Should Public Schools Be Required to Restore Physical Education Classes to the Curriculum?

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Introduction

The occurrence of obesity prevalence in children, in the U S, can be associated with the removal of physical education courses in public school curriculum. These courses were serving a lot in reducing the numbers of children suffering from obesity and obesity related illnesses.

This was so because the students were passed through a curriculum that worked out their mental and body strength. They were able to burn the extra calories that would have other wise accumulated in the body causing obesity. Currently the students are not involved in any physical course. As a result, there is a high rate of obesity prevalence in children, in America. It is estimated that of all children under the age of 12 in America 30% are obese. This is an alarming signal to the authority concerned (Axelrod, Cooper & Warriner, 2008).

Association between a growing obesity problem, and the exclusion of physical education in unrestricted schools

There is a correlation between growing obesity problem and the elimination of physical education in schools. In that the moment physical education courses were eliminated in public schools curriculum, cases of obesity started being identified just a year later. This was because this curriculum was helping students to deal with obesity related-illnesses.

Despite the fact, that the student’s diet was a healthy one, the exercises during physical education courses prevented them from developing obesity. Elimination of the physical education courses resulted in the fanning of obesity prevalence, which led to, more problems and difficult situations (Axelrod, Cooper & Warriner, 2008).

It is thus necessary for public schools to restore physical education courses in the curriculum. Exercises play a vital role in ensuring the condition of obesity and obesity related-illnesses are taken care of. The condition of obesity comes with a lot of complications in life. The obese individuals do have a lot of hard time to adapt to their surrounding. It has been evident that such individuals do have low-self esteem.

To eliminate this problem, physical education courses should be restored back in the curriculum. Thus in my research I have looked in to the reasons that make obesity growing a problem among children and teenagers in America. I have also researched on how this problem affects the medical profession. I have as well researched on the impact the high cost of insurance has on the obese people (Ling, 2005).

Obesity is a “growing” predicament among children and teenagers in America

Obesity is a medical condition that bears the characteristics of the body storing a lot of fats (Lee, 2007). This condition is familiar with children and youths in America. Some people would want to be happy bearing this condition, arguing that it makes them similar to other people.

Despite this, they should be aware that obesity leads to serious health problems such as diabetes, arthritis and cardiac complications. The number of obese youth has doubled since 1982, and this has grown to be a subject of distress to the administration, family members and the community at large.

When considering the subject of body metabolism, it has been evident scientifically that the difference in genes controlling appetite and the genes concerned with body metabolism leads to obesity. Individuals with this condition tend to consume more calories than their body needs. So the extra calories get converted to fats which lead to an individual getting obsessed. This mainly is not an individual making as the body has metabolic complications.

However, it is one’s duty to make sure they control their eating habits. On the other perspective, some argue that this is a weakness on the side of medical personnel. In that when children are born, the necessary tests should be conducted to determine the gene behavior of the child. This is done from the time the child is born to through out its early growth and development. This will enable the child to be trained on eating habits to avoid the occurrence of obesity.

Investigation has shown that obesity is mainly caused by poor dieting habits by most individuals. Most teenagers tend to consume food that propels the occurrence of obesity in the body. It has also been evident that most parents feed their children on ‘lame’ diet. With this, it means the children are fed on food that encourages the occurrence of obesity. The problem of obesity should not only be referred on food as the main cause.

It is noteworthy that failure or inadequate exercising is a main contributor to the problem of obese in children and youth, in America. In other context, this is viewed differently in that some argue that what the parents feed their children on depends mainly on the income of that family. If a family gets low income, it will consume the foods that it can afford. Thus, the government should employ measures to help such poor families with the dietary issues so as to curb this problem.

It is also noteworthy that the human factor fanning the increase in obesity incidences among the youth and children is the ignorance possessed by the parents of these children and youth. This comes about in that the youth lack enthusiasm on how to address their dietary concerns through proper feeding and exercising.

The parent’s ignorance also flows down to the children as the children are fed on food that culminates in obesity. There are people who contradict this view maintaining that it is not the parent to blame as the parents might be reporting to work on a daily basis. Thus, the people assigned to take care of these children during the day are to blame for not feeding them with healthy foods. These include the day cares and nannies. The nutritionally unbalanced foods include snacks and fast foods.

Inadequate subjects on nutrition in the American education system are a contributor to obesity occurrence. The American education system does not covered health lessons to the lower educational level. Health is well taken care of from college level of education.

By this time, the student will have already developed obesity so the knowledge at that time will not be of importance to personal health. Many academic analysts do differ with this view. They argue that it is not the education sector that should bear this blame. They acknowledge that the students at a lower level of education are not ready to be taught complex dietary syllabus. They affirm that the responsibilities lie with the parents and guardians (Deutsch, 2000).

The demands on the therapeutic profession

The high rate of obesity has a set of new demand on the medical profession. This means that the medical profession has under gone a series of changes so as to accommodate the high number of obese cases reporting at the hospital. Nurses are the most affected medical practitioners as a result of high cases of obese cases in hospitals.

This has resulted to the modification of the nursing services in most hospitals. Most hospitals are equipped with facilities that can handle patient weighing less than 350 pounds. Most obese patients weigh more than 350 pounds which exceeds the limit. The hospitals have to invest in new facilities that suit the obese patients. These might include larger blood pressure measuring arm cuffs and wider examination tables.

The techniques of medication are also altered in that simple procedures that usually take few minutes on normal patients, take longer on obese patients. Such a procedure can include measuring the patient’s heart rate. This requires for patience by the medical practitioners.

