On my way home from work this morning I passed the middle school. The P.E./Gym class was running laps around the school building and acreage. Most of the teens were in healthy (skinny) form and seemed to be keeping a good pace. The instructor (firm & fit) sounded like a drill sergeant screaming at the kids. At the tail end of the line were two heavy set (one was morbidly obese) boys. :think They were doing all they could do to keep up. I wanted to cry. I wanted to stop the car and deck the instructor, :couch2: I wanted to stop and tell those boys don't give up hope and things will get better. :clap2: I was those boys all through my school career, school was hell being the FAT kid. :cry Any thoughts or comments?

Because knowing the system kids will unfortunately have to make a sacrifice. Shoot remember when we didn't have to pay for school supplies, we went to school with just our lunch, now before your kid goes to school they have to have at least $50.00 worth of supplies before walking thru the door.

Did you know in some NJ schools they want to take away recess?????

People of weight (we shouldn't say FAT) need to exercise.

I'm sorry to comment off topic, but I just have to say WHAT?

We shouldn't say FAT?? TOM, you can say whatever you want, but the stuff hanging off my thighs is FAT and I refuse to cave into some sort of political correctness to call it something else. If we all start saying we're "people of weight" (and do the skinny people float?) then that will just come to mean the same thing as fat.

On another note, re PE or any other class I heartily recommend contacting the school IN WRITING. A letter sent to a teacher with a copy to the principal can do absolute wonders. Beaurocracies like the school system respond like there's a fire when it's on a piece of paper in the record forever.

I agree that seeing that would have just broke my heart! My DH and i were reading an article in our local newspaper last week about a grade school PE class. They had a picture (front page---it is a local paper!!!) of kids driving pedal cars in PE. They were saying they do that, and all kinds of fun things. Pogo sticks, working with parachutes, not just running laps. They were going to go to the college and do the climbing wall, and go skiing this winter, and fishing in the spring at a local dam. It was something that we thought might delvelop outside interests, and starting early may be the key.

On another note, we were driving through one of the fastest growing cities in the Southwest the other day on our way to his Dr.'s appointment, and passed a new housing addition. Every bit of it, and we are talking nice homes, starting in the $200,000.00 range, is xeriscaped. Which makes sense with the fact we do live in a desert...but I felt so sorry for the kids growing up there!!! They may have nice homes, and pretty bedrooms, but they have nowhere to play! There is a park every so often, but how do you let young kids go play? No trees big enough to provide any shade, most of the green is cactus...not kid friendly. No grass to lay in, and swap stories. The ONLY outside anything we saw were a few swingsets, and a few of the portable basketball hoops. And we wonder why so many kids are playing video games nonstop??? Our society has made it unsafe to allow our kids to run free as we did, and now even their own yards are nowhere to play.

Didn't mean to go on, just a couple of thoughts that this post made me think about again!!

I know it is not an answer, but it is heartening to see so many care about this!!

Kat

Because knowing the system kids will unfortunately have to make a sacrifice. Shoot remember when we didn't have to pay for school supplies, we went to school with just our lunch, now before your kid goes to school they have to have at least $50.00 worth of supplies before walking thru the door.

Did you know in some NJ schools they want to take away recess?????

Who is they?

The reason that removing recess is being discussed is because of budget constraints. The reason for budget constraints is that it is almost impossible to raise taxes for the schools without a politician being called that ultimate dirty word: LIBERAL.

We have to make up our minds. Do we love our children and want them to have a good education or is it more important to keep taxes down? No one likes paying taxes, but if the alternative is children who can't read, children who can't do math, children who are fat and out of shape, and most of all, children who when they become adults are too out of shape to live a long healthy life and who are too ignorant of the world to be able to cast an intelligent vote, I'll pay the taxes. And I don't have children in school, but I will pay the taxes for my fellow Americans' children.

Do we love our children and want them to have a good education or is it more important to keep taxes down?

I'm kind of two minds on this. More taxes do not necessarily equal a better education. I would be happy (well, okay... maybe not HAPPY--but WILLING!) to pay more taxes if I trusted the government to use the funds WISELY. Unfortunately they waste money left and right. The school system in CA is so bogged down with rules and various programs it's ridiculous. And puhleeze DON'T even get me started on the TESTING!!!

One of the things I brought up at a district PTA meeting one time is the incredible waste of resources (certainly including teachers' time) they spend to MAIL out progress reports. These are the in-between quarter reports that are mailed out for every single student. They are generally NO REFLECTION on the actual grade because the teachers so often don't have time to have enough things graded every single 6-weeks. Note--all the teachers I have spoken to think these are a waste of time.

So okay, you've got about 10,000 kids in the district, take the cost of the printing, the paper and the POSTAGE to send out a worthless piece of paper 2x a year and that adds up to quite a bit. And then add in the quarter and semester reports! That is SIX MAILINGS for every child during the year for JUST grade reports (not even including several other worthless mailings)... it is certainly enough to pay for a PE teacher!

That's just one of the many examples of waste I've seen in the system. There are plenty of others.

I agree with much of what you say, Kare.

However, these are two separate issues. Of course we as voters should do all that is possible to force our schools to root out waste. We must however look at "waste" with open minds. Many schools have eliminated P/E and music programs as "waste" because it was not the "3 R's". In the long run, our children will suffer from the removal of those programs.

You say that progress reports are a waste "because the teachers so often don't have time to have enough things graded every single 6-weeks". Well maybe teacher's aids could help with some of the rote work that teachers do. My daughter-in-law was first a Catholic school teacher and then a public school teacher, and she had to bring home tests to mark and did many other teaching related chores while "Off duty". Maybe e-mail might be a better way for progress reports. Maybe the money saved through reduced mailing costs could be used for hiring teacher's aids to free up the teachers to make the reports (and other more important chores).

As voters and people who control local school boards, maybe we can influence the boards in that type of change. We definitely need to influence our state representatives and governors to remove this stupid testing system. It may sound good at first glance, but what we really have is an enormous amount of time wasted teaching people to take "the test" rather than any real learning going on. My grandson was a C+/B- student in Brooklyn public schools. He is a A student since we moved to Florida. He did dot get any smarter. In many districts in the state of NY, parents are allowing their children to boycott these tests. Here in Florida, if the students at “School A” have high FCAT scores, then “School A” gets more money next year. If the students at “School B” have poor FCAT grades, then “School B” gets less money in next year's budget. BuSh's rational is "why reward ineffective teaching?" Maybe the low FCAT scores were caused by lack of nutrition or the low scores could have been caused by many other variables or reasons which might be grist for another thread. But to remove help from those who need it most is a sick policy. If two people fell off opposite sides of a cruise ship, one an x-Olympic swimmer and one a person who could barely float, and there was only one life preserver available, by BuSh's logic, they would throw the life preserver to the Olympian.

As voters we have to push our legislators to dedicate tax dollars to schools. This year's SAT scores were appalling . 503 doesn't sound that bad until you realize that you get 400 points for signing your name. So 503 on a test that goes from 400 to 800, really means 103 out of 400 or about 25%. That was the average test score on the one of the SAT's sections this year. The USA is producing children who pass the mandatory tests, but are functionally illiterate. We complain about the good jobs going overseas, but our children will not be able to perform the good jobs with the educations that they are getting even if the jobs stayed here.

The USA will soon be a third world country with a Super Power Military if we do not wake up soon. The town where I live has two types of job available. Real estate (including construction and contracting) and retail sales. When all the lots are sold and filled with homes and stores, there will be only retail jobs left. How can people pay quarter of a million dollar mortgages on Wal-Mart and Home Depot sales associate's wages?

As a former teacher, (I'm home now, with my 2 year old) I think the childhood obesity issue is a huge problem. I've seen so many significantly overweight children in school. Much more than when I went to school in the 80's. It seems we keep giving in to our children instead of doing what is right for them.

Here are a few examples of what I've noticed while I was teaching that really upset me.

1. The school lunches have changed from balanced, healthy meals to Domino's Pizza, Cheeseburgers and Fries, and Greasy Cheesesteaks.

2. In the school I was teaching in, children were allowed to get a second portion of food for an additonal dollar. So instead of eating one slice of pizza, children were eating two or three slices.

3. The side dishes have changed from fruit cups and vegetables to cookies and french fries.

4. Some parents would drop off McDonalds' to their kids for lunch several times a week. And I'm not talking about a Happy Meal. These kids are eating quarter pounders and large fries.

It frightens me to see parents doing this to their kids. They see them getting heavier and keep feeding them garbage!! They should be insisting on healthier meals for their children.

On the upside, my son and daughter's schools have taken a healthier approach to school lunches. Both schools options to the traditional hot lunch. Children can choose to have various salads and even sushi. And they can buy bottled water to drink.

Well TOM,

The whole system is really a quagmire. I've been a pretty involved parent the past 15 or so years and have found the system has some serious flaws--BUT in some areas it is doing better than we might expect. I can only speak for CA, but the low testing around here is a very direct result of people taking the test who are not proficient English speakers. If you have a whole group that does not speak the language it squews (sp?) the test results for everyone else.

I just had one son graduate from a UC and have another starting college in a week. Although there was plenty of stupid stuff, MUCH of their high school education was better than mine. They both were reading FAULKER and DOYSTOYEVSKY in High School English classes. They both did some great Physics projects and field studies in Biology--all in public school.

My son John spent his college Junior year in Ireland at the University College Dublin where many Nobel laureates & well-known authors (including James Joyce) have gone and was surprised to find he could not only hold his own, but actually had a better foundation than the Irish and many other exchange students. I was really shocked by that. I always thought the British Isles were more intellectual and the education better than in the US, but evidently not.

So don't believe everything you hear about those test scores. There certainly are kids who can't do math, but there are plenty of others who are better prepared than we think.

This kind of behavior is so unfortunate. If this crap worked, there wouldn't be obesity issues.. How many times have we been told we were slugs either verbally or with a look?

