Schools Are Now the Fat Police

    Public schools have already created generations of students whose reading and writing capabilities have been limited due to "The Test" they teach, rather than actual reading, writing, and math, not to mention actual history and science, but now they are creating an environment for bullying, eating disorders, and low self-esteem through labels.
    Students are weighed at the beginning of the school year and their Body Mass Index (BMI) is measured, then they are given a number according to that index. According to ABC News "Fat Letters" are sent home with students, letting parents know their child is either too fat or too skinny. These letters have many parents and experts concerned for various reasons, and they should be worried.
    For years the fat kid has been abused and bullied by those who thought them to be weaker or inferior. Now, the school is putting a BMI number on the student who may not even be truly overweight, but only going through what every child throughout history who isn't malnourished goes through and that's "Baby Fat."  We all had it at one time in our lives growing up. So, let's put a number on the child and give the bully an extra reason to call him names and whip him or tease him after school.
    Then you have the beginning of the eating disorders. These disorders are higher in girls than in boys, and many times are triggered by the stress of fitting in or being perfect. Not only do they have the stress of passing "the test", but now they have to also worry about being too fat. Girls from nine to twelve years old are already developing eating disorders from peer pressure seen in the entertainment industry, but now they are being told they are too fat when they are only going through that adolescent change which many times is either the "baby fat" or adolescence.
   If bullying and eating disorders aren't enough, what about the low self-esteem these labels are causing in the child who may already have an issue as it is.  The child who has been constantly told "you are too stupid", "you are too slow", or been mentally abused by a parent or sibling at home, now has to add "you are too fat" to the list of insecurities. How is this supposed to help them?
    My grandson, who is eight years old, received one of these letters last year informing my daughter of his BMI and that his possibilities of becoming obese were high. He was seven years old and far from being the least bit fat. My granddaughter was also sent the same letter with the same results; however, again, with her being a girl, it affected her differently because she became worried about her weight.  She was nine years old at that time.
   Schools are there to provide our children with life skills they can learn in order to assimilate into the real world, creating well-educated, productive citizens who can make a living on their own and provide for themselves and their families. This education should include reading, writing, math skills (without computer and calculator assistance), history, science, and yes, home economics which teaches them how to create healthy menus for families, along with physical education.  What happened to these areas of education? Today, those schools in states who accept federal funding from government programs, which are many of our inner city schools, teach to "the test" with very little physical education, they tell parents what they can feed their children in lunches, what they can eat at school, and now they tell parents their child is too fat.
    Why don't schools work to solve the problem in illiteracy and obesity, rather than creating new ones? What is your child or grandchild learning in school? Is he or she been given a label? Mine have.