Schools launch new psy-op: Weight shaming

2006092801, originally uploaded by jen-rocks.com.

Some New York legislators are considering mandatory weight report cards for school kids as a way to combat obesity. [NYT]

This year, Pennsylvania kids from kindergarten to Grade 8 will get weight report cards. Several other states have implemented similar programs, or are considering them.

I have a hard time imagining what these state-sponsored weigh-ins will accomplish, other than to foster shame and neuroticism in kids of all body types.

Psychological impact aside, would these weigh-ins tell us anything useful? Would weight reports give parents any specific guidance on how to improve their child's lifestyle, or whether it needs improving? Probably not. So far, schools have used the Body Mass Index, which is just a concise way to express whether someone is an average weight for their height. The BMI may seem modern and scientific, but it operates on the same principle as the old insurance company height/weight tables.

Of course, being heavier than average for one's height doesn't necessarily signal an excess of fat. Some people are heavier because they have more muscle and/or denser bones. Some people who are light for their height still have excess fat crowding their organs. So, BMI report cards are likely to cause needless worry in some kids, and a false sense of security in others. This inevitable burden of misinformation has to be taken into account when assessing the overall value of BMI reporting.

Even if the BMI is a useful indicator in many cases, it doesn't follow that shaming children (and their parents by extension) will lead to healthier eating habits. In fact, preoccupation with weight and dieting can actually make people fatter in the long run.

What are parents supposed to do differently if their kid fails BMI? Chances are, if a kid's overweight, the kid and the parents are already well aware of the situation. Besides which, without individualized counseling, it's not clear how to deal with a putatively overweight kid. Doctors rarely recommend weight-loss diets for kids, unless there's a dire medical need.

It's likely that the school-based advice to parents will take the form of platitudes: Your son or daughter should do what s/he should have been doing anyway, exercising and eating right.

If State legislators are really concerned about the health of their students, they should impose a rigorous physical education program, starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school graduation. Of course, this would be expensive and require a lot of planning and expertise to implement properly.

Compared to physical fitness, self-loathing is remarkably cost effective. Why help kids get in shape when you can drive them slowly crazy for only a fraction of the cost? You know, the State senators could set an example for the rest of us by instituting mandatory public weigh-ins before floor votes.

[HT: Jill of Feministe.]

Comments

[zuzu]

Compared to physical fitness, self-loathing is remarkably cost effective. Why help kids get in shape when you can drive them slowly crazy for only a fraction of the cost?

Exactly.

Thing is, this whole BMI-on-report-cards thing was started by some states and/or school districts that put into place well-funded, comprehensive programs that promoted lifestyle change and undid a lot of the damage that budget cuts over the years have done to the quality of school lunches and the availability and frequency of PE and outside recess. (And that's not even getting into vending-machine contracts that let kids buy soda or candy all day.)

What's happening in places like Pennsylvania is that they're mandating the obesity report card as a way to look like they're doing something about childhood obesity, but they're not providing the funding to provide decent food or activity or education/counseling on good habits. So all they wind up doing is perpetuating the conditions that have led to an increase in average weights while adding a big dose of shaming into the mix.

[epistemology]

This is wrong because there is no proven treatment, nor even known cause, of most obesity. These kids aren't too fat, they are too short. If they would just grow they would be make the normal BMI.

Why not send home height report cards? Chastise the parents of the fat kids for not making their kids grow taller.

[Anon]

Most states already require that all schools -- public and private -- verify that kids have had annual doctor's checkups before they enroll. In large part this is due to the need to verify current vaccinations.

At these checkups the doctors will almost invariably give the parents the kids' height and weight as well as a percentile score for each. Situations vary, but you would expect that for parents likely to take corrective action, the discussion about a kid being overweight would start in the safe, private confines of the doctor's office.

As much as I can't stand the right wing assault on public schools, I'm afraid the NEA et al give them plenty of ammunition.

[MDtoMN]

I'm not sure why this is so horrible. First, a lot of people with healthy BMIs might think - "Hey, I'm the right weight, I don't need to be anorexic" (obviously not enough alone, but it can't hurt to send another message) (in fact, people with low BMIs will also receive a message about their health).

Second, these will be private like grades, right? So, I don't see a ton of shaming.

[Tyler DiPietro]

My psycho-outcast side that's still with me from my when I was in school says "good! torture the little shits." But overall I think this is a pretty bad policy decision. Schools are supposed to be about academics, and there is already enough pressure on kids as it is to pass muster in those areas. Putting a "weight grade" on there is just an extraneous layer of fat (pardon the pun) that kids who are supposed to be learning will have to deal with.

I also don't think that you academic performance should be affected by physical conditioning. I think that if the schools were going to be involved in this at all, it should be segregated from other areas of performance (math, science, attendance regulation, etc.).

[DanC]

I dont see how a BMI report card could help out at all, considering academic report cards don't help kids get good grades. If NY really wants to help kids lose weight, they should ban all fast food and junk food advertising. Did you know more kids know who Ronald McDonald is than George Washington(yeah thats right, I saw supersize me)? I, however, don't see this happening anytime soon.