Today, a sunny Sunday afternoon, as I GRATEFULLY rode my bike thru our safe urban neighborhood, I recalled a day like this when I was young. The streets and yards would have been filled with kids playing outside.

There were no kids outside, what's going on? Are they all watching TV or playing on the computer? I guess I'm an old fuddy duddy, but it doesn't bode well for the future of obesity issues for these kids. (AND to be honest, 5 months ago, I'd have been watching TV today not riding my bike! I am so grateful!)

Tired Old Man, I always enjoy your posts.

Well TOM,

The whole system is really a quagmire. I've been a pretty involved parent the past 15 or so years and have found the system has some serious flaws--BUT in some areas it is doing better than we might expect. I can only speak for CA, but the low testing around here is a very direct result of people taking the test who are not proficient English speakers. If you have a whole group that does not speak the language it squews (sp?) the test results for everyone else.

I just had one son graduate from a UC and have another starting college in a week. Although there was plenty of stupid stuff, MUCH of their high school education was better than mine. They both were reading FAULKER and DOYSTOYEVSKY in High School English classes. They both did some great Physics projects and field studies in Biology--all in public school.

My son John spent his college Junior year in Ireland at the University College Dublin where many Nobel laureates & well-known authors (including James Joyce) have gone and was surprised to find he could not only hold his own, but actually had a better foundation than the Irish and many other exchange students. I was really shocked by that. I always thought the British Isles were more intellectual and the education better than in the US, but evidently not.

So don't believe everything you hear about those test scores. There certainly are kids who can't do math, but there are plenty of others who are better prepared than we think.

Hurray for Californina and the Guvernator. But here in Florida, they have cut almost everything except passing the FCAT's. The history class is only US history and science is a joke.

As a former teacher, (I'm home now, with my 2 year old) I think the childhood obesity issue is a huge problem. I've seen so many significantly overweight children in school. Much more than when I went to school in the 80's. It seems we keep giving in to our children instead of doing what is right for them.

Here are a few examples of what I've noticed while I was teaching that really upset me.

1. The school lunches have changed from balanced, healthy meals to Domino's pizza, Cheeseburgers and Fries, and Greasy Cheesesteaks.

2. In the school I was teaching in, children were allowed to get a second portion of food for an additonal dollar. So instead of eating one slice of pizza, children were eating two or three slices.

3. The side dishes have changed from fruit cups and vegetables to Cookies and french fries.

4. Some parents would drop off McDonalds' to their kids for lunch several times a week. And I'm not talking about a Happy Meal. These kids are eating quarter pounders and large fries.

It frightens me to see parents doing this to their kids. They see them getting heavier and keep feeding them garbage!! They should be insisting on healthier meals for their children.

On the upside, my son and daughter's schools have taken a healthier approach to school lunches. Both schools options to the traditional hot lunch. Children can choose to have various salads and even sushi. And they can buy bottled Water to drink.

I have heard some people say that what you eat is personal responsibility, but McDonalds, other fast food chain stores and other purveyors of fat and sugar spend billions on commercials directed at children. Does anyone think that they spend those billions because they are stupid? There are psychologists working on the ad company's payroll to make sure that the commercials are effective. People do not stand a chance. And with many families having all adults working long hours, the marketing is impossible to beat.

Hurray for Californina and the Guvernator. But here in Florida, they have cut almost everything except passing the FCAT's. The history class is only US history and science is a joke.

I don't know what part of Florida you are in, but I taught in Polk county for 3 years and my mother has taught there for over 8 years. I do not think that science is a joke, nor do I agree that history is just US history. Teachers do the best they can with in the restraints of the rules they have to follow. I think that often times teachers have to spend more time teaching students basic manners and social responsibility that the kids should be learning at home. This often distracts from true learning but teachers are forced to because these days we are supposed to be mothers and fathers and babysitters as well.

Yeah I, was the fat kid at school! those days were hell, that's why for the past two years I have had my kids doing simple push ups and sit ups. Ive had to pay! but it was worth it.

Before I hurt my back Si joint, in a roll over accident. Id lift lite weights they started coming down and started lifting light weights 2lb 5lb 8lb bar bells only 3 sets of 10 three times aweek and they liked it humm.

and I watched there junk food intake.but also let them have a movie night where they could buy any thing they wanted and fill there face as a reward. it worked.

If teachers are required to be mothers and fathers and baby sitters at once, then the school system should be funded to have enough teachers and teachers aids so that they could be effective mothers and fathers and baby sitters.

Whatever it takes to get well educated students must be done. I bet when the coach of the high school football team says, "we could have won the state championship except that I didn't have the facilities to practice in the rain", a building will be built to allow the football team to practice in the rain.

Education of our young is not priority one. The first thing cut when a municipality has financial problems is the school budget. Yes, in a democracy, people have a right to cut the school budget rather than increase taxes, but then we can not complain when a P/E teacher is found wanting in ability. Well we can complain, but we make our own bed. No, I am not saying the individuals here who faced or saw abuse from P/E teachers deserved it, but the vote of tax payers to put children's education below tax rates on the priority list caused the situation.