Teachers need to help overweight students
For those who trudge into the classroom five days a week to impart the wisdom of the ages to our next generation of leaders, all the respect in the world.
It can’t be easy — teaching, that is.
The same goes for school principals, assistant principals, guidance counselors, school bus drivers and all the others who labor in the vineyards of education.
Enough. Here’s the point. Teachers, principals and the rest of you who come into daily contact with students: be examples. Fight the growing prevalence of chubby first- and second-graders, of overweight high school sophomores and juniors. Shed those inches. Lose weight.
I know, it’s tough enough being a good teacher. You’re already overwhelmed. You teach, you counsel; you remain cool and calm when confronted by crazy parents; you are mistreatedby your bosses; you are whipped about by every nincompoop politician; harassed by every candidate for public office, including a good many who are running for president.
Still, you ask, is this not enough? The answer: it’s still not enough.
But, you say, being slim and trim is not in my contract; it’s not even in my DNA. And, you continue, the job of being svelte examples to kids begins with parents, at home.
Finally you say: Everyone is pudgy. Why not me?
Exactly right. Everyone is porky these days. Well, not everyone, but just about everyone.
According to the government, 69 percent of Americans are overweight, including 35 percent who are obese. If you doubt this, sit yourself in a car in any parking lot in town and observe. It’s a train wreck out there. There are middle age people so heavy they don’t even walk, so infirm that they use powered scooters: they scoot to shop.
As a country, we have gone soft. Most of us can’t even hazard a stroll around a golf course. Why should any self-serving 30- or 40-year-old ride a golf cart? For that matter, there are teenage golfers and men and women in their twenties who refuse to walk, opting for a motorized conveyance that doesn’t even afford the benefit of speeding up play.
There ought to be a law: if you’re under, say, 40, you walk; and if you’re between 40 and 65 you should be required to get a note from your doctor confirming that you are utterly incapable of standing on your feet and moving for two or three or even five hours at a time.
Oops. A pet peeve. Back to teachers.
This very newspaper occasionally prints photographs of students standing alongside principals and teachers and assorted other school personnel. Sorry to say, the principals, the teachers, the other assorted school personnel are invariably radiant with the glowing effects of too many trips to the pastry table, of too much lager at the sausage festival.
Change is hard, but in this instance, it is absolutely necessary. Lives are on the line.
Consider. According to the Centers For Disease Control, overweight and obese kids have an uncanny habit of growing into overweight and obese adults, with all the attendant health risks: diabetes, cardiovascular disease, various types of cancer, and “wear and tear” arthritis, the kind that occurs when too much weight bears down on joints, breaking down cartilage and plunging the human animal into chronic, debilitating pain — the kind of pain that sits middle age men and women in wheelchairs.
According to the CDC’s government-speak, schools can play a critical role in reversing the course of lives “by establishing a safe and healthy environment” in support of practices that, if people are smart and wise, become lifelong pursuits.
Schools, the CDC says, can “provide opportunities for students to learn and practice healthy eating habits and physical activity behaviors.”
That’s where you come in, Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. Principal, Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. Teacher. To borrow a clich茅, become the change you want to see. Isn’t it maddening to have, sitting at tables and desks in your classroom, kids who are obviously too heavy and too out of shape, kids already exhibiting an excess of blubber?
Remember, in the last 100 or so years, we have had only one really overweight president- the gargantuan William Howard Taft, who was so fleshy an oversized bathtub was installed in the White House for his cleansing needs.
Help a kid find their way to the Oval Office. Be an example.
During lunch breaks make a routine of walking the perimeter of your school building. Attract attention, so much so that students think: “Maybe that’s a good idea for me, too.”
Or start an after-school jogging/running/swimming club. Pitch softball to the kids during recess. Organize teacher-student volleyball games. Grade-school teachers, help students “act out” those “action” verbs you are so fond of.
Listen, the odds are stacked against success. As a country, we consume far too many calories — 20 percent more than we did in 1983 — and we are far too inactive. The CDC says 80 percent of us don’t exercise enough for our own good health.
We are bombarded by ads for fast food joints and sugary drinks.
But you’re teachers. You can do it. Light the way for the rest of us.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown and is the author of two books — “Grand Salute: Stories of the World War II Generation” and “Our People.” He can be reached at grandsalutebook@gmail .com.