"The rationale for [HPR 103: Fitness for Life and its placement policy] was to address the national epidemic of obesity and its myriad co-morbidities: heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, selected cancers, and musculo-skeletal disorders - diseases that disproportionately affect people of colour," he wrote.
"I implore you to 'stay the course' in retaining our HPR 103 graduation policy not for reasons of garnering praise but rather so that we might make a difference. Our students - indeed, the nation - needs us to step up."
A somewhat similar program was attempted at Harvard University last year and garnered equally harsh criticism. In order to inform students about their choices in the cafeteria, the university displayed an index card with an item's nutritional information next to every dish on offer. This caused an outrage from parents and students who claimed that this kind of information would only add to the stress and anxiety of students who are trying to balance academic stress with body image issues. The calorie cards were removed from their place next to the food, but the information is currently available online and at an information desk.
A recent report from America's Health Rankings anticipated that obesity rates will continue to grow at an alarming pace. The estimation is that by 2018, 43 per cent of Americans will be clinically obese. The report also indicated that obesity will cost Americans $334 billion in medical expenses by 2018.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Arnold
posted 12/01/09 @ 12:59 PM EST
LOL! I had to double-check I wasn't reading this from onion.com!
ceebee
posted 12/04/09 @ 3:36 AM EST
Unreal. The rules/requirements should be for everyone. Not for a specific class or target. That's discrimination.
Schools in general are just a joke and a waste of money. (Continued…)
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