New Article: The Obesity Epidemic: What Schools Can Do

Posted by on January 21, 2005

[posted from Public Education Network newsblast]

THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC: WHAT SCHOOLS CAN DO

The epidemic of obesity among school children and youth in the United States threatens to obscure the goal all state education policymakers share to prepare students for a full and productive future. Consequently, writes Brenda Welburn, state boards have no choice but to examine their policies on health and physical education to help reverse the growing overweight problem. Failure to do so decreases the chances of educating all children to high standards and amounts to negligence of the duty to assure that students are prepared to lead healthy lives and make good decisions once they leave our schools. As the articles in this issue of the “Standard” clearly show, the statistics demonstrating the extent of childhood obesity are overwhelming. And because children model the behavior of their parents, the escalating obesity rate among adults looms as another indicator that the number of children who are obese will continue to increase. Without comprehensive intervention and education, the problem is destined to deteriorate further. The harms associated with obesity are physical, social, and emotional. The social and emotional problems often impede classroom adjustment and performance. Changing the way students eat and exercise is not an easy task, but there are policy
levers available.

http://www.nasbe.org/Standard/index.html