The old putdown “you’re fat and your mother dresses you funny” has sadly become a new nanny state mandate. It’s not enough to endlessly test students academically, we’re now also measuring their waist lines in an endless attempt to turn education into an assembly line process, where all the products conform to someone’s “standard.”
A local teen, whom I’ve known since she was in her momma’s belly, has decided to do something about this absolutely pointless intrusion of schools into personal health matters, by making a documentary exposing this bogus and demeaning practice.
In her own words:
In an effort to address the obesity problem among American youth, lawmakers in over a dozen states passed a controversial mandate forcing schools to perform body mass index, or BMI, tests on their students. What soon followed sparked a heated national debate.
Coined the “Fat Letters” by students, letters were given to overweight kids whose BMI did not fall within a narrowly accepted range; essentially telling children, even as young as kindergarteners, that they are fat.
via THE STUDENT BODY [1].
It’s one thing for schools to say little Johnny is failing at math, or even in gym, but the idea that BMI is some kind of magic number that is somehow relevant to the process of educational outcomes is a gross overstepping by government. No one sent Chris Christy’s mother a letter saying he’s fat- and that it somehow makes a difference on his performance as governor. Nor, do we have any indication that being overweight makes people stupid. In terms of stupid things our government feels a need to do- shaming children shouldn’t be something we spend a dime on.
I’m pretty sure a better case could be made for teachers having to submit to BMI testing. There is a direct correlation to costs of health care being passed on to taxpayers for fat governmental employees. However, that’s not what was written into law.
Bailey Webber is the daughter of my friend Mike Webber [2], who makes movies for a living. He’s a local guy with a lot of talent, raising a kid to ask questions and challenge the status quo, and he’s doing a damn fine job of it. Esrati.com readers have read about him and his award-winning documentary “The Elephant in the Living Room” [3]
The movie, “The Student Body” [1] is in production now, and just began a kickstarter [4] to bring it to life as a full length film. If you’ve ever been called fat, maybe you might want to help her finish this film. Pledge to donate $1 (or more) [4] and spread the word- I’m sure there are more than 28,000 of us who have suffered the indignity of being called fat at some point in our life- and would prefer that it’s from a medical professional instead of the state.
Great post, great point, great kid, that Bailey,David!!! Where do I send my donation?
Marianne- you pledge to donate on Kickstarter- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/baileywebber/the-student-body?ref=card
if she reaches her goal – then you contribute. What’s most important now is to spread the word and ask others to donate.
Very cool! I’ll spread the word……..hope she gets far more than needed or expected!
At least make the letter fair for everyone. If the parents are told their kids are fat (which they should) they should also be told if their teacher is fat and be given an option to not have a fat teacher. How can our labor union government indoctrinating teachers be good role model for healthy children if they are food addicts and morbidly fat? Obesity should not be allowed in the classroom at all in my opinion if you really want a healthy society and lower health care costs.
Thanks so much for posting about this, David. Mike Webber is an amazing filmmaker, and I’m truly excited to see what Bailey does with this topic.
@ Dale – I don’t think you can blame the teachers union for this. This is straight out of Columbus. I’m pretty sure this is part of the Ohio Obesity Prevention Plan that Ted Strickland put in place. Besides…unions usually don’t just sign up their members for more work. LOL. Although I believe the school district can opt out.
The real question is why is anyone surprised? If you elect politicians that ran on a busy body, big government and nanny state agenda, then you get a busy body, big government and nanny state policies.
Not only is this an inappropriate mission for public school and an utterly stupid idea (I guarantee a parent already knows if his or her kid is fat), but using BMI as an indicator of healthy weight is not at all accurate.
As a competitive swimmer in college, I was 5’9″ and 190 lbs. Grueling 2-3 hour practices once or twice a day. Solid muscle. 20 years old and at the height of my physical fitness. Yet according to BMI calculators, I was overweight, and I should have tipped the scales at between 125-169 pounds. Hell, my skeleton weighs more than that!
Most health experts agree that taking a waist circumference measurement is a nuch better indicator of appropriate body weight: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/e_txtbk/txgd/4142.htm
Government has no business making obesity in schools a government issue when they know full well its causes and that they are part and parcel of creating this nightmare. American ‘food’ is no longer nourishing and life sustaining. Instead, the U.S. has abandoned the welfare of its own people by cowtowing to the industries that stand to gain from mass production and even from our illnesses. Most countries, for instance, mandate the labeling of all GMO foods but not us. Nope. We continue to bow to the wishes of corporations that get to use our entire population as guinea pigs while they rake in money at our expense. Health professionals are trying to sound the alarm of our empty calorie/high sugar content diets that are slowly but surely poisoning us, overloading our pancreas and liver so that they cannot do their work of keeping us healthy. Type II diabetes is rampant, even among the very young as our bodies find themselves overwhelmed by the unhealthy components of our foods and beverages. The majority of our foods are tainted with pesticides, insecticides and antibiotics, leaving us feeling sick, tired and dull. Pinning it on the parents or the overweight people is misguided at best; stupid and cruel at worst. Instead, let’s for ONCE treat the cause and not the symptoms of what ails our American system – in this case, that means addressing the proliferation of CAFOS (confined animal feeding operations) that process sick and toxic animals for our consumption, the government approval of GMO corn, soy and even rice to our detriment, the pesticide/insecticide-rife produce in our supermarkets and school cafeterias, and the, I believe, intentional dearth of information about the risks we are taking every day here in America when we eat or drink our standard American fare. If government really wants to do something about childhood obesity, let them mandate organic food, GMO labeling, programs that ensure every child has enough to eat and that the food itself is safe and non-toxic and perhaps even instituting nutrition programs in schools and communities to educate people on how best to maintain good health. Poverty is literally killing… Read more »
This intrusive behavior only serves to make students have a poor self image–especially girls. It also encourages eating disorders. Not everyone is a size 6. Get over it and let people live their lives.
Today’s Dayton Daily News has the story now, “Young filmmaker turns lens to ‘fat letters’ “: