Tue, May 13 2008
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Childhood obesity is clearly a rising problem in Georgia, but the bill passed last week by the Georgia Senate is the wrong way to address the issue.
The bill, sponsored by Tifton's Joseph Carter, calls for schools to obtain the body mass index of each student (keeping that information confidential and providing it to the child's parents or guardians only) and then sending the aggregate data to the state Board of Education. Individual school districts could then use the information in making decisions on physical education curriculum.
First, there is potential for overweight children to be shamed and humiliated as the students are weighed. Even if other children could not look at the scales or read the recorded weights, there would inevitably be joking and teasing.
Also, in most cases, administrators would not need to know specific heights and weights to see how many overweight students were at school. They could simply look out the window and count. Body mass index is not always an accurate reflection of whether someone is overweight anyway, since dividing the weight by the square of the height doesn't allow for body composition. Some people are more muscular than others.
And finally, physical education and plenty of exercise is good for all children, regardless of weight, and, in fact, for people of all ages. Why not just go ahead and include it in school curriculums? Clearly, the majority of children in Georgia and elsewhere are spending less time outdoors and more time sitting in front of the TV or computer.
It seems to us that measuring the body mass index of each pupil is not a job for our schools. Instead, teachers and school personnel could better spend their time and efforts offering instruction on eating balanced meals and on the benefits of regular exercise.
We believe that lawmakers mean well in focusing attention on this problem; this is just the wrong way to go about it.
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