More Schools Including Weight, BMI On Report Cards

Forget the familiar A, B and C on your child's report card -- the new letters to look out for could be B, M and I.

Sending students home with a "weight grade" has been a growing trend over the past few years, with several U.S. states adopting policies to list a BMI calculation on children's school report cards, often with exercise or nutrition tips to help parents keep kids on track. And now Malaysia has just passed a countrywide policy to include a BMI score at school alongside the typical academic marks.

These weight report cards at school are the latest weapon in the fight against the growing obesity epidemic in children -- rates of high BMIs have tripled over the past three decades and close to one in three American children are now overweight or obese, sparking First Lady Michelle Obama to launch her Let's Move campaign.

The health effects of childhood obesity and high BMI are well-known: excess pounds can lead to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, asthma and sleep apnea, among other serious health problems in adulthood.

And now this school- sponsored message may give parents a needed reality check -- a 2010 survey from Trust for America's Health found that 84 percent of parents believe their children are at a healthy weight, even though almost one third of kids are actually overweight or obese.

"When students and their parents 'know their numbers' and the consequences of those numbers, they are more likely to do something about them," Huffington Post blogger Lloyd I Sederer, M.D., medical director of the New York State Office of Mental Health wrote in a recent post.

On the other side of the issue, critics question the government's place in getting involved in something as personal as weight. Where do you stand on the debate?

Comments

[Brian David Denney]

03:45 PM on 05/05/2011

This is unbelievable. The school system has a responsibility to teach our children, not to worry about what little Billy's weight is. What a child's is doesn't have anything to do with what grades they've made.

[Harrison stiller]

10:28 PM on 05/04/2011

I feel that there really is no "right" answer to this rather just take the results as it comes. I personally feel that weight maintenance and health preservation is a big part in life, but others may not. If someone chooses to live a certain lifestyle of enjoying life and their "enjoyment" comes from something that may gain them some weight, then do it. They should not have to go home to their families and friends from school and have to stare their weight in the face, because sometimes people do not want to see the truth in what they are doing.

What it really comes down to is:

Should kids have to be ridiculed by a measurement of how much fat they have on them? Is it really worth all the mental pain that it causes to some?

We really can not know unfortunately because of how many different ways kids perceive this and how they will act upon it.

[Sean Laney]

01:59 AM on 05/04/2011

BMI is a terrible measure of obesity. The two good measures are Body Fat Mass (total, which is compared to height) and Percentage of Body Fat. You want both to be below a certain range, but you can have that occur and still have a high BMI due to Skeletal Muscle Mass. For example, I recently got a InBody230 Body Composition Analysis as part of a physical. Here is what it says:

Weight: 222.7 lbs.
Skeletal Muscle Mass: 101.9 lbs.
Body Fat Mass: 43.6 lbs.
Body Mass Index: 30.2
Percentage of Body Fat: 19.6%

According to my BFM, I am a bit overfat (it recommends losing 12.1 lbs. of body fat). According to my PBF, I am at the high end of normal. According to my BMI, I am obese. The first two more or less agree - they indicate I am a little high in fat, but not too bad. Why is the third so different? It does not take muscle into account.

I do weight training 3 times a week. In the three weeks since I had the analysis done, I have gained almost 2 pounds, and got a bit thinner in the waist. According to BMI, I just got more obese. How the Hell can we justify telling kids they are fat using a tool that doesn't measure fat?

[CherylRainfield]

01:43 PM on 05/03/2011

I think putting BMI and weight grades on report cards is a dangerous practice that will lead to increased eating disorders, self-harm, negative body images, and bullying. I *hated* my body as a teen. I wore baggy clothes to hide, and I used self-harm (for many reasons, but hating my body was in the mix.) I know that if my BMI had been on my report card as a teen, I would have cut a lot more than I did.

Together, I (author of SCARS on self-harm) and Sarah Darer Littman (author of PURGE on eating disorders) created a petition to stop schools from doing something that could potentially harm children & teens. I hope you'll take a moment to check it out, and hopefully sign it.
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-dangerous-practice-of-weight-grades-on-report-cards-4

You can also see my honest and passionate post on this here:
http://cherylrainfield.com/blog/index.php/2011/04/29/stop-dangerous-practice-of-weight-grades-on-report-cards-by-signing-the-petition-and-enter-to-win-1-of-2-copies-of-scars/

[Dwightgirl]

06:19 PM on 05/02/2011

Are you kidding me? Isn't this CONFIDENTIAL HEALTH INFORMATION?????????????

[Janine Laura Bronson]

03:19 AM on 04/27/2011

Ones Basic Metabolic Rate according to which chart and how will that grade be measured, for unlike school grades, where there is a direction, (the higher the number, the better the grade) in BMI it is two-sided, for example anorexic individuals could have a BMI that would actually be TOO low, so the BMI is really configured within a certain RANGE leaving us to wonder whether some sort of scale would be developed in units above/below the range pluses or minuses, and as it approaches the center of the range A's, less close B's, then C's, outside the range higher BMI D+ lower BMI D-? Doesn't make much sense, really...

