This semester, seniors at the University of Wisconsin and universities everywhere will be cramming for test upon test, with graduation so close they can taste it. But on top of getting intellectually fit for exams, seniors at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania will be sweating another test — body mass index — to decide whether they are physically fit to graduate.
A new policy, put in place in 2006 and effective this spring, will require students with a BMI above what is considered clinically obese to take a fitness class before graduating. While we can recognize Lincoln’s honest intention of fighting a serious health crisis in this country, the university’s method is misguided.
Measuring fitness, like any other health condition or physical attribute, is completely inconsistent with any precedent of the goals of higher education. Physical education and kinesiology classes have a place at the university, perhaps, but educational values have always centered on knowledge and aptitude rather than one’s physical condition. This policy flies in the face of those values.
Furthermore, a body mass index of 30 is not a good measurement of a student’s understanding of the methods of physical fitness, which the mandated class would attempt to instill. A thinner student with a high metabolism could easily be clueless about recommended aerobic exercise and healthy eating, while an obese student could ace the course with little physical change.
If Lincoln really wants to make its student body healthier, a fitness class should be required for all students. Not only does the fact a person is not obese at the moment guarantee that a person has no understanding of a healthy lifestyle, but the skills it would teach are important for everyone through all stages of life, including those who are relatively fit during their college years.
A mandatory fitness class for all students would be better policy for the whole student body at Lincoln, while saving overweight students the feeling of having an institutional finger of blame pointed in their direction. While we hope that they aren’t, if the university is truly serious about this program, it needs to take to make sure it covers all students. And this would never work in Wisconsin anyway.
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“And this would never work in Wisconsin anyway.”
True, because most sconnies are fat.
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Most Americans are fat, which is why we are in a health care crisis.
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Who’s the “we?” I’m not having a health care crisis. Are you?
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Old news. An article was posted about this on NPR on the 20th of November.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2009/11/pennsylvaniacollegemakes_bmi.html
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“If Lincoln really wants to make its student body healthier, a fitness class should be required for all students.”
Let’s not forget that a university is not a parent. Its job is to provide services that students find valuable. If students want a fitness class they will pay for a fitness class.