Obesity and Our School Distict (Final Copy of Proposal Essay)

Obesity in our children is a rising concern in our community. This is an issue that must be addressed not only at home, but also within the school district. Although the Fairbanks North Star Borough meets the food standards for the State of Alaska, they need to incorporate a mandatory Physical Education class during the school day because students need exercise every day, students must learn the importance of exercise and how it affects their health, and students need to burn built up energy outside the classroom.

The State of Alaska only requires high school students to take one class of health or physical education in order to graduate. This class is typically taken at a high school level. Physical education classes in other grade levels are determined by the local school district. Obesity in our children is concern in our community, not only should healthy eating and exercise be taught at home, but the school district should also be required to implement a program to help educate our children. The response we could get when this type of class is mentioned is “We don’t have enough school funds to justify this type of class.”

School age children should be getting a minimum of one hour of daily exercise everyday or most days of the week and school age children should not be stationary for more than two hours at a time. There are many afterschool sport activities that are available in our community that children can be involved in, but there is a financial constraint for some parents to get these children involved in these sports. Children should not be penalized for not being able to afford a community wide sponsored sport activity. Although younger school age children get at least thirty minutes of recess each day, the older students do not get this opportunity. A mandatory physical education class would require students to be active for a minimum of thirty to sixty minutes a day. I understand that cost and time is a major factor in implementing these classes, the school district puts so much effort into other types of learning programs to make our children ready for society, and and thirty to sixty minutes of structured exercise can only be an additional benefit to our children.

The physical education classes should be required to teach the kids the importance of exercise and eating healthy. Students need to realize that the habits they are forming now will follow them into adulthood. Classes should be different each day; they can focus on the proper way to do different exercises that don’t require any special equipment, like running, walking, jumping jacks, sit-ups and push-ups. They can also incorporate into the class the importance of healthy eating, which would involve the new food pyramid and basic recipes. Instructors could discuss the different types of health problems that could occur as adults; type 2 diabetes, heart problems, weight problems, weak bones, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. The classes should focus on age appropriate material, what you teach a child in middle school would be different than what you would teach an elementary student. A one hour class could teach the children so much about their health. One hour a day is not much to ask to help the welfare of our children and their health. Just as any class a child is enrolled in within the school district, the learning needs to continue at home with the parents or guardians.

Children are very stationary during the school day; they are required to sit still and listen to their teacher. When some children are required to sit still for a length of time, they will start to bored and become a distraction to the teacher and other students. Some students will start moving around in their seats, talking to other students and become a disturbance to the class. If kids had the opportunity to take a break and let off a little energy they would be more focused during the lessons that are stationary, grades and behavior could improved. Just as exercise is a stress reducer for adults it can have the same affect on children. A mandatory physical education class could also lower discipline problems in the classroom.

The parents should really get involved in trying to incorporate a physical education class for all grade levels within our school district. The funds to incorporate this class she be included in the borough budget, because health problems just don’t arise once a child is in high school; they start while a child is young. Children absorb so much at a young age, if they can learn to be physically active and the importance of eating healthy at a young age; this will help them live a long, happy and full filling life as an adult.