[Diana Rosinus]

07:31 PM on 04/26/2011

This is a tragic mistake. Children are so sensitive, and although these efforts are well-intentioned, many children will experience deep shame in being (essentially) graded on their bodies.

The childhood obesity issue is spinning out of control, and many of the efforts to control it are actually accentuating the problem. These shaming experiences will lead to nothing but unhealthy relationships with food and the body throughout life.

What is needed instead is a return to natural food, fun-filled active lifestyles, and a deep sense of love and care for the body as part of the whole self. These things will NEVER come out of shame, control, or any other negative forces.

[KellyVickers]

09:01 AM on 04/24/2011

This is horrifying to me. I grew up overweight, and the most counterproductive thing anyone could do was to shame me and subject me to ridicule. Be assured the kids on the playground will more than adequately accomplish this task; no need to let the government join in. I absolutely do not buy that parents are ignorant regarding their children being overweight. Where I work, http://www.KarlaLinden.com , we find the greatest healing occurs through finding acceptance in who we are first, and then, from a place of wholeness, we become our better selves.

[wzjussayin]

06:23 PM on 04/29/2011

Your parents should have been shamed out of their denial. You deserved a healthy childhood, and parents who knew what they were doing and could say no to you.

[noteaforme]

08:06 PM on 04/23/2011

Yes, because parents seem oblivious to how unhealthy their kids are. Unless serious action is taken we're all going to think today's kids are normal.

[pphhrogg]

07:18 PM on 04/23/2011

NO! Fat kids already get more than their fair share of bullying due to their weight. They don't need the TEACHERS bullyng them, too.

[BabyMed]

11:26 AM on 04/23/2011

The children are overweight because their parents are overweight...DUH
We sit our young in front of TV and Video games...feed them junk and we ourselves
eat crap all day long.

Embarrassing a child because of what he learns at home is wrong. What we need to do is bring back Home economics. Teach these kids how to cook, pick out produce and what is healthy and not healthy. I loathed that class, but as a product of two working parents this is where I learned how to put things together for a healthy meal. My mother did cook, and we were NEVER aloud to have "fast food", but she never had the time to drag us girls to the store to teach us and she wanted us doing our homework while she cooked.
With a good integration of "nutrition" along with HOW a good Home ec class good make a difference. I am sure most of these kids don't want to be overweight, they just don't know how NOT to be. Really where do you start ? adults struggle with this what makes us think kids will know?

TEACH them...we already know the parents will not and you must include hands on ...we must show them, maybe they can teach their parents?

[broui]

12:17 AM on 04/23/2011

Yikes.

As a teacher, if my district were to start talking about doing this I'd be attending school board meetings in opposition.

It is well intentioned but misplaced and to some degree potentially harmful in its implementation.

Do the BMI. But do it separately from report cards which are specifically for academic achievement.

[techjockey]

10:16 PM on 04/22/2011

This is a bad way to handle it.
This would disincentivise good students. A child may be overweight, but applies themselves at school & gets good grades. So you completely negate all the important hard work & the real purpose of a report card by trashing the student's appearance.
Converesly, a child that is overweight (perhaps emotional eating?) & is only average or does poorly in school will take this as another failing & feel overwhelmed in correcting any of it.
This issue needs to be addressed at a societal level, but not this way.
Healthy eating is more expensive & time consuming than junk food on the fly, which is why many children are fat. I went to the store the other day & bought a locally grown apple. The freakin thing was almost $3! That's a Happy Meal, so what do we expect people to choose? I know it's not as simplistic as that, but we need to have a reality check on food subsidies going to big ag & not to small local farmers.

[SaraMarieDieteticIntern]

08:57 PM on 04/22/2011

Although this idea was created with good intentions, this is not the way to go about combating childhood obesity. Instead of children focusing on the positive, i.e. eating a balanced diet, consuming discretionary calories in moderation, and exercising daily, the "grade" of their weight will for most emphasize the negative. Focusing on the "number" is how eating disorders emerge. It is indeed very important to find ways to help the nation's youth; however, we must also keep in mind how our strategies to benefit children's physical health will also affect their mental health.

--Dietetic Intern--

[boberrigan]

04:37 PM on 04/22/2011

Putting this on a child's report card would be very cruel. First of all, it's a health matter that could be discussed privately with the child's parent or guardian. Second, many people are genetically predisposed to be overweight and need something beyond a healthy diet to shed pounds. Third......don't give kids yet another reason to dread getting their report cards. For some, the shot to their pride with an added ....."and you're fat too!" would be too much. And that is how many children would perceive that number.