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

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.

Or....maybe we wouldn't have so many lard***** if our food wasn't
genetically altered and chemically laden!Our bodies are filled with toxins.
We live in a fast-paced world where our food is grab and go type.

reply to post by mamabeth
I have to disagree with this argument, as well. Personal responsibility trumps all and with a multitude of opportunity and options for choosing healthy foods, the choice to not do so comes down to free will.
Despite all other arguments to the contrary, this is the bottom line.

I'm kinda curious as to who the Hell this college thinks it is. Are these kids getting the good grades necessary to graduate? If so, graduate them. Taking a PE class to graduate? After 4 years of university courses?

Don't they have anything better to do with their time? Like maybe find ways to keep costs down so more kids can go to university and take stupid required courses like this one.

Nonsense, the lot of it. I'll bet the alumni aren't real happy with this one...

One thing people are forgetting here is that colleges nearly all require some phisical fitness classes. It is a basic, but these are part of the curriculum to get a degree.

The idea of singling out fat people and forcing them to take extra classes for re-education on the way they live their lives would be no different from making a white person sensitivity training or making a bulemic person go to lunch twice a day.

It is profiling and singling out of an individual due to an arbitrary standard.

If this was done by race or sex or religion then there would be an uproar over civil rights.

But what the hell, everybody loves to run down the fat people. Lets single them out and make em take a class because they don't meet our standards.

If it is a part of the required school curriculum, then all students should attend. If it is not, then none should be forced to go.

Originally posted by whoshotJR
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.

What you believe and what is true are two different things. Brad Pitt and George Clooney, at their fittest were obese according to the BMI. Remember that the BMI relies upon height vs weight and muscle mass weighs a great deal more than fat. I can assure you that both these men were obese according to the stupid BMI tables. Hell you know what? I was obese according to these tables despite having a bodyfat ratio of 9%. that's right i was 9% bodyfat, low enough that you could see my abs and every other muscle in my body. I ran marathons, i did martial arts, i was training to an atheletic standard and yet considered obese according to the BMI.

The BMI needs to be abolished, it's pathetic, it was invented over 100 years ago and whilst some theories have stood the test of time the BMI was basedupon a very stupid idea. I honestly believe that it is kept alive because insurance companies can use it to refuse health insurance to people.

Originally posted by badgerprints
The idea of singling out fat people and forcing them to take extra classes for re-education on the way they live their lives would be no different from making a white person sensitivity training or making a bulemic person go to lunch twice a day.

That is a false comparison. A white person is not necessarily racist and so does not need to attend sensitivity classes, a fat person is fat, there is no getting around it. Unless they have a very clear medical condition that makes them exempt then they have done it to themselves and education on the issue is, i believe a very good thing. They will live longer and have the opportunity of enjoying benefits in life they may not be aware exist.

Originally posted by badgerprints
It is profiling and singling out of an individual due to an arbitrary standard.

It is hardly arbitrary. They will live longer if they lose some bodyfat. That is according to statistics and as long as they don't get hit by any cars

Originally posted by badgerprints
If this was done by race or sex or religion then there would be an uproar over civil rights.

Yes because race or sex isn't a choice, religion is a choice but does not shorten life span or have any serious long term health effects.

Originally posted by badgerprints
If it is a part of the required school curriculum, then all students should attend. If it is not, then none should be forced to go.

Why should those who have spent their lives being fit and healthy be required to take a class that will do nothing for them? Oh but hey you know what, lets just say they all have to do it, i'm all for that. Maybe then you can't complain, these peopel will lose weight, live longer and then thank people for it.

[edit on 25-11-2009 by ImaginaryReality1984]

Its required to take a PE class at just about every college (including community) to have a degree where I live. I took my PE class this summer, and I can pretty much tell you that I learned jack-freakin-squat (and the same thing goes for High School as well). We had these stupid quizzes everyday and then we'd go and work out for an hour or so. I normally don't mind quizzes, but when you have a teacher who can't stay on topic and doesn't know how to publicly speak (she mainly just read her power points word for word), it becomes a nightmare.

In all honesty, if the teachers would actually TEACH you how to eat right and how to exercise, instead of just reading the damn book to you, then most people probably wouldn't have as much of a weight problem. I understand that people have a responsibility to take what knowledge they are given and actually use it, but come on, its beyond ridiculous now.

