A Day In The Journey

I was watching the Early Show this morning and I saw a bit about a new, federally funded program being implemented in a Georgia school district. The program, called Wellness, Academics, and You, integrates nutritional knowledge with core learning. For instance, a teacher might use a nutritional information label in reading class or calculate Body Mass Index as a math exercise. I'm really not sure how I feel about this. Certainly the program has some good aspects, like the fact that kids are now more interested in healthy food and thus get their parents interested in healthy food, but I wonder if there aren't some negative aspects that aren't being addressed. I know that childhood obesity is an invasive problem right now. The reasons for this are many, but often center around something very simple: parents are too busy to cook so children eat a lot of fast-food and pre-packaged food, while not getting enough excercise to burn those calories. I know that we need to combat this problem before it has more lasting socio-economic effects. But is this the right method? I mean, let's face it, public school systems are struggling to graduate literate students, mainly because the curricula is already to centered on social engineering, do classrooms need the added distraction? Furthermore, we are already a society centered on the physical. While teaching children about healthy eating and exercise is good, some of this program includes things like calorie counting. Do we really want an entire generation focused on adding up the numbers on their food and feeling guilty if they indulge a little? Perhaps I'm over thinking this, but I can only look at the teenagers I know who constantly struggle with feeling fat when they aren't. And that's not just the girls. These are healthy kids who eat healthy food and are very fit. No, they aren't the picture of slimness, but they are healthy. I wonder if in trying to combat pediatric obesity we aren't focusing too much on weight and not enough on health. I wonder. I also wonder if a bigger step to combatting this problem is a much simpler one: recess. I know that sounds simplistic, but think about it. Many children these days sit around in school all day and then go home and sit around some more. In trying to create "better" education, many schools in the nation (private as well as public) have eliminated recess and extended homework. If we want to encourage children to be healthy, we need to teach them how to play healthy. My last principle was very adamant about recess for this very reason. He insists that recess is a vital part of education because it not only teached children to play together (not always as easy as it sounds), but it teaches them that playing is important, that being outside is important. And, added bonus to teachers, it expends energy! It seems to me that this matter of eliminating pediatric obesity is a delicate one, but focusing on weight may end up being a pitfall. If we can focus kids on being healthy and teach them to play outside, this can work. As long as we don't sacrifice actual curricula for nutritional information.

What do you think?