Pennsylvania is now offering a useful indicator for parents who happen to be blind:
As they wait for their children's first report card to come home this year, elementary-school parents across Pennsylvania also can expect to receive a separate report on a key indicator of their children's health.In an effort to combat childhood obesity, the state Health Department is requiring school nurses to compute students' body-mass index - or height-to-weight ratio - during annual growth screenings, starting this year with children in kindergarten through fourth grade.
Oh, wait - you mean this isn't just for blind parents? It's for all parents, because the PA Health Department is assuming that parents have no clue how wide their kids are compared to their height? The department is also assuming that parents will receive this report card, smack their foreheads in disbelief, and exclaim, "My God, I never noticed it before, but little Johnny is fat!" They're also assuming parents would never think of taking "little" Johnny to the doctor unless the report card said to do so.
Far be it from me to stop schools from trying to improve the health of students, but what are they going to do if parents ignore these notices? What happens if the kids come back even fatter next year?
Posted by kswygert at September 9, 2005 08:18 PM