Then again, we live in a world that tells us we have to be thin, only to push the convenience of fast food.

This is just the tip of the iceburg, perhaps motivated in the pre-emptive sense, in preparation for the inevitable consequences of Obamacare. If passed Obamacare will immediately be unsustainable in the long term. We can expect that programs such as these will be mandated nationwide in the name of reducing the burden on the healthcare system. We can expect that all things considered unhealthy will be potential targets for similar mandates.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? That depends on your point of view. On the one hand, surely it is a good thing to be healthy, active, and in-shape. I personally believe, however, that if our younger children grew up playing outdoors instead of playing Xbox in their formative years that those habits of activity alone would have a dramatic impact on the shape of America. Again we are brought back to the parenting, or lack there of, and the real epidemic of the "nanny state" mentality of turning to the schools or the government, not for guidance, but to dictate the standards to which we are held to.

If we as a nation choose to allow the schools or worse, the government to take over responsibility for our childrens, and later our own health and fitness then we loose the freedom that we have over our bodies, allowing the state to mandate guidelines to adhere to. In this case under the threat of denying graduation and holding the ability to find gainful employment as a weapon to ensure compliance. It is not so far a stretch to imagine federal mandates and guidelines for all age groups under penalty of law in our near future.

If fitness classes are to required they should be a required class for all, regardless of the ease they might meet the requirement, not just a "fat class" singling out the obviously overweight.

Should schools be allowed to require a specific level of fitness in the same manner that they require academics in order to graduate? Perhaps, but it is a dangerous, slippery slope.

my 2 cents

Originally posted by Unity_99

This is a crime against humanity. This makes big brother your GOD, and reduces you to a mindless drone.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. No, it is not. are you high? a crime against humanity? REALLY? yes, this is JUST like genocide in Darfur and the invasion of poland.......

Being forced to learn about your body SHOULD be mandatory, as it is in North Caorlina. all state funded schools make you take courses. Mine was two years of walking and tennis. the other choices were water areobics, a step class, bowling and and soccer. before you diss the bowling class I should note you had to walk down and reset your own pins, haha.

EVERY SINGLE college graduate I have ever known has put on more weight out of school than they ever had durring school. usually, When your in college you cant afford to eat much unless your parents where dumb enough to give you some plastic.

the only, and i mean ONLY problem with selecting a small group of people to take the classes is; who decides the cut off weight? anyone over 250 has to do it, but if they are 249, they dont?!?------------------------------

Originally posted by mamabeth

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.

Or....maybe we wouldn't have so many lard***** if our food wasn't
genetically altered and chemically laden!Our bodies are filled with toxins.
We live in a fast-paced world where our food is grab and go type.

Or MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, its up to the person who is eating the food to decide. No one is holding a gun to your head in the mcdonalds drive through. the worst are the people who scream about how bad mc'D's is while they are sitting in the burger king line.

If you can read, you should be able to make informed decisions about what you eat. Yes, there is a Fast food restaurant within 5 miles of your house, but that doesnt mean you have to use it. there is probably a crack dealer within walking distance of that restaurant, just because he is there it doesnt mean you have to buy drugs off of him, because you use your critical thinking skills to decide you need no crack. you just have to program your brain to realize it doesnt need a quadruple quarter pounder either.

[edit on 25-11-2009 by drsmooth23]

This may have been said - on break, no time to read four pages of comments - but this school will be backpedling really quick when one of the students in question wises up and gets an attorney. The school will get the pants sued off of them.

Originally posted by ImaginaryReality1984

That is a false comparison. A white person is not necessarily racist and so does not need to attend sensitivity classes, a fat person is fat, there is no getting around it. Unless they have a very clear medical condition that makes them exempt then they have done it to themselves and education on the issue is, i believe a very good thing. They will live longer and have the opportunity of enjoying benefits in life they may not be aware exist.


It is hardly arbitrary. They will live longer if they lose some bodyfat. That is according to statistics and as long as they don't get hit by any cars

Yes because race or sex isn't a choice, religion is a choice but does not shorten life span or have any serious long term health effects.


Why should those who have spent their lives being fit and healthy be required to take a class that will do nothing for them? Oh but hey you know what, lets just say they all have to do it, i'm all for that. Maybe then you can't complain, these peopel will lose weight, live longer and then thank people for it.

