Obese students forced to take fitness class at Pennsylvania university to graduate

Originally posted by Avenginggecko
reply to post by badgerprints

 

Wonderful job at being completely unable to objectively answer any question posed to you and falling back on labeling people you know nothing about as communist.

Intelligent debate: 0

McCarthyism: 1

Ah yes, the idealist calling the kettle black.


Any way,
Objective answers?


Social conditioning and the singling out and subsequent reeducation of nonconformers is stock and trade for a controlling socialist / communist society. It is a control mechanism.

As far as labeling people, let's put it this way.

You are not superior to, nor are you better than any person who is fat, thin or otherwise and yet you deign to tell them how to live their lives because you mistakenly believe you should.

You have no call to do so.

They know who they are and they know why they are fat.

They don't need your "help" or education on the matter.

They certainly don't need to be the subject of the next "We can make people better campaign."

It's just more of the same.

We have to make people be like us because we are smarter or thinner or more enlightened or more progressive. It's for their own good.

Get out of peoples lives. They don't need your meddling.






[edit on 24-11-2009 by badgerprints]

Congratulations to all of those supporting the Nanny State. You are obviously not responsible enough to take care of yourself, so let some disreputable and corrupt institution do it for you. Not to worry, they only have your best interests in mind.

And for all of you loyal Nanny State supporters, I am sure there will be a nice cushy well paying job for you down the line ordering people how to live their lives.

College and Universities are for mental learning, not fitness. These students aren't little kiddies anymore, they are old enough to make their own decisions. If they want to weigh 300 pounds, then let them, nobody has any right to tell you to get fit except you or your doctor. I think people who say this is okay need to learn to accept people for who they are, because right now they are being plain ignorant.

I agree with the republican, I mean independent members on this one-
This dumb A$$ and has nothing to do with education as it is applied to the "real world". Crock of...

[edit on 24-11-2009 by Janky Red]

Yeah! Don't they know that school is for people to get smart mentaly except for about how to best care for themselves or actually live longer to enjoy the life they get because of college.

I'm with you guys! Lets protest this by getting our younger kids k-12th out of doing anything physical in school also! If we can get them young enough then there is no way we can subject people to such horrible punishment like living and eating healthy and not being a drain on the health care system.

If we are really lucky we can end up looking like the people in the movie Wall-E.

Originally posted by jam321
reply to post by ModernAcademia

 

Fair is fair.

Obese professors and staff should be obligated to enroll in the fitness class in order to keep their jobs.

Now that would be some kind of hate crime/discrimination... can't have that for the elite teachers... but for the slaves students, sure you can...

Ah double standards!

Maybe they should send the obese students to Peru.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


The scary thing is, I'm a fat guy and I'm not against this at all. I wish someone had forced me to exercise when I was younger but by the time we got to high school gym was more walking laps than running them. Good for the school, it's high time we instill fitness values in young people, though I wish we could do that for much younger kids to get them into the habit of exercising regularly.

I don't see this as any different than expecting them to pass other mandatory courses and the worst result I can see is them losing a couple pounds and feeling better about themselves even if they fail to reach whatever fitness goals the class imposes.

Originally posted by HotSauce
reply to post by Unity_99

 

Or.
Maybe they just want to teach these lardasses how to exercise and eat right before their heart gives out and they drop dead. Maybe they are just trying to help them. Plus fat peope contribute more CO2 to global warming. They are kiling us all.

The point is, they don't own anyone and the ego involved in anyone trying to teach someone something relating to their own skin, that they already live in, in a world were facts and information is surrounding them, in homes with multimedia, is incredible.

Also, who are you to call any one a lardass? Whats inside others is of far greater concern to me than anyones appearance. I don't call people names in the least.

As to global warming . That scams been busted wide open, or didn't you read the news about the email scandal. And no, no person in this world has contributed to your discomfort because of their size or apperance.

NO ONE OWNS ANOTHER, they can't tell them what to do, or how to eat. To call someone a name for their appearance shows the a lack of heart, mind, soul or wisdom.

Get over your ego. It does far more harm to this planet, than anyone's weight.

The point is, they don't own anyone and the ego involved in anyone trying to teach someone something relating to their own skin, that they already live in, in a world were facts and information is surrounding them, in homes with multimedia, is incredible.

Also, who are you to call any one a lardass? Whats inside others is of far greater concern to me than anyones appearance. I don't call people names in the least.

As to global warming . That scams been busted wide open, or didn't you read the news about the email scandal. And no, no person in this world has contributed to your discomfort because of their size or apperance.

NO ONE OWNS ANOTHER, they can't tell them what to do, or how to eat. To call someone a name for their appearance shows the a lack of heart, mind, soul or wisdom.

Get over your ego. It does far more harm to this planet, than anyone's weight.

So one im betting your overweight and not being objective here. People that are overweight do cause issues for more then themselves so lets not kid ourselves. Fat people are not fun to ride planes with. Fat people take more sick days at work. Fat people are more costly to the health care system and that raises rates for everyone.

And I'm sorry but I have never walked over and talked to somebody I don't know because they were a good person on the inside so its not all that counts. School is about getting people ready for jobs and life and both of those are done more successfully when your healthy and in shape. Fit people get jobs more often over an equally qualified fatty. The world is filled with amazing places to see and I highly doubt if your overweight you will be climbing 150-200 steps at some ancient ruins or climbing up a tall mountain in Hawaii.

So yes this does help people be better in life and get ready for their careers.
I have never heard somebody say wow I way to in shape I feel horrible. People lose weight and they talk about having more self esteem and feeling much better physical and mentally. Sounds like 2 things that are great to have when trying to finish school and in some of the most important times in your life.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


I am glad they do this! This should be mandatory for all schools. The only reason why a kid should not is if they had a medical problem that would cause the exercise to be a health risk, with a doctors note.

