Schools To the Rescue???
April 2nd 2007 13:29
"Don't Worry. You'll learn how to be fit in the public schools."
The news about kids in the US hasn't been very good the last few years. They are reported to be fat,lazy,and headed for a shorter life than that of their parents. Can anything condemn a generation of parents more than this? Out of shape couch potato children are going to become fit adults? Eating habits that doom to diabetes are going to change for the better in the adult world?
Let me frankly say that no amount of collective resolve can compensate for the neglect of parental responsibility. If your parents are negligent and pathetic, you have cross to bear that the group can only do so much to lighten. Yet, in the US the collectivist urge is more rabid than ever. Much of this collectivism-as-salvation mentality coagulates in the public school. They,we are told, can alleviate the effects of wretched parenting and sweep the minds of youth clean and stock them with the proper ideas.
What public schools in the US are doing to rectify the shocking physical state of the young is as close to nothing as can be envisioned. In fact, they are marching lock-step with the forces of irresponsibility. The concern demonstrated there is next to nothing. In the cafeteria of my local high school there is a section in which children may purchase healthy foods. There is also a kiosk where horrible crap is served up unapologetically. Which do you think has a line? Little blubber coated future diabetics are waiting there patiently to slurp down carbohydrates dipped in sugar and grease. I think you can pretty much breeze through the healthy line.
Here's my suggestion. Serve nothing that is not healthful. If the little piglet wants to ruin his health, let him bring his poison from home. Smoking is banned in school. Ban junk from the service line in the cafeteria. Let mom and dad bear the responsibility for their children's sabotaged health.
The physical education values of the American public schools are stuck in a 1950s time warp. Phys ed classes are a mixture of desultory basketball or kickball games and learning the rules of games that the public will only watch in its adulthood-volleyball, soccer, etc. There ought to be an emphasis on those things in which that adults actually participate into their full maturity. My gym has older women who do yoga, for instance. There are 5 martial arts dojos within five miles of my house. The school has no yoga, aerobics, walking, or martial arts classes. Money and hassle, you say?
My local high school puts money into dance and band facilities;its weight room is underfunded to say the least. Yet I suspect that the 10 or so gyms in my little area testify that weight training is more of an adult activity than instument playing. I doubt if the average 40 year old former high school dance student does much with dance beyond watching Dancing with the Stars.
My proposition is simple. For 1/2 hour a day every student in school will be exposed to fitness activities that can be reasonably adduced to interest adults. I further suggest that the schools waste just a small portion of the money they lather on football stadia for the 5% who play football(for all of four years) on state of the art weight rooms, yoga studios,and martial arts facilities...that passersby see the student walking and jogging classes throughout the day and realize that the group is at least trying to repair the damage of parental abdication. Not going to happen, is it? Your servant, as always.
| 40 |
| Vote |
