The purpose of this writing assignment is to identify a current event that demonstrates how government intervention in weight management of children and adolescents can cause more damage to their egos than aid in keeping them within "healthy weight limits".
The event being offered to exemplify this happening involves the state of Arkansas and their new policy of fitness grading. This policy has sparked debate from both parents of children soon to be involved and the children themselves. Many states have weighed the idea of assessing students" BMI (body mass index), but Arkansas was the first to take this monumental step. .
According to Jones (2002), strong antifat attitudes exist in our society. Due to the fact that 60% of adults in Arkansas are considered overweight or obese and 25% of high school students are considered "at risk" when 1,139 of their public school opened for a new year, they also initiated the task of issuing each student a health report card (Wallis, 2003). There was concern from many parents that the report card could be "snatched" from children and passed around for all to see as a form of torment (Wallis, 2003). Concern has been raised as to whether weigh-ins at the nurse's station could be helpful without causing a lot of collateral damage to the sensitive egos of children. For example, in Livonia, just west of Detroit, parents complained that children had been traumatized by in-school weigh-ins (Willis, 2003). Right before puberty some children have a tendency to "bulk up". Children can be labeled prematurely. According to eighth grader Alex Weems, "Some people are not strong enough to handle the teasing. People should be allowed to be different" (Willis, 2003).
Through reading this article I have learned that the government has very good intentions by implementing these assessments of children's bodies. With the torment that children are put through because of their appearance already, this may need done differently.
