Thursday, November 12, 2009

BMI on Report Cards?

I work in a school district that has decided to make a strong stand in educating students about healthy lifestyles and choices. One of the decisions to help educate students about their health habits was to include their BMI (Body Mass Index) on report cards in grades 1-6. This decision has been through some controversy among parents and educators. Personally I am on the fence about this one. On one hand, I do think that students should learn how to figure out their BMI score, and understand what it means. On the other, I think that overweight students already know that they are overweight. I also wonder if we are giving the parents the right amount of information about what the intent of the BMI score is. I guess that I have a couple of questions reguarding this subject. What is the benifit of including BMI on report cards? And, shouldn't we be educating parents about healthy lifestyles and nutrition? After all, students are usually going to eat meals that are prepared by the parents.
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2 comments:

  1. John DietzNovember 12, 2009 at 4:24 PM

    JBott I agree with you as to what is the purpose of the BMI on a report card? Is the amount of students labeled obese higher than that of the rest of the US? Is this something ordained by Governor Arnold? I think this could be a beneficial study in a health class. Possibly even using it as an extra credit blog to you weekly to monitor their health.

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  2. SusieNovember 13, 2009 at 3:42 PM

    I agree with both of you. What is the purpose of the BMI on the report card? Don't the overweight children already know they are overweight? Do we need to publish it to the world? As a parent, I feel that it is my responsibility to ensure that my kids are eating healthy and excersing regularly. What can we do to ensure that other parents feel the same way? Do you have any ideas as to how to get the parents involved?

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