Obese children and physical education are both neglected by the government, the school boards and school administrations. Obese children and physical education should be top priorities, but unfortunately they are often ignored in favor of the many demands placed on the school systems. The parents and government watch the test scores for reading and math carefully because these are the important indicators of achievement. The budget for an individual school could be greatly impacted by these tests scores. Even the local real estate prices can be affected by the school scores on the standardized tests.

Obese children and physical education are not relevant when the school board meets to evaluate the progress of each school. Those that evaluate the schools look at the facilities, the records of the educators, and the school standing on the standardized tests. No one comes in to count the number of obese children and physical education classes. They do not come into check to see if obese children and physical education classes are improving. No one seems to care if obese children and physical education classes are numerous. The evaluators do not seem concerned with the improvement of obese children and physical education classes.

Obese Children and Physical Education Classes Need Improvement

Most children are not naturally obese, but they become obese because of bad diet and lack of exercise. The budget cuts and the emphasis on standardized testing have eliminated many of the physical education programs in the schools. The children go to the school cafeteria for their lunch and eat foods that have fat content that is too high. They do not get the fruits and vegetables that are important to proper nutrition. At home, these children end up eating fast food without the proper nutritional values for growing children. They also end up watching television rather than playing outside or riding their bikes.

The children who need physical education so much now get none. Many of the school districts have cut physical education out of the school curriculum almost completely. The emphasis on standardized test scores means that the schools have cut out the time that children go out to play. Recess time and play time after lunch has been cut drastically because the schools feel the pressure to increase the averages on the standardized tests. No one seems to be acting to rectify the situation unfortunately. Many people talk about the problem of childhood obesity, but significant changes do not seem to happen.

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