The United States is now ranked among the most obese country in the world, and more than one third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. The rate of obesity is increasing yearly, and there needs to be an end to this epidemic that this country is facing. The two most important causes that contribute to childhood obesity are from physical education diminishing within schools and fast food companies marketing their products to kids. A major cause that contributes to childhood obesity in America is from physical education diminishing in schools. The schooling system is more concerned with standardized test scores, and would rather spend more time and money in the class room than providing time out of the day for physical activity.
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The earlier on set of the obesity starts the lack of physical activity, which ultimately causes these kids to not want to participate in any exercise. Further, some studies have shown that If the children had a body fat percentage ten percent higher than average at age seven they went on to reduce the amount of time they spent doing moderate or vigorous activity by four minutes per day by the time they reached age ten (Smith 1). This concludes that because these children are already over weight by the time PE is introduced to them, it is too late because they already lack physical activity from a young age. Overall, it appears that lacking physical education is not an element in childhood obesity, but rather poor eating patterns from a young …show more content…
As a result of this program, she was able to show a change in eighth-grade students, by showing a 5.5 percent drop in the number of obese schoolchildren over five years, the biggest decline reported by any large city (New York City). It has been proven over a period of time, that requiring students to participate in physical education during school has made positive changes. Although nutrition is very important in a child’s diet, it is just as important to incorporate exercise in their lives in order to be healthy. Parents have an important role in ensuring their kids are healthy, but it is also the schools responsibility to help out. According to Education Commission of the States, “The numbers we came up with are 943 hours for 1st-graders, 1,016 hours for 7th-graders and 1,025 hours for 11th-graders. (For comparison, a 180-day calendar of 6-hour days would provide 1,080 instructional hours)” (Desilver). With this understanding, it it essential that schools incorporate physical education because a huge portion of a child’s life is spent in school. It will also help create new healthy habits that kids will incorporate into the rest of their
The earlier on set of the obesity starts the lack of physical activity, which ultimately causes these kids to not want to participate in any exercise. Further, some studies have shown that If the children had a body fat percentage ten percent higher than average at age seven they went on to reduce the amount of time they spent doing moderate or vigorous activity by four minutes per day by the time they reached age ten (Smith 1). This concludes that because these children are already over weight by the time PE is introduced to them, it is too late because they already lack physical activity from a young age. Overall, it appears that lacking physical education is not an element in childhood obesity, but rather poor eating patterns from a young …show more content…
As a result of this program, she was able to show a change in eighth-grade students, by showing a 5.5 percent drop in the number of obese schoolchildren over five years, the biggest decline reported by any large city (New York City). It has been proven over a period of time, that requiring students to participate in physical education during school has made positive changes. Although nutrition is very important in a child’s diet, it is just as important to incorporate exercise in their lives in order to be healthy. Parents have an important role in ensuring their kids are healthy, but it is also the schools responsibility to help out. According to Education Commission of the States, “The numbers we came up with are 943 hours for 1st-graders, 1,016 hours for 7th-graders and 1,025 hours for 11th-graders. (For comparison, a 180-day calendar of 6-hour days would provide 1,080 instructional hours)” (Desilver). With this understanding, it it essential that schools incorporate physical education because a huge portion of a child’s life is spent in school. It will also help create new healthy habits that kids will incorporate into the rest of their