Asian Schools: Strict Weight Control
The Singaporean Government is implementing strict policies in schools - to deal with overweight students:
Children are regularly weighed and those classified as overweight are told how many calories they can consume each day.At one school, thin pupils wear colourful "I'm Trim and Fit" wrist bands while their overweight friends are issued "calorie cash": food ration coupons with caloric values they must not exceed when buying meals at the canteen.
Many aspects of the program are good - but as Australian lecturer Philip Morgan points out:
"One of the really severe consequences for overweight or obese children is that a lot of them have very low self-esteem and depression," he said."So anything that makes them feel isolated or identified or ostracised in that sense, I can't see that as a very positive way to address the health issue."
Being an overweight child can carry stigma enough - without adding to it. One can't help wondering that abuse of alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs deserves far more attention.
Written By J. Foster
food is abused just like any drug. like excessive drug use there are severe consequences for excessive intake of food. but i do agree that most kids would be ashamed/humilated (as would i)
ReplyGee that is very harsh. I think the extreme focus on weight is very unhealthy. Simply teaching the kids about healthy eating and implimenting more physical activity into the day would help. I dont think the wristbands are a good idea either. Young children will start to equate selfworth with body size.
ReplyI think it's a good idea. Most kids in my class laugh at health and say "Were is KFC or burger King", but that's mostly the skinnier kids. The bigger kids in the class pay close attention but that's the bad part they have selctive hearing they her 3500 calories equell a pound but they don't hear eat about 2,000 calories a day. They starve them selfs for a couple of days and count calories then most of them stop and gain 5 times of what they lost. So i think weighing kids on a consistant bases is a good idea because they can tell that the childeren are loseing weight too fast.
ReplyI think it could be a good motivator for kids to lose weight and get healthier. Learning to manage calories IS sort of like learning to manage money, and they teach kids how to do that in economics classes. The plan could backfire though because the kids can eat whatever they want when they aren't at school, so some of them may just eat more. I think the wristbands should be different though...maybe give them to kids that meet certain "goals", like losing 5 lbs or eating 5 servings of veggies a day for 2 weeks, or exercising 4 times a week, etc. Then more kids would feel included, I'd think.
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