[twig]

My psycho-outcast side that's still with me from my when I was in school says "good! torture the little shits."

Oh, if they're fat, they're already being tortured. Probably every day. In ways that might leave them permanently damaged for the rest of their lives.

I suppose enough state-sanctioned fat kid torture and the suicide rate should go up and solve some of the problem.

[Dr. Free-Ride]

Were our schools to do this, I'd probably flip out for the simple fact that my kids come into contact with the junkiest of junk foods at school parties and fundraisers (and would in the school lunches, too, if we didn't pack their lunches). Find the funds to put P.E. back in school, teach kids about nutrition in health class, but do not saddle the kids with one more number-linked-to-standards that is supposed to communicate something useful yet gives next to no information about how to *use* that number to accomplish something.

[kmymkk]

Simply reading this caused us to eat many cookies in panic.

[Tyler DiPietro]

I suppose enough state-sanctioned fat kid torture and the suicide rate should go up and solve some of the problem.

Stop, you're giving me a boner.

Just kidding.

One other thing we might want to worry about is that this could exacerbate an already problem schools have with jock-worship. There is already an undervaluation, at least with regard to what it is most recognized in a school environment, with academic performance (dumbass jocks he-hawing out into the gymnasium like a bunch of jackasses to be cheered, math team gets a two-second mention over the intercom, etc.) being subordinated to sports and athletics. Don't need to make it worse by making it an integral part of the grade-system itself.

[Amanda Marcotte]

God, at least when I was in school, they measured your fat ratio. Even that was horrid, though. I remember one year I was "fat", when what was going on was I was, um, an early developer. Did they accurately predict a lifetime of fatassery for me? No. Last time I had my body fat measured, it was very low.

I mean, I get the concern. Kids are not healthy---they are overfed and they don't play outside enough. But routine humiliation is not the answer.

[zuzu]

Stop, you're giving me a boner.

Just kidding.

Tyler, I'd like you to know that I'm in tears right now, reading your comments. I actually did attempt suicide as a teenager because of the years of torment I endured as the fat kid.

And I've been out of high school for 20 years.

Fuck you.

[Tyler DiPietro]

Tyler, I'd like you to know that I'm in tears right now, reading your comments. I actually did attempt suicide as a teenager because of the years of torment I endured as the fat kid.

I apologize if I genuinely emotionally hurt you, it was intended in jest.

If it helps, I've also attempted suicide. A folder containing my discharge papers from the mental hospital, my MRI scans and about two years of backlogged records accumulated during therapy (I was ultimately diagnosed with manic-depressive disorder) are visible from where I'm sitting.

Once again, I'm sorry for being insensitive. I didn't mean anything by it.

[Tyler DiPietro]

If zuzu ever comes back, I've issued her a public apology on my blog.

[superdude]

Did anyone actually like PE or was it just some bullshit requirement that took time away from classes universities actually cared that you took?

My negative experiences in PE turned me off of exercise until I was well into my 20s. I think it was a combination of factors (a) the students didn't want to be there (b) the teachers were worn down as a result (c) health and fitness were not emphasized.

Let's focus on (c) since the first two are self-explanatory. My PE classes emphasized learning the rules of competetive sports. Nutrition wasn't discussed (that was home ec, which few college prep students took). I wouldn't have minded doing something like you might do at a health club now: having a session with a personal trainer and a nutritionist where you talk about your fitness goals and what you need to do to achieve them. But that was emphatically *not* what we did in PE. We did some warmup calisthenics then went out to play softball.

We did this every year, K-8, and then for two years in high school. The two high school years were literally the same class. We were required to take it as a freshman and then could elect whether to repeat it as a sophomore, junior, or senior. How stupid is this? How many years does it take learn the basics of softball? If that time could have been spent working out in a well equipped gym on a prescribed fitness program, that might have been time well spent. But we were just doing jumping jacks without any real goal or direction.

What I'm proposing isn't completely absurd. School districts are already spending enormous amounts on physical education, to no real effect. Why not just equip each school with a publically subsidized health club?

I'm trying to think of a fascistic punitive aspect I can add to make this clearly socialst program more politically palatable. Er, require the kids with bad BMI report kids to work out? Make it off limits to illegal immigrants?

[dan]

I'll never understand why so many people think the trouble with fat kids is that they don't know they're fat.

[togolosh]

Tyler's apology to zuzu is worth a read, if for no other reason than to remind us that there are real people on the other end of the intertubes.

[RickD]

This approach to child obesity is akin to the NCLB approach to education. "Doing something" about a problem is equated with measuring the existence of a problem.

[Paul Hooson]

I'm personally a vegan. And this diet really helps to avoid putting on much weight. I enjoy making great tasting vegan sandwiches, Asian style dinners, pizzas and other meals. This diet is not for everyone. But for a retired rock singer like me now in his 50's, this diet has reversed severe angina symptoms, given me perfect blood pressure, etc.

