Childhood obesity plagues America as young couch potatoes bask in the luminescence of television instead of the sunlight of the outdoors and play "Madden NFL 07" instead of real-life football. A 2002 study found that 15 percent of American children and teens are considered overweight — three times the level in 1980.
In response to this epidemic, self-proclaimed "health experts" have fingered two sources for the expansion of children's waistlines — the personal development of girls and literacy.
According to these health experts, Girl Scout Cookies and Pizza Hut's BOOK IT! programs play a big enough role in kids performing the "truffle shuffle" that these programs should be discontinued.
The website for Girl Scouts of the USA says, "Girl scouting builds girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place." If supporting Girl Scouts makes the world a better place, where's the beef?
"Girl Scout Cookies are high-calorie, high-sugar, high in saturated fat and nearly devoid of nutrition. Using young girls as a front to push millions of cookies onto an already bloated population further exacerbates an alarming crisis," MeMe Roth, president of National Action Against Obesity, argues in a press release.
Roth advises, "Do your good deed — while Girl Scout Cookies are on sale through March, smile at the children, offer a donation, but leave those cookies behind."
The premise of Pizza Hut's BOOK IT! program is to motivate kids to read with positive reinforcement. Elementary students who achieve the monthly reading goals set by their teachers are rewarded a free personal pan pizza, a BOOK IT! card and a sticker for their card with a ceiling of six pizzas.
Although the program encourages children to develop essential reading skills, Dr. Susan Linn of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood asserts in a press release, "BOOK IT! epitomizes everything that's wrong with corporate-sponsored programs in school. In the name of education, it promotes junk food consumption to a captive audience of children [and] turns teachers into Pizza Hut promoters."
The war on obesity has set its sights on innocent bystanders, an organization that teaches valuable lifelong skills to girls and a program that encourages children to read, instead of the real culprits — parents who are unwilling to feed their children a nutritious diet, parents who do not teach their offspring the discipline to eat in moderation and parents who refuse to kick their young ones off the couch and send them outside to play.
Because the Girl Scouts have helped my younger sister develop leadership skills, build character and learn important values, I am always happy to help her with her cookie sales. Helping my little sis sell Girl Scout Cookies taught me the reason the Girl Scouts fundraise with cookies — it works.
Girl Scouts have sold cookies for almost 90 years to raise money for their activities. Last year, Girl Scout Cookie sales totaled $700 million, with close to 70 percent going directly to the organization. I doubt the Girl Scouts would raise that much money by asking for simple donations or by selling vegetable platters.
Of course, Girl Scout Cookies are not nutritious, but eating fatty, sugary foods — foods that taste good — is all right, as long as it's in moderation. National Action Against Obesity's "health experts" should know better than to advocate sacrificing a worthwhile organization's funding just because some people refuse to exercise self-restraint. Even if the Girl Scouts ended its cookie sales, this country's gluttons would find other junk food to gorge on.
In grade school, I participated in BOOK IT! and took pride in filling my holographic button with stickers, thus displaying my literary conquests. Earning a personal pizza meant two things: I chose the topping, and I couldn't be forced to share. Although I had parents who encouraged me to read, the program made reading more rewarding for me. The pizza was a tangible reward at an age when I hardly understood the concept of intangible rewards, much less the definition of "intangible." It took many years for me to appreciate the idea of reading for fun and knowledge.
It is sad that anti-corporate folks feel compelled to attack a good corporate citizen. Reading is a key skill that children must learn to achieve future success. A couple of slices of pizza every month will not cause a child to become obese and might actually motivate that child to read more.
America's obesity problem stems from a lack of personal responsibility and not the abundance of junk food. When parents do not promote good eating habits to their children, the result is childhood obesity. The Girl Scouts and BOOK IT! are two programs that teach personal responsibility, but if the National Action Against Obesity and Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood have their way, personal responsibility will become a rare commodity.
Ryan Scannell ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in biochemistry and agricultural business management.
