Childhood Obesity Vent
Find a Conversation
| Sat, 02-05-2005 - 2:46pm |
I haven't posted in a few months, so I hope you remember me ;) Our computer was down (finally got myself a brand new shiny one last week!) and well . . . . life is busy. Anyway, I hope to post more often again - I was just getting to know some of you when our computer went out. So . . . . . my topic of the day that I am enraged about.
I found out at a PTO meeting last week that the Texas Legislature is trying to pass a new law to go in to effect for the 2006-07 school year which states that teachers MUST include the childs WEIGHT and BMI on their report cards. I am so angry, I could lose my mind over it.
First of all - teachers are not health care professionals. Secondly - by listing a childs weight and BMI on a report card, we are helping childhood obesity how? And can I have that of the teachers while your at it? I was told that the snow-cone machine was no longer in use, because it "doesn't meet the state's nutritional guidelines" - a snowcone!?! And we serve WHAT in our school cafeteria?
Why don't you start some classes to help educate parents, re-vamp the school cafeteria so that kids CAN make better choices, because what they have to choose from can't be all that swell. Do you think that obesity is 100% controlled at home - or will the school take some of that responsibility for it? And in a society that already has enough body-image problems, how will this help.
Am I nuts for getting worked up about this? Has anyone else heard of this in their state? Looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say!

Pages
<<(Or are you literally suggesting a one time walk/run/jog around the track in place of the school taking a few minutes to take the weight and BMI of each child?)>>> that is exactly what im suggesting. i think it would be way more effective in the long run(no pun intended) than weighing and measuring a whole class while the rest sit around and "weight" their turn.
<> we will have to agree to disagree.
one other point i have failed to mention that keeps popping into my mind is, many children who have weight problems as children "grow out of them" while going through puberty, and vise versa. this is one of the major reasons i dont agree with the suggesting weighing and measuring. just as two of my kids had stick straight hair when they were little and now have very thick wavy hair. our bodies change soooooo much as we grow, i just think its a waste of time to do this while they are pre-puberty/puberty age, and after puberty, well if they dont realize the issues with weight problems by then perhaps they need a house to fall on their heads rather than be put on a scale. frankly if i were in school and they told me to step on a scale, i would have told them to "bite me". there is no way on God's green earth i would have, and i was scared of my own shadow in school, but that imo would have been crossing the line.
Again, you understand me better than I understand myself. Amazing. I guess you ARE actually an expert in regard to personal attacks though aren't you? I mean you were banned from ivillage right? When you were personally attacking under your old user name opinion123?
Nick
Here, let me quote myself from an earlier post,
"It is my opinion that those grades on a report card (the listens/follows directions, makes good use of time, makes efort toward neat work, completes assignments on time, demonstrates organizational skills sort of stuff) are wonderful to use as feedback from teacher to parents (especially if there is a problem) but really, that "work habits" stuff is really more for the teacher than for the student. Of course, the teacher wants 27 kids who score well on those areas so she can better manage her class, making her job easier. But I have a divergent thinking child who doesn't fit in a perfect box and I am not going to advocate he work toward being the model (compliant) student just to make the teacher gush over him. (At the same time, I am not advocating he be a class distraction either.)"
So my answer is sure, those qualities are ones to foster. But I wouldn't foster them for the sake of getting a plus sign on a report card or specifically to win the favor of a teacher. And I wouldn't foster all of them without considering the cost to my child.
(I didn't type the list out to deliberately protest the items on the report card. I simply did it to show you what kind of stuff is on a report card these days. I know your child isn't in school yet and that it has been a few years since you've received an elementary school report card. Thought you might appreciate knowing a little more about what we are talking about.)
Thank you for the constructive criticism. But I take issue with the way you've worded it. Why couldn't you have said, "Why don't you enroll them in a school that challenges them to learn more and one that doesn't require they become sheep in the process?" I'd like that suggestion better.
Oh my! I just figured out who you are! You must be Jayson Blair, right? Because apparently all you need is one or two little facts and you have a complete story to tell.
In this thread, I have shared that my child got a minus in "Demonstrates Organizational Skills." I did not disclose any other grade of his from his report card. There were four other "work habit" categories and four categories under "personal growth," (stuff like practices self-control, respects rights and property of others, yada, yada.) I didn't reveal his marks in those categories. I did spout off a lot about my attitude about the emphasis/importance of grades and I did say my child doesn't fit in a perfect little box. So I am wondering how you take that information and twist it around to suggest that it must be my goal to make my child a successful hermit or a burdensome slacker?
You must still be harboring some major resentment toward me because I dared to say I wanted to help my children realize travel opportunities and that I wouldn't be devastated to the bone if one of my kids deigned to live with me past the age of 18. How dare I continue to walk around with such wrongful ideas in my head! It's like a knife in the thigh to you, isn't it?
I've been wondering, as I have read through this thread, how a minus in "demostrates organizational skills" translates into a complete lack of social skills, as some posters have asserted. My desk was always disorganized in elementary school. I tried to conform to the accepted level of organization at my school in middle and high school-- i.e. neat three ring binders, but found later in college, that I am best suited to having one notebook with everything under the sun in it-- all class work. It was a monster binder, but it worked for me. I got many funny looks and comments in class, but despite being "disorganized", I managed to graduate with honors and a double major in two years.
On another note, I have to commend you for challenging your children to do their very best rather than just enough to please the teacher. Speaking from experience, it does eventually catch up with you, if your main goal is to get good grades no matter how much effort it takes. Skating by, doing minimal work, is not in the best interest of children. I wish my parents had challenged me, the way you evidently do your children.
I am having a hard time imagining the amount of thought that goes into this school process.
Mondo
Pages