Overweight Students Don't Like Being Told What To Do
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him take a fitness class to lose weight.
No one wants to be told that they are overweight and out of shape. But the fact is that many people are. And like any life change, it is hard to force people to get in shape. But Lincoln University in Pennsylvania is going to try.
Many 2009-2010 seniors at the college are angry that they will not be allowed to graduate unless they take a course on fitness. But there is a catch. Not every student has to take the class. Only those students who are obese have to take it. Hmmmm....
Now, they've known since they were freshmen that they need to take this class. And many of them have not done it. With May 2010 looming, and only one semester left, many students are feeling the pressure to take it. And they're not happy.
You can read all about it here.
There are a lot of issues that need addressing here, and I'm not going to bother with most of them. We all know that obesity is epidemic among our society, and heart disease kills more people in the USA than anything else. There are a lot of fat, lazy people in this country, and many of them do not care, and don't want anyone telling them to diet and exercise. Since many parents don't seem to care enough to teach their children about fitness and a healthy diet, it would make sense for the schools to do it. But physical education programs are being cut in many schools, and once a person gets to college, they don't think anyone can tell them what to do.
There are about a million things wrong with Lincoln's plan here. For one thing, the BMI index is not very reliable. Many people have a fairly high BMI, but they are not really obese. I would want to use a more reliable scale to determine is someone is obese.
Also, a person can be skinny, and very unhealthy. We've all known skinny people who are lazy and out of shape. It seems to me that a lot of people can benefit from a fitness class.
My advice to Lincoln University is to make all students take the course. After all, some people who are skinny in college will get fat after graduation. They could benefit from the class. So make them all take it. Don't just single out the ones who are big now.
That's just wrong.
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