity, etc. etc.

Arts are usually the first cut in funding cuts. NYC is an anomaly.

Bodily health is definitely not an afterthought, shouldn't be. But team sports also don't do for a majority of kids all the things proponents feel they do as widely and as well.