My generation..

[Penguin]

it's not really that idiotic.

i'm 48. look at our generation. you don't see too many seriously overweight people.

 they worked our tulips off in gym class. plus we spent most of our time outside running around.

 now a days, it seems that kids don't do much outside, and don't seem to get much exercise in school either.

Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary. As much as 64% of the United States adult population is considered either overweight or obese, and this percentage has increased over the last four decades.[1]

This is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overweight and it does have a citation.  It's easy to be fat, and  kids not learning healthy habits will literally kill them. 

-Penguin

[CAP1]

I see plenty of disgustingly overweight people in that age group.
Putting kids in gym class for 40 minutes every other day doesn't make them fit, living fit makes them fit. Eating healthy, getting exercise daily.
Also, I don't see how you could make the case that people would be skinny 30 years later because they had gym in high school.
The obesity problem in this country is not a generational thing, it's a conditional thing- things are too easy and food is disgusting. There's no need to go outside because for the most part you can get entertainment inside. People of all ages are disturbingly fat.

every other day?

we had gym every day of school, with the exception of one marking period. we did calisthenics, they did some sort of sports. to be honest, i hated it, as i've never been that into sports, but i did them anyway. didn't mind the calisthenics though....and believe me when i tell you i am nowhere near the healthy eater that i should be.

 my friends kids....his oldest is 26 now....dude's 6'3, and 180. next youngest......5'8 or so, and well over 200. he's 22 now. then there's the 19 year old. 5' 8 or so again,.....nearly 300.......the youngest is 17.....5'6. he is well over 300. 
 their father was big, but not grossly overweight. their mother is overweight now, but she wasn't before. i know the parents on both sides, and none of them are overweight.......

 gym class is important, as it gets the kids up and moving around.

[Penguin]

However, in highschool, those who play sports should be exempt from it.  Health class also needs to be more in-depth, as just getting that same line of "eat salads, don't do drugs, and go run a mile" gets old.  For those of us who wish to enter the medical field, our schools prepare us poorly.

-Penguin

[CAP1]

Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary. As much as 64% of the United States adult population is considered either overweight or obese, and this percentage has increased over the last four decades.[1]

This is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overweight and it does have a citation.  It's easy to be fat, and  kids not learning healthy habits will literally kill them. 

-Penguin

by overweight, i was being polite. i meant fat. think of weebles.

[Penguin]

by overweight, i was being polite. i meant fat. think of weebles.

DANG! 

-Penguin

[Motherland]

However, in highschool, those who play sports should be exempt from it.  Health class also needs to be more in-depth, as just getting that same line of "eat salads, don't do drugs, and go run a mile" gets old.  For those of us who wish to enter the medical field, our schools prepare us poorly.

-Penguin

Health is supposed to teach you to be healthy, if you want to go into medicine you study biology.

[CAP1]

DANG! 

-Penguin

welll.....what did you think a 5'^ 300# kid looked like?>

[bagrat]

Yes & yes, in Pennsylvania, at least, it's a requirement to have gym through your senior year in high school (which is idiotic IMO...)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo
'And you try and tell the young people of today that, and they won't believe you!'

lol at the end of the day our father would slash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!

[JOACH1M]

I'm still in high school and I don't want to offend any of you, but in gym class the fat kids, and 98% of the girls will purposely get out of the gym class or will get a NOTE signed by THEIR PARENTS saying they can't run or exercise because of a condition they don't have, and I can day that because they tell me if they really have a condition or not.

[stealth]

It gets worse as you get into highschool. Though I don't know how you see the world and never will, I can tell you that your eyes will open as you get older. There will become a point were you truly see and feel how much the world sucks, and how pointless life can be. Do note I said can be, not is. Maybe it's where you live where the kids are like that. Here in Alaska there aren't too many fat kids (minus the few chubby eskimos here and there). Laziness is of course common, but the attitude, maturity, and intelligence of the majority is sub-par in my mind.

