Are schools wrong test student's BMI and put if they're overweight/obese on their report cards?

Question

Why is this necessary? Shouldn't this be left up to the parents to check out at a doctor, not the school?

Answer 1

This actually pulls me in two different directions.

On the one hand, I think the government should stay the hell out of my business and that schools have too much power and influence.

On the other, I feel that if we coddle people, they'll never improve themselves.

Tough call.

Answer 2

I have never brought home an F but last year I managed a steady D in algebra II and my parents were PISSED. They made me go to a tutor every week and go after school to see my teacher and get makeup work. (The reason I was failing was I didn't do any homework since I didn't understand it!) And I had retake a few tests in order to manage a C at the end of the year. Reading is definitely not a punishment! I read 3 books just this week! He needs something worse than that. But if he really hates reading, then not only make him read but make him turn in book reports to you too. Or even make up some quizzes for him on the books. Make him do some work.

Answer 3

Yes, this is more of the feel good stuff done in schools these days.
what ever happen to TEACHING????

There are MANY reasons someone is overweight, and who is to determine what overweight is, depending on the formular or method used BMI is not very acurate.
that and the jury is still out on what the proper weights should be.
the data is incomplete as of now.
Being thin is MORE unhealthy than being large.
Placing BMI on a report card sets chlidren up for a life of eating disorders.

Why can't schools worry about educating children?
isn't that what they go to school for?

Answer 4

I think that it is interesting that the same schools that provide a high calorie sugar laden diet to the kids, think that it is alright to check these same kids for a high BMI in order to see if the diet they are providing, is working? If it is, well then the parents should fix it. How, By maybe keeping the kids home and teaching them themselves?
If you provide children with sugar, and call it food, all of them are going to want it. Here is what my grandson got at school to eat yesterday:
Breakfast: Sugar frosted flakes, milk 1%, pop tart,orange juice
Lunch: 1 mozzerella cheese stick, banana,milk 1%, 2 chocolate covered graham crackers, 2 carrot sticks and a stick of celery, and a reeses peanut butter cup.
Snack: 2 little debbie snacks and milk1%.
Any child with an adequate digestive system is going to get fat with this diet, and when they do, its the parents problem.
The school system makes me, and our children sick.

Answer 5

I have mixed emotions about that. Fact is, we have an obesity problem over here, much of it attributable to lack of exercise and of course, junk food.

I don't want the government dictating what I eat, but I'm having a hard time finding anything wrong with pointing out the flaws at a young age with the hopes that parents will notice and turn things around.

Answer 6

Schools are there to teach. If health and physical education are part of it, so be it. Personal issues should be the parents to teach; schools should handle academics.

If the kid fails health or PT, it shouldn't hold him or her back, but Mom and Dad will probably want to know what held Junior or Junioress off the honor role. Chances are when Mom or Pop look in the mirror, they will see why.

Answer 7

I used to be a teacher and yes I think it's none of their business but that's the liberal school system for you. They think they are helping when they are sticking their nose where it could be cut off. Notice I said I used to be a teacher. I can't stand the school system and I bucked it at every turn. Never fired I quit because of all the liberal BS.

Answer 8

I don't think so. I think PE needs to be taken seriously especially with the obesity problem this county has. In many ways PE is just as important if not more important than a lot of the classes they need to pass a particular grade.

Answer 9

Schools do lots of public health checks on kids. They screen for scoliosis, sight and hearing issues, lice, obesity, etc. I don't think it's wrong, really. It ensures that someone is looking out for the health of the kids, even if the parents aren't.

Answer 10

Absolutely. The schools have NO right to publish a student's BMI--as medical information, doing so actually violates HIPAA.

If I see them trying that at my son's school, I will report them for HIPAA violations.