The weight measuring scales normally go up to 350 pounds, for obese patients they will require bariatric scale so as to get the accurate reading. People with obese have mobility problems thus, when admitted in hospital they result in additional care like, turning them after sometime, taking them to washrooms, and sometimes bathing them. This additional care does give the medical practitioners a hard to accomplish.

Obese people also do have a lot of complications. For example obese people do have skin folds a factor that adds more care when treating them. Incase of a wound under a skin fold, it takes long than usual to heal as they are susceptible to bacterial infection.

They lack essential nutrients and minerals in their bodies, thus incase of admission to a health facility they take longer than usual to recover. It is evident that the other patients might end up not using those facilities. Although it is not a point of alarm, it is evident that this can be avoided by reducing incidences of obese.

There are other individuals who view the above factors contrary to this perspective. They do not consider this as demands to the medical practitioners. They view it as normal medical practice, as the obese are patients like any other. They should not be discriminated that they are bringing additional work in medical facilities. The medical practitioners should thus perform their normal duties without complains.

They argue that the obese need care as normal patients and not as “obese patients”. The obese patients ought not to be treated as an added trouble to the therapeutic profession. This is a true; however, the outstanding fact is that the cases of obese should be reduced. In this connection, I suggest that the public schools should restore physical courses back to the curriculum. This is the key solution to the reduction of the cases of obese among American children and teenagers. It might involve dietary measures, as well (Ganz, et al, 2006).

Unaffordable insurance cover

The insurance cover also does affect the obese people negatively, as the cost has risen in recent years. The obese citizens of America may find it hard to obtain a health insurance cover under normal circumstances. This is because of the possibility of pre-existing health complications (Doak, Visscher, Renders and Seidell, 2006).

The obese patients with cardiovascular diseases and those that are diabetic could end up paying from their own pockets for various medical procedures or medication. Without a complete restrategization of the health care system, millions of Americans will end up not being to treat their disorders. This could affect their health and lifestyle negatively.

The economist, however, differ saying that some insurance agencies have started regulating their rates and policies to accommodate the obese people. This they claim is evident by CIGNA health care, an associate of Georgia Inc earlier in 2005 announced medical management programmes that will enable its members to trim down and thus manage to deal with obesity related illnesses.

Although this is a way to reduce obesity related-illnesses, it does not help the already obsessed. It thus comes back to the Idea of introducing physical education courses in public school curriculum. These courses will help the students to deal with obesity related illnesses when still at a tender age (Barry, 2005).

Healthier foods to be prepared in schools

It is a fact that healthier foods do help in curbing the problem of obesity as good eating habits results in proper nutrition. Proper and balanced diet do provide the body with the required nutrients and minerals at the required amount (Lobstein, Baur and Uauy, 2004). This is the initial step that should be addressed but the main remedy is accessibility to exercises by the students.

It is indisputable that not all students will engage in exercises, upon their own initiation. A majority of students need constant supervision to perform physical exercises. The only place the get this constant supervision to perform the exercises is in school during the physical education lesson.

The class room setting does set the students mind to realize the essence of any advice being given by the teacher. It motivates them to perform as instructed by the teacher. The removal of the physical education courses from the public school curriculum was a major step in fanning the incidences of obesity among children of school going age in America (Lobstein et al., 2004).

It is a fact that although healthy foods do regulate the development of obesity in an individual, exercises are the ultimate remedy to this vice. An attempt to restore physical education courses to the curriculum will manage the rise of obesity related-illnesses. The advocation for the restoration of the physical education courses in public schools is a major step towards the realization of an obesity free society (Vaznaugh, 2010).

Conclusion

It is noteworthy that the food to be prepared for the students should be a balanced diet. This food should provide the student with the required nutrients to help deal with obesity related-illnesses. The students should also be taught good eating lifestyles. Since those with appetite gene and metabolism gene difference should protect themselves from obesity and obesity related illnesses (Lobstein, Baur and Uauy, 2004).

Although good eating habits and nutritious food consumption are of major concern, the most reliable aspect of obesity control is performing exercises. Thus, the restoration of the physical education in public school curriculum is an essential thing. The presence of these courses in the public school curriculum will help in a major way the fight against obesity and obesity related illnesses. The issue of diet can be so expensive for some families, but exercises are affordable as it only concerns the body and mind.

References

Axelrod, R. B., Cooper, C. R. & Warriner, A. M. (2008). Reading Critically, Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Barry, T. (2005). Insurance companies respond to obesity cost. Atlanta. Atlanta business chronicle. Web.

Deutsch, C. (2000). Common cause: School health & school reform. Educational Leadership. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Ganz, D, Chang, J, Roth, C, Guan, M, Kamberg,C, Niu, F, Reuben, D, Shekelle, P, Wenger & N, Maclean, C. (2006) Quality of osteoarthritis care for community- dwelling older adults, Arthritis Care & Research.

Doak, C. Visscher, T. Renders, C. and Seidell, J. (2006). The prevention of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents: a review of interventions and programmes. Obesity Reviews, 7: 111–136.

Lee, W. (2007). An overview of pediatric obesity. Pediatric Diabetes, 8: 76–87.

Lobstein, T., Baur, L. and Uauy, R. (2004). Obesity in children and young people: a crisis in public health. Obesity Reviews, 5: 4–85.

Ling, P. (2005). Focus on obesity research. New York: Nova Publishers.

Vaznaugh, S. (2010)‘Competitive’ Food and Beverage Policies: Are They Influencing Childhood Overweight Trends? Health Affairs: 10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0745.

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