[edit on 25-11-2009 by ImaginaryReality1984]

Ok, get rid of race and put in the bulemic. They make a choice.

As far as the decision goes, who decides who is fat?
By whose standards? Yours? A doctors? They can create an arbitrary standard but they can't force people to agree with them.
The person is living his or her life by his or her standards, not yours.

Want someone to use your education as leverage to force you to change your life? I'm sure there are millions of doogooders out there who could find a thousand faults with who you are and they would have no problem whatsoever exercising their right as a concerned citizen to force you to be someone you aren't. Most of them wouldn't even need to pretend it was for your own good.

Race isn't a choice and yet you choose wether to hate or not hate. You choose to meddle in their lives and judge their worthiness. Just as you choose to judge a fat person.

Why should thin people have to take a class that will do nothing for them?

Why , you are right.

We can have the "fat people" class right across the hall from the "thin people sensitivity" classes. Of course the thin part will be based on an arbitrary scale that is made up by a doctor, or maybe a psychologist.

After the class is over the fat people and thin people can hold hands in a circle and sing Kumbaya. Then the big fat sweaty pigs can hug the knobby little skinny people and cry like that scene from "Fight Club."

This way, thin people can get a more open outlook on their fellow man and live a longer and more stress free life because they won't be so worried about changing all of the fat people.

Yep.

You've convinced me. I'm all for it.

You want me to bring cotton hankies or just a box of Kleenex for the crying session?

I'm a convert.

My god, we've got to help these poor nervous skinny people to see the error of their ways. They need our help so badly.

We'll force them to see it our way. We have too.

They will live longer and have the opportunity of enjoying benefits in life they may not be aware exist.

[edit on 25-11-2009 by badgerprints]

Originally posted by badgerprints
Ok, get rid of race and put in the bulemic. They make a choice.

Actually they don't, they are suffering a medical condition, related to depression. Therefore they could be exluded as could anyone suffering obesity from a recognised medical condition.

Originally posted by badgerprints
As far as the decision goes, who decides who is fat?
By whose standards? Yours? A doctors? They can create an arbitrary standard but they can't force people to agree with them.
The person is living his or her life by his or her standards, not yours.

Obesity is a very easy thing to clarify. We know that people within a certain percentage of bodyfat are at greater risk of various cancers, heart disease, stroke, diabetes etc. The medical definition and evidence is clear. So your points here are mute.

Originally posted by badgerprints
Want someone to use your education as leverage to force you to change your life? I'm sure there are millions of doogooders out there who could find a thousand faults with who you are and they would have no problem whatsoever exercising their right as a concerned citizen to force you to be someone you aren't. Most of them wouldn't even need to pretend it was for your own good.

Happily i don't do anything that is greviously against my health so the do gooders would have no basis for making me do anything. The overweight and obese are attending a PRIVATE institution and are therefore subject to it's rules. I am more than happy to wave the people who applied before the rules came into being, they should be excused but anyone attending thereafter would know the rules and should abide by them. If they don't like it then they can simply choose to not go.

Originally posted by badgerprints
Race isn't a choice and yet you choose wether to hate or not hate. You choose to meddle in their lives and judge their worthiness. Just as you choose to judge a fat person.

I find this slightly confusing, i don't choos to hate or not hate i simply don't hate becuase i don't have it in me. I have never hated a race, not from choice but simply because i never had the inclincation. I judge a fat person because a fat person chooses to be that way and as someone who has spent his life being as fit as possible and then ahd it taken away from ill health i get rather annoyed to see medically fit people wasting their bodies. I am very ill, can't exercise and yet keep my weight down by reducing my intake, this requires will power, fat people ahve none and i get pissed off at how they are treated as victims. They blame fast food restraunts and other factors but in the end they're just pathetic, lazy people.

Originally posted by badgerprints
Why should thin people have to take a class that will do nothing for them?

Why , you are right.

We can have the "fat people" class right across the hall from the "thin people sensitivity" classes. Of course the thin part will be based on an arbitrary scale that is made by a doctor.

It's not made up, it's a simple,. scientific fact. A certain bodyfat percentage decides whether yo uare fat or thin. This is different only upon sex.Woman naturally have more bodyfat than men to remain healthy.

Originally posted by badgerprints
Then thin people can get a more open outlook on their fellow man and live a longer and more stress free life because they won't be so worried about changing all of the fat people.

