by
Rebecca Castillo
FATSO
4.7.05
I grew up a fat child. Going to school was torture — on most days. But on report card day, I shined. The other students called a one-day truce and my teachers forgave me because I was a good student.
If one New York assemblyman has his way, students like me won't get that special day anymore. Felix Ortiz, a democrat from Brooklyn, has proposed attaching a score to report cards that would rate the weight of children.
The body mass index, or BMI is a measurement derived from height and weight. It gives a general indication of whether body fat falls within a healthy range. A BMI between 18.5 and 25 is healthy. A score above that is overweight. And a person with a BMI over 30 is referred to as obese.
Ortiz wants to tag this number onto report cards because grades are one of the few communications from school that parents look at. The assemblyman, who has proclaimed himself a fat fighter, thinks this concept will combat the growing problem of childhood obesity.
I think this idea is ridiculous.
Parents know when their children are overweight. My mom knew. Having the school publicize it wouldn't have made more of an impact. In fact, it probably would have made her ashamed of her parenting skills. But more support from the school and from the community would have helped.
Schools should work with the programs they have in place. Physical education for example. During PE I would daydream that one day I would be score a run in kickball or block a goal in soccer but I wasn't given that chance. Instead, I was always sitting in the sidelines or keeping score for the two teams. I was always benched because I was slower and the coaches didn't want to bother. Now schools are starting to get rid of PE programs all together. Only 51% of the schools in the US require children in first through fifth grade to take physical education.
Another thing that could've helped would have been learning about nutrition at an earlier age. If I had realized exactly what sugar and fat was doing to my body, I might have made better eating choices. I wasn't taught health until high school. Still to this day, this class is not taught in elementary schools in my home state of Texas.
And if schools really want to tackle what students eat, they'll have to start looking at their own breakfast and lunch programs. Most schools don't cook food from scratch anymore. Many of the meals are poured out from cans or defrosted. Schools say that it's cheaper to prepare meals this way then to hire a full cooking staff. I think it's false economy.
If schools are insistent that body mass index must be measured, a plan has to be in place to explain to parents and students what these numbers really mean and what the next steps are.
But obesity shouldn't be the school's problem alone to fix. Communities and families need to take more responsibility for this epic problem.
If Ortiz's plan goes forward, schools' should separate body mass index from their students' academic work. Mixing the two is a formula for disaster. For some students, academic success is tied to self-esteem. Placing the BMI among grades may send the wrong message — that you're not a good student unless you also look good.