Public Schools: We Meddle Because We Care!

I am So. Frigging. Glad. that I can send my kid to private school and avoid crap like this:

BLOSSBURG, Pa. — Six-year-old Karlind Dunbar barely touched her dinner, but not for time-honored 6-year-old reasons. The pasta was not the wrong shape. She did not have an urgent date with her dolls.

The problem was the letter Karlind discovered, tucked inside her report card, saying that she had a body mass index in the 80th percentile. The first grader did not know what “index” or “percentile” meant, or that children scoring in the 5th through 85th percentiles are considered normal, while those scoring higher are at risk of being or already overweight.

Mmmkay, so public schools, who cry constantly that they do not have enough money to educate the children and contantly trumpet that as an excuse for poorly performing schools, somehow are finding the money to check the body mass of every child and provide them with a "report card" of whether they are fat or not. *geezer* You know, back in my day, the other schoolkids, parents, and pretty much everyone else used to tell the fat kids they were fat for free, we didn't need no tax dollars bein' spent! */geezer* And for god's sake, the BMI? You mean this BMI? Yeah, that's a great idea.

Look, I understand that there's a problem with childhood obesity worldwide, but we need a more reasoned approach than some half-assed (or should I say fat-assed) "report card" that will only serve to make kids feel more out of control about their weight than they already do.

Karen Sick, food services director for the school district, has been phasing in healthier foods despite budgetary obstacles and students who prefer white bread over whole wheat. The school district has revamped its menus, eliminating Gatorade and the powdered sugar from the funnel cakes. But it still sends a nutritionally mixed message: birthday cupcakes are discouraged while cafeterias sell ice cream sandwiches and Rice Krispie treats, which some students buy five at a time.
(Do as I say, not as I do -- am)

The district’s cafeterias recently introduced kiwi and field greens, which drew enthusiastic reviews, but because of the high cost, they are now back to canned fruit and iceberg lettuce. Officials, while trying hard to address the concerns, acknowledge that change may take several more years.

'Kay, here's a thought...how about instead of overpaying a bunch of "professionals" to tell kids and their parents what they already know, how about we instead spend that money to buy better food? Instead of spending money on extra programs to teach children about nutrition, how about we require more physical education?

Christina Bové is the mother of three children who attend the Blossburg schools. She clutched a picture of her 9-year-old son, Christian, in a bathing suit, to prove that he was not “at risk of overweight,” as his 92nd percentile score had indicated.

The letter was inaccurate — and useless, Ms. Bové said. “The school provides us with this information with no education about how to use it or what it means,” she said.

Yeah, cuz, you know, doing something half-assed is better than doing nothing at all. It's for the chiiiiiildren, don'tcha know?

Via Reason's Hit and Run