Are multiplication tables more important than our children's health? Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell seems to think so. He vetoed a bill yesterday that would have required all elementary and middle school students in Virginia to participate in 150 minutes of physical activity a week, in addition to recess.
McDonnell says the bill is an "unfunded mandate," according to The Washington Post, citing concerns about the cost of implementation. Other opponents worry about placing the burden of solving our country's childhood obesity crisis on our public schools.
While these concerns are understandable, they don't justify a veto. Government funding is largely a matter of priority, and by passing the bill, McDonnell would have demonstrated to the people of Virginia that the state is serious about children's health. The reality of implementation would have lent urgency to a problem that we as a country have let languish for far too long.
Plus, consider these sobering statistics: According to the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, on a national level, "the direct costs of childhood obesity include annual prescription drug, emergency room, and outpatient costs of $14.1 billion, plus inpatient costs of $237.6 million" (emphasis mine).
In Virginia, 24 percent of children are on Medicaid and one in three is overweight or obese. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Virginia has the 14th-highest obesity-related health care costs in the 50 states. Clearly, the childhood obesity epidemic is already costing the Virginia government a significant chunk of money--so why refuse to invest money in a long-term solution?
It's important to remember that the bill is not the only solution. Childhood obesity is a multi-pronged problem that requires a multi-pronged plan of attack. As opponents of the bill rightly point out, schools certainly can't be expected to shoulder the entire burden of "fixing" the problem, but they can still play an important role.
According to McDonnell, "Kids need to get off the couch and away from the computer and onto a soccer field or basketball court... Our young people should be taught by parents, teachers and mentors about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and to pick active, rather than passive, recreational activities."
Isn't this bill explicitly about getting kids onto the soccer field or basketball court? The government cannot control what children choose to do in their free time, but it can inspire a passion for sports and physical activity by ensuring that kids have sufficient time to play soccer, basketball, and other games during school hours. Extracurricular programs to encourage healthy lifestyles may also be beneficial, as McDonnell notes, but they alone will not solve the childhood obesity epidemic.
McDonnell has also cited concerns that the physical education requirement would "exceed the time dedicated to any other subject in our public school system, and potentially cut into crucial time in the classroom needed for instruction in math, science, history and reading."
McDonnell clearly hasn't seen, or is choosing to ignore, the many recent studies proving that physical activity and recess actually boost student performance in the classroom. In April 2010, USA Today reported on a government review of research showing that "increased time in PE classes can help children's attention, concentration and achievement test scores." In addition to promoting physical health, regular outdoor play profoundly impacts our children's emotional, social and cognitive development.
The state of Virginia had a tremendous opportunity to not only improve the health and happiness of its children, but also to set a precedent that other states would be inspired to follow. Shame on Governor McDonnell for passing it up.
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If kids weren't all compelled to come to school you better believe many of them would have stayed home and learned to cook real food alongside mom and grandma. Real cooking is a lost art in this country. A large part of the obesity problem is diet. Hmmm... We make them come to school - they never learn to cook. Because school is a babysitter, mom can work and doesn't have time to stay home and cook. Uh-oh. Unintended consequence.
And, kids have to be up so early to be at school at a certain time so few eat anything but pop-tarts and sodas. Few children ever get to eat healthy breakfast.
Nope, our compulsory public schools have created a plethora of unintended consequences. Can I give you guys a little secret about public school PE? Most of the kids can hardly be compelled to get up to participate. You guys want to make PE longer? Okay. Whatever makes you think you're solving the problem from 50,000 feet.
Actually, it's beginning to sound like public schools are destroying the natural order of things in family and community. I don't think our solution is more PE, but that's just me.
My point? (sorry, I'm rambling...tired...) is that PE needs to be more then just ball sports and running the mile as exercise has lots of other things!
Schools in the U.S would be better off eliminating physical education and putting the resources into improving academic education.
If P.E. classes were effective at teaching kids to make exercise a life-long priority, we wouldn't have generations of couch potatoes who prefer to sit on the couch and watch other people play sports.
We don't need more P.E., we need more opportunities for kids to play unstructured activities outside, to walk and hike in nature, to try yoga or dance, or to work out at the gym without the destructive effects of forced competition.
And what's this about an unfunded mandate. Don't we already pay PE teachers? Can't they come up with a thirty minute exercise plan? Sure they can. Alternatively, we get the teachers to get their kids out of their seats, yell "MOVE" and at the end of thirty minutes they yell "Stop"! Believe me, just the act of getting off their behinds would be a vast improvement over their current physical activity and it wouldn't cost a dime.
view the Dr Robert Lutig Video on U Tube
Here is the unvarnished truth. View it and weep. Excercise is important yes, but the real root cause of the problem is the sharp order of magnitude increase in fructose consumption.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
It's the harsh truth, the unintended consequence of compulsory education is that it has completely destroyed any possibility that anyone in the family will have time to quick a truly healthy meal. At least they are at school being made to read "Catcher in the Rye" and going to football and cheerleading. That will help them in the real world.