A vegan diet respects the animal life that God has blessed this green and blue planet with. This diet is not for everyone. But some doctors now believe that life could be extended to 120 to 160 years with continued improvements in medicine and a better diet.

Perhaps more schools should consider offering vegan diet alternatives for some students and see if this doesn't start to pay huge health dividends. A vegan diet also raises your sense of spiritual respect for animal life and creation as well. You can also better appreciate life affirming views of nature such as those shared by Buddhists,Hindus, Native American religion and others.

[Rose]

When I was 13 years old, in 1983, I weighed about 115 lbs and was just about 5' tall (I'm not even 5'1 now, but I think I was basically done with growing, height wise at about 13). My family was ashamed at how "fat" I was, my class mates made fun of me, a doctor (a really fat 300+ one) told me I was dangerously overweight and my mother was negleting me by not putting me on a strict diet!

By the time I was 16, I weighed about 95 lbs. I was smoking about 2 packs of cigarettes a day. I did coke and all types of speed which kept me from ever having an appetite. I was finally validated - I was a thin person! Still, I could never look in the mirror and see myself as thin, it was never enough.

Now I'm 36 and I weigh about 140 lbs. In my adult life I've been as heavy as 165 and as thin as 120 but I never returned to my skeletal days, thank God! I'm strong and healthy, most of my weight is on my lower body so it's less dangerous than having a high concentration of fat on my stomach. I don't look like a supermodel, I'm short and chubby, but I might be at the healthiest point I've ever been in my life.

I wonder if I weighed what I do now and I was a student being weighed in and given a report card saying I was "officially" fat? It sends a chill down my spine because the confident woman I became was buried deep back then and all I wanted to do was fit in and be accepted. I fear that many young girls (and boys too) are going through this today. This is our committment to health in this country? It's very sad!

[BStu]

*IF* kids are eating poorly and *IF* kids aren't getting enough activity, then remedy *THAT*. Targeting fat children does nothing. If fitness really is the problem, then respond to it. Not a child's weight.

[inge]

MDtoMN, from my experience with teenaged girls (having been one, if some time ago) a lot of people with healthy BMIs might think - "Hey, I'm the right weight, I don't need to be anorexic" is not how it works. Being thin is a competitive activity, so if any girl in the class gets a 16 on her BMI report (even if she's known to have an eating disorder), every girl with a 17 will moan about being a fat cow and go on a diet.

I remember mandatory weighing of school kids in elementary school (a relic by then already), to find those who were underweight and get them to gain weight. But even if, these days, one was equally willing to spend the money and effort to do something effective about kids being overweight, one runs into the problem that there aren't that many effective things to be done.

PE is usually a horror and IME the greatest contributor to discourage overweight or clumsy kids from working out. Diets usually do more harm then good. Unhealthy eating happens at any weight, so does high strength and endurance. Encouraging kids to smoke would do the trick but I doubt that it'd be politically feasible.

However, this score carding seems to me as if someone's actually aiming to solve the "problem" of overweight kids by encouraging eating disorders...

[Rose]

My husband and I had an interesting coversation about this article at lunch today. He said that the push to "shame" fat people reminded him of the push to privatize social security a couple of years ago. Just as Bush met with young people to tell them that the old were draining their resorces from them, today we are all being told that the fat are trying to destroy our healthcare system. I don't know if people are significantly heavier now than they were 20 years ago, in spite of the constant publicity stating that we are. I think this is just another sypmtom of a dying empire, which is growing increasingly impatient with its weak.

I think that those of you who are concerned about the overall impact illness that are directly related to obesity are probably well-meaning. Hey, my husband is very heavy and is diabetic, so I'm aware how these things can impact first hand. But we're going down a slippery slope of government intervention into all aspects of our lives. I find it a more ominous sign than our asses getting a bit fatter.

[omfg]

this is just another way for the state to intervene in your life and set standards for the obedient sheeple mindelessly to obey.

Whose fucking business is it anyway?

And why the fuck can ADM and Monsanto genetically engineer, privately own and corner the food production market, providing more fat content and less nutritional value in our food supply than ever?

Fat, compliant, ignorant sheep. Baa baa

[aeroman]

An alternative to traditional PE classes is making more athletic options available to kids with less athletic aptitude. I understand that school athletic competition can be important to fostering community, so I wouldn't recommend for abolishing the existence of highly competitive teams that often feature the same handful of very athletic kids across sports, but the programs can coexist.

My high school's physical education requirement could be met by participating in sports teams, and, as a result, a lot of teams evolved to allow spots for less-than-fantastic athletes. For example, as a small school, we never had the maximum number of participants for a lot of track and field events. I threw shotput, was thoroughly unremarkable, and got in the best shape of my life without ever hurting the team (my zero points were the same zero points we'd get from having no additional thrower).

Anyway, that's just one example. There are lots of ways to get kids exercise without resorting to awful, boring, ineffective, bullying-enabling traditional PE classes.