Thin people don't usually care about fat people. I care because i want people to be healthy, i want them to live longer but more than that i just utterly hate lazy people, fat or thin but the majority are fat.

Your comments on skinny people are an attempt at ridicule, hardly an intelligent debate but hey i'll bite, (something fat peopel should lear not to do btw, they need less bites!)

Skinny isn't healthy either depending on your meaning. People who are grossly underweight need as much help as obese people. A careful balance is the thing that needs to be taught. Good nutrition can actually solve many of the problems without exercise. It's hard to become obese on a controlled diet of vegetables, white meat, limited dairy, fruit and other such things. Education can solve many problems but hey you can continue to peddle ignorance.

I honestly believe that many obese people were simply raised to be that way. They had their childhood meories corrupted by McDonalds and other fast food places, warm fuzzy feelings associated with such places. They then chose to follow those feelings and that is where will power comes in.

[edit on 25-11-2009 by ImaginaryReality1984]

The thing is , that although the ideal expressed by this programme is sound, its based on a faulty measure of health. The body mass index is great for general use, but many people are (forgive the term) mutated beyond the logical use of this index.
I for one, am in BRILLIANT health considering my diet of fried foods, cigarettes, beer , and so on. This is because I have a unique condition which burns colesterol at a rate which ought to be impossible (dont ask me for the facts and figures on that, my doctor still cant frame that in a way to make me understand the ins and outs of it) . This means that my body fat never outweighs my burn speed, so no matter what I eat, I stay roughly the same shape . My blood preasure is however incredibly high 235 over 90 at rest. However my heart and blood vessels appear to be adapted to it rather than suffering for it .
The reverse can be true in a lot of cases , some folks eat salad and get fat anyway ... there is no one size fits all rule of health .
Before such programmes can be undertaken , there ought to be detailed examination of each individual in the programme to make sure the regimen assumed , is as effective as possible. In fact , without detailed medical information on each student partaking of the oppertunity (torture, whatever) then none of them should be doing anything thier family doctor isnt completely happy with.

One aspect I havn't seen discussed regards those who participate in extracurricular sports. By requiring "all" students with a high BMI to take such a course, could this be concealing another "easy A" for wrestlers and linemen whose coaches push, and teach them methods to bulk up quickly for the next match or big game? This course might be tipping the scales; creating a critical mass of "cakewalk courses" that allow for an easily maintainable GPA for students to stay eligable for participation in these extracurricular activities.

I've always been a firm believer in the notion of "follow the money", and sports are the big moneymakers at major universities. It's no coincidence that university football coaches make more than the deans do; they both know who generates the funds. I'm curious what the head football coach thinks of this new course, and it's selective enrollment requirements... my guess is that he fully supports the idea.

[edit on 11/25/09 by redmage]

Put people in the fat class why don't you. Then all the others can take the mick... Especially those fortunate people who can eat like a horse without putting on a pound.
What if there is a medical reason that they don't want to particularly announce to the world?
What if this stupefyingly crass intervention actually makes an overeating problem worse?
Will it also include the ultra skinnies who are starving themselves to look fashionable?
Heck let's take all the other lifestyle choices. How about a special class for girls who risk accidents and physical damage by wearing high heels?
The possibilities for well meaning interference are endless!

University students who have a BMI of 30 or above are considered obese and are required to take a class called “Fitness for Life.”

The class meets for three hours each week, and involves exercise routines in addition to information on nutrition, sleep, and the effects of stress.

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.

www.examiner.com...


Now since they consider these students to be unhealthy and obese and the classes involves exercise routines, are they going to have each and every one of these students recieve a physical exam from a qualified phsycian to make sure that they are capable of doing these exercise routines without adverse effects like a heart attack ? What are they going to do if one of these students is overworked during these exercise routines and has a heart attack ?

And as Unicorn 1 stated what about the ultra thin students, surely it is just as unhealthy to have a overly low BMI as it is to have an overly high BMI.

If they were truely worried about the health of their students they would require this class for all of their students, not just the overwieght, this stinks of discrimination.

[edit on 11/25/2009 by chise61]

reply to post by drsmooth23


For your information,I rarely eat fast food.I cook our food here at home.
I do make great cheeseburgers and homemade fries.I just don't fix them
all the time.