Teachers For A Democratic Culture

There is a problem. It’s obvious, and everyone in America is acting like they’re afraid to talk about it. There is a giant elephant in the room and nobody wants to admit that it’s there. But there is no denying that our children have a problem with understanding the value of good health. We are required to teach health classes to all grade levels in every school from elementary school, middle school, and high school and yet our children are not understanding the importance of being in shape.

A huge part of the problem is the fact that standardized testing has become such a priority that in elementary school they are cutting recess down and virtually getting rid of it. The problem is that recess allows children the opportunity to be active, run around, use up that bottled up energy that keeps them bouncing off the walls in class and keeps them healthy. If we continue to take recess away from them, then we can expect that they will not only be unhealthy, but will be unable to concentrate on learning and retaining the material that we teach them. A number of children these days are being diagnosed as being ADD, but the truth is that they spend too much time in front of electronics and not enough time playing outside and having a healthy amount of recess. Children need to be encouraged to run and play outside. They should be engaged in activities that will keep them physically fit.

But before children can be physically fit and understand the importance of health education, parents must also be well informed. You cannot feed your kids macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets every night for dinner. They can’t eat starches and starches on end and expect to be ready for school and ready to learn. The failure of parents to feed their kids healthy meals and establish good eating habits at an early age is the #1 cause of obesity in America. 

But once we have parents involved in making better choices for their children, teachers can then get involved and teach students in the classroom about why they eat the way that they do, the importance of following the food pyramid and good dieting, great exercise, and how to develop good healthy habits early on.