FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF AMERICA FROM BECOMING OBESE, AND FOR MAKING THEM HAND-EYE COORDINATED FUNCTIONING CITIZENS
It is a saddening sight for those who walk through these school hallways, travel down these worn corridors, or step foot into a classroom to see children, ages nine, thirteen, seventeen, eighteen, all carrying extra weight upon their bodies. These children, unable to motivate themselves to put down the hamburger and instead do a lap around the track, are forced into a downward spiral of depression characterized by even more obsessive eating and loss of self-esteem and friends.
I think it is agreed by all parents and school employees that this growth of obesity is a direct reflection on the failure of our school systems to enforce the all important physical education curriculum, and that whoever could find a way to make physical education an effective, health inspiring, and educational course for the easy method of making children physically fit, coordinated, functioning members of society, would deserve a gym named after them, or at least a plaque hung in gratitude. But my intention is not only to benefit the children of junior high and high school; it will go much farther, as to take in the children down to the age of infancy, where habits these habits are started. The advantage to my scheme is that is nips this deadly habit in the bud, before it gets the chance to grow.
The vast number of children inflicted with obesity is growing at a rate never witnessed before, these children, experiencing a loss of energy from their weighed down bodies, refuse to better themselves by engaging in physical activities and instead, sit on the couch, gorging themselves with numerous bags of saturated fat and artificial food colorings. Parents are too busy trying to work to support the family, and doing household chores to realize that their child, instead of being active, is content to sit on the couch an twiddle its thumbs. But it is not the parents fault, it is hard to raise a family these days, and sometimes these situations do slip by. Yet, upon being informed about their child’s expanding figure they immediately become concerned. It is essential to handle this situation with the utmost importance, for it can be a sensitive subject, both to the child and to the parents who feel as if they are failures. Children in this situation are extremely sensitive. Characterized by a low self-esteem, children shy away from their friends and become reclusive, acquiring a liking for a soft couch and a long nap. Adding to the devastation of this is the buying of new clothes, since they will outgrow their own ones, or the attempt to squeeze into jeans that fit in the beginning of the year. These children, too embarrassed to even leave their own house, will, without the opportunity to exercise, grown to enormous sizes, and acquire health problems uncommon in children.
I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection.
I have been assured by many a physical education teacher that in order to stop this pandemic spread of obesity, gym should be expanded to encompass all aspects of school life. Gym should be expanded to a full two hour class during school, followed by mandatory sports sign ups and weekend gym class sessions. Gym will be two hours every day because after subtracting the time it takes teens, especially girls, to change and the time it takes teachers to check attendance and start the class on warm ups, a good half hour will have gone by, and because the recommended amount of cardio exercise per day is 90 minutes, a two hour class will enable to get their cardio requirement without interruption. Weekend classes will be used to teach new techniques, and to have harder classes, since teachers will not want to tire students out for their next classes during the week. Exercise should also be incorporated into hallway activity. Students are allowed 5 minutes between classes, instead of spending that time rummaging through their lockers, or talking to friends, this time should be spent doing short, muscle building exercises. Students could easily be made to partake in jumping jacks, wall sits, or crunches for two minutes between classes, leaving a reasonable three minutes to get to class. Exercise could also be brought into the classroom itself, where when students wish to answer a question the must run in place, rather than raise their hand. This would be more effective than raising a hand because the teacher can see the student more easily than a hand, and it will promote healthy exercise. Also, lockers would be equipped with motion detectors where students have to perform certain yoga poses to unlock their lockers. Being that students will only have three minutes of locker time, and poses are hard to memorize without being seen, the chance of students breaking into each others lockers is rare. Exercise will not only promote a healthier lifestyle, but will sharpen a child’s coordination, making them more agile and therefore less clumsy and less embarrassed to take part in activities that require such skill.
This approach will be taken down all the levels of education, and applied, at a milder form, to infants. It has been proven that during infancy the brain is learning at its fastest rate, and it easily absorbs new information. This is why a positive attitude toward exercise will be exposed to these children at such a young age. Infants should attend fitness class twice a week, where they will watch children’s videos about incorporating exercise into every portion of there lives, and be taught exercises that they will, subconsciously, incorporate into their everyday lives. Parents will also be taught how to encourage their child to perform these exercises, and how to persuade them to do them more often and vigorously.
Any infant, child, or teen that is witnessed to be shirking their daily exercise routine will be made to exercise even harder the next day and will be made to watch a video about what happens when you overeat, do not exercise, and gain weight. This should convince students that participating and being fit is better than gaining weight and being miserable and unhealthy.
The advantages by the proposal which I have made are obvious and many, as well as of the highest importance. Firstly, as I have already observed, healthy children are happy children. Unhappy children are, in fact, our enemies, as they breed discontent and spew negative words and emotions. Discontent children also do not participate in school to their fullest potential, causing the school to drop in ranking due to students’ slack and low GPAs. If happy children are healthy children, then the school system has a responsibility to keep all children healthy and happy.
Secondly, the reflexes that will be sharpened during participation in gym will contribute greatly to a child’s life. It will sharpen skills such as safe driving, as well as make them more apt to enjoy and participate in sports that require quick reflexes.
Thirdly, self-esteem and self-confidence levels will rise in teens and younger children, as they will see themselves and their newly toned and in-shape bodies as beautiful. They will no longer have to wear or buy large clothing, and XL and XXL sizes will become something of horror stories told to misbehaving or gluttonous children. The fabric once used for these articles of clothing can then be used to make smaller sizes, resulting in the production of cheaper clothing, which teens and children can buy by the cart full.
Fourthly, children will learn to appreciate the art of exercise and will work out on their own. They will become interested in body building, running, swimming, dancing, kickboxing, karate, and many other physical sports; and will spread their love of exercising, as well as their knowledge of the benefits, to others. This will encourage others to take up exercising and will start a global shift towards being fit and healthy.
Fifthly, children will no longer be picked on or discriminated against for their size. All children will be fit. While some may be fitter than others, there will be no more discrimination between the obese and physically fit. And if one was to tease the other, it would just make the lesser fit one work harder, and improve their overall fitness; only benefits from this situation can be had.
I can think of no objection, that will possibly be raised against this proposal, unless it is that people will become so engrossed with their own image that they will go to harmful extremes to maintain it. Yet, since all of these opportunities and mandatory workout sessions will be available to students, it will be impossible to them to go to extremes to maintain their physical fitness. People only go to extremes when they feel there are no other options, and here, options are always available. Therefore let no one talk of watching what they eat; of limiting fats and carbohydrates; of addressing eating disorders; of fixing an aesthetically oriented society; of schools focusing on academics; on addressing depression in children; of limiting intake of fast-food; of going on family excursions that include exercise; of just accepting people as they are, for these are folly.
I profess, from the depths of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in undertaking to promote this necessary program, having no other motive than the public good, the health of children, and the upkeep of their self-esteem; for I, myself, do not suffer from obesity or lack of coordination.