In school back 30 some years ago, I had to exercise, everyone did. It is proven that exercise stimulates the brain for better learning. This is a win win situation all around.

Today obesity is such a big problem in America that kids are having heart attacks now at young ages. There is no excuse for that.

I would add though that if they are going to force kids to exercise they MUST feed the kids nutritionally sound foods. This mean NO Pre Processed Chemical laden Foods! Of course they will never do that because it's too expensive. So they are doing one good thing then shooting themselves in the foot with the other bad thing!

EDIT: Yeah.. I agree with this point as noted in the post below: Make it mandatory for everyone heavy and thin alike.. both nutrition and exercise. But only if they are going to feed the kids right. You can't teach someone about nutrition then the same school feeds that kid Crap!!



[edit on 25-11-2009 by JohnPhoenix]

[edit on 25-11-2009 by JohnPhoenix]

reply to post by ModernAcademia

The argument can be made that it should be a mandatory course for everyone, but it can be argued that fit people don't need it.

I know quite a few "fit people" that could use a course or two in nutrition, just because someone is fit doesn't mean that they eat properly or are knowledgeable in the area of nutrition. If they are going to mandate nutrition classes then they should be mandated for all students, not solely those that they deem overwieght. Mandating solely to the overwieght is called discrimination. Also these classes do not only contain nutrition information they are forcing these students to exercise, that is not their right. If they are not P.E. majors then why force them to exercise ? No student should be forced to have their BMI measured.

James DeBoy, Chairman of the school’s Department of Health and Physical Education, feels that school officials are taking the necessary steps in helping their students get healthy.

It is not their job to help their students get healthy, it is their job to educate them. And if they were truely concerned about the health of their students they would mandate the class for all students, just because a person is fit doesn't mean that they are healthy.

reply to post by whoshotJR

Lets protest this by getting our younger kids k-12th out of doing anything physical in school also! If we can get them young enough then there is no way we can subject people to such horrible punishment like living and eating healthy and not being a drain on the health care system.

Well it seems that the board of education here in Chicago agrees with that line of thinking. The public grammer schools here have no more recess, and they have all of 15 minutes to shove lunch down their throats (which if the kids eat a school lunch, it's all yummy processed food ) all these kids do in school all day long is sit on their butts. And last year at my grandchildren's school they instituted a new policy, alternating gym years! Yep isn't that a grand way to teach them to live healthy at a young age if you have gym class (once a week) this year you don't get gym next year. They get 30 minutes of physical activity in school once a week every other year, by the time they get to college it's way too late.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


According to the BMI Bradd Pitt and George Clooney are obese, as was Arnie in Terminator. The BMI needs to be scrapped and simple bodyfat percentages introduced.

As for theidea of making unfit, fat people exercise...............i'm all for it.

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984


Arnold I believe but Brad Pitt and George Clooney probably fall in the normal range for BMI. The times when fit people fall out of it are when they have a larger then normal amount of muscle and are not cut to below 8-10% body fat ranges.

I agree with you that BMI is not the best thing in the world but it works decently well for the masses of people as a guideline.

I am simply amazed at all the people on here that have responded negatively to the OP's story. You guys are just painting that much more of a stereotypical image of the internet blogger...fat, pasty, non-athletic. It's sad that you folks think education of physical fitness and proper nutrition is unimportant.

We all have/had to take courses that we think "why am I required to take that...I'll never use that in the real world"...BS, BS, BS...I thought the same about calculus, physics, organic chemistry, even PE...Guess what, from time to time that stuff comes in handy, when you least expect it. Bottom line, if you don't like the required curriculum, then chose a different institute of higher learning.

[edit on 25-11-2009 by Aggie Man]

I do agree with this. I understand that University dining choices are bad and not much worse than fast food. But that's still no excuse. There is always time for eating healthy, and finding time to workout out. I'm not saying that anyone has to be an athlete but they should be able to walk without getting into respiratory distress. I think that a fitness class should be a requirement every semester you take while in college.

I do agree with this. I understand that University dining choices are bad and not much worse than fast food. But that's still no excuse. There is always time for eating healthy, and finding time to workout out. I'm not saying that anyone has to be an athlete but they should be able to walk without getting into respiratory distress. I think that a fitness class should be a requirement every semester you take while in college.

reply to post by Darth Lumina


Hmmm, to this I disagree, partly.

Remember, that every class you take you have to pay for on per credit basis so req. a health/fitness course each quarter/semester is not logical considering (on most campuses) every student already has free access to fitness via the gyms, weight rooms, intramural sports and all the other avenues. If one wants to register for a special class (dance, martial arts, yoga, kayaking, etc.) than those are credit classes that must be paid for. Expensive and time consuming for the student to req. a fitness class each term, when access is already given should they choose to use it.

As I've said before; a Health and Nutrition course is ALREADY required (at most univ.) as part of a general ed. credit base.

If anything should be addressed additionally; it's campus dining and meal plans. When I was in school, I didn't know a single person who participated in them. They were very expensive and the options were unhealthy. One can eat out or prepare food at home, even if one only had a micro. in the dorm, for less money.



[edit on 25-11-2009 by LadySkadi]

reply to post by whoshotJR


Actually, I'm 46 and can finally get into 3 of my old size 12 jeans, at 5 foot 6 thats not all that bad, 10-11 US sizing.

My friends come in all shapes and sizes, though wisdom and a heart is one of the things I value the most, it certainly isn't their outward appearance, and all of them are beautiful.

[edit on 25-11-2009 by Unity_99]