Childhood Obesity: Schools And The Effect They

It is 11:59, and seven year old Johnny sits anxiously in his seat, entranced as he stares at the second hand slowly creeping around the clock and awaiting the moment when the minute will pass and lunchtime will begin. The bell rings, and Johnny dashes from the seat that has confined him from the freedom that can only be found in the school cafeteria. He reaches in his pocket, filtering through various candy wrappers, and pulls out the five-dollar bill his mother gave him on his way out the door. He vigorously hands the lunch-lady his crumpled up five in exchange for an empty tray, and races to the cornucopia of high-cholesterol delights, salted and sugary snacks, and carbonated drinks. His eyes light up as he stacks his once empty tray with a handful of fried chicken fingers, a slice of cheese pizza, one chocolate chip cookie, and finally after passing up the apple juice, milk and water, grabs the last coca-cola to compliment the theme of his nutrition choices. After consumption, Johnny is too full to spend the remainder of his lunch break playing dodge ball or swinging from the monkey bars, instead he reaches into his backpack and pulls out his gameboy to entertain him during the rest of his free time. As a result of Johnny’s day at school, he has gotten little physical activity and a questionable nutritional experience. Consequently, Johnny suffers from childhood obesity, contributing to the nearly doubled rate over the past decade. Obesity in American children is no longer a rarity; it is rapidly escalating, and furthermore destroying the health and emotional status of the children affected. Unfortunately, many people in the general public do not consider childhood obesity to be a problem of more than aesthetic dimensions, even despite the fact that three hundred thousand Americans die each year from being overweight or obese (Greenblat). Furthermore, it is costing Americans 117 billion dollars each year on health problems related to the epidemic (Nakaya). With schools eliminating recess, requiring fewer physical education classes, providing vending machines throughout campuses and offering fast foods and fatty foods on campus, they are consequently paving the dangerous road that leads to this destructive disease.

In recent years, physical activity and health education have been severely limited as a result of pressures schools must respond to in order to be considered successful. A powerful example of these pressures is statewide standardized testing, which directly effects how schools are funded. Furthermore, because many states have performed poorly on math, science, or reading tests, their funds have been dramatically lowered as a result of their academic failure. Consequently, in order to improve on key curriculum areas, the “non-essential” subjects have lost funding to increase time devoted to the tested subject areas. Therefore, schools have suffered losses in the arts, music, physical education, and health to make time to improve in subjects such as math, science, and reading. Indeed, schools are continuing to cut back recess time and are requiring fewer physical education classes in high school and middle school. Kansas is the only state that still requires physical education classes through the twelfth grade. Now, fewer than forty percent of children remain active by the time they reach high school and less than one third of them are taking any kind of physical education classes (Greenblatt). In Atlanta, they are even building elementary schools without any playgrounds, indirectly implying the un-importance of physical activity and health. If children are not able to run around and be active, they will likely develop poor habits that will carry into adulthood, thus affecting the rest of their lives. According to Larry Tucker, a professor of Physical Education at Brigham Young University, “physical activity, which helps keeps off weight and cardiac disease, is abysmally low among children. It is a vicious cycle that starts at a young age and there is more passive recreation available to children with television, computers, and Nintendo.” Children look forward to recess to be able to let their mind rest, therefore omitting it only leaves lunch to look forward too. “We may leave quite a few children behind if we don’t make sure that they stay healthy and well and learn how to take care of themselves,” stated Judy Young, director of National Association for Sports and Physical Education, referring to the No Child Left Behind education law. (US Department of Health and Human Services) Clearly, health and physical education are of severe importance as they serve as a crutch to academic success. However, why are such crucial programs continually being eliminated, and furthermore replaced with easy access to poor nutrition?

With many schools suffering from decreased funding as a result of their decline in academic success, education administrators have felt forced to find supplemental means of attaining money. According to the National Soft Drink Association, soda machines are now in sixty percent of middle and high school campuses nationwide and are becoming more and more common (Greenblat). However, why have schools retreated to such unhealthy measures? One obvious reason is money. Indeed, The Los Angeles Unified School District is planning to ban soda from their campuses next year and will look at an estimated forty million dollar revenue short fall over the next ten years (Greenblat). However, with one district banning soda machines, more and more schools are continuing to sign contracts to these soda and snack machine companies just to make a quick buck, consequently, putting a stomp on the health of those with accessibility. How are schools supposed to teach their students about health and wellness when the second they step out of the classroom doors there are five vending machines with nothing but calorie filled items? Indeed, a report in the British Medical Journal found that each soft drink a child consumes leaves him or her sixty percent more likely to become obese and now children are drinking twice as much soda as milk (Greenblat). “There is something wrong with our priorities if we cannot fund our schools without selling junk food to our children,” says Wootan of the Center for Science and the Public Interest. However, is there an answer to this problem? It can be assumed, that unless alternate means of producing money are developed, then obesity will not cease to be an issue.

However, vending machines, and the lack of importance placed on physical activity are not the only contributing factors schools play in the escalating percentage of obese children. Monday through Friday, the clock strikes twelve, and students scurry to stand in the front of the long lines formed behind the counter of unhealthy choices.