But then again, this is only one opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt. You'll grow up your own way, as did I and (I assume) the rest of the community here. All I can really say is good luck, keep a positive attitude, and for gods sake have your work ethic down before you hit Highschool!

Well Eskimo that's just the thing. I live in Alaska, my school has 800 kids 7th and 8th graders. When we have all the 7ths graders go to gym once a month. We do about a mile jog. Their all breathing hard before the 1st lap. Which it takes 6 laps to go a mile on my schools track.

[CAP1]

I'm still in high school and I don't want to offend any of you, but in gym class the fat kids, and 98% of the girls will purposely get out of the gym class or will get a NOTE signed by THEIR PARENTS saying they can't run or exercise because of a condition they don't have, and I can day that because they tell me if they really have a condition or not.

that is no offense to me at all. i know that's what happens. i've said previously that parents are a large part of the problem.

[Dichotomy]

funny Squid works out and gets grumpy when he doesn't.. but his 'gym' class at school is a large joke.  Turn em loose with some equipment and grade them for 'participation' which means if a group tosses a ball back and forth for the 40 minutes every other day they get credit. 

[BrownBaron]

I feel like I'm surrounded by idiots at school every day. So many of these incompetent wastes of tax dollars attend the school that teachers that have been there for more than a few years (about 99% of the faculty) do not care at all about doing their jobs and educating America's future. Out of the 1000 students I am forced to call classmates, perhaps 35 of them actually about learning and suceeding.

We 35 spend 2 hours out of our 6 hour days in serious and cohesive learning enviornments in AP and Honour's classes with all 35 of us in the same class, while the other 4 are spent seperated in obligatory classes such as foriegn languages and various science classes. In these state mandated classes, perhaps 2 or 3 serious students are present, the rest being a rowdy group composed primarily of moronic under achievers, whom detract from the classes, for those of us who wish to gain all that we can from them, through the constant stream of dribble that manages to escape their mouths until the classrom is alive with vulgarities, racism, and general malice. Teachers seem to have two choices presented to them. They can either waste massive amounts of precious time trying to control the erronous dullards that plague the class, or stop caring, and stop teaching in any sort of coherent fashion. The aforementioned capable academics are then forced to supplement their shoddy lessons with endless hours reviewing the material themselves at home. I understand that this could simply be marginalized as average "studying" as many would do for a big test, but this is more than that. I would go so far as to say that nothing is learned through the teachers, and all the vital information must be extracted from text books and such.

Bah...rant over, for now...I might just PM you for further discussion, Joe. 

[Motherland]

I feel like I'm surrounded by idiots at school every day. So many of these incompetent wastes of tax dollars attend the school that teachers that have been there for more than a few years (about 99% of the faculty) do not care at all about doing their jobs and educating America's future. Out of the 1000 students I am forced to call classmates, perhaps 35 of them actually about learning and suceeding.

We 35 spend 2 hours out of our 6 hour days in serious and cohesive learning enviornments in AP and Honour's classes with all 35 of us in the same class, while the other 4 are spent seperated in obligatory classes such as foriegn languages and various science classes. In these state mandated classes, perhaps 2 or 3 serious students are present, the rest being a rowdy group composed primarily of moronic under achievers, whom detract from the classes, for those of us who wish to gain all that we can from them, through the constant stream of dribble that manages to escape their mouths until the classrom is alive with vulgarities, racism, and general malice. Teachers seem to have two choices presented to them. They can either waste massive amounts of precious time trying to control the erronous dullards that plague the class, or stop caring, and stop teaching in any sort of coherent fashion. The aforementioned capable academics are then forced to supplement their shoddy lessons with endless hours reviewing the material themselves at home. I understand that this could simply be marginalized as average "studying" as many would do for a big test, but this is more than that. I would go so far as to say that nothing is learned through the teachers, and all the vital information must be extracted from text books and such.

Bah...rant over, for now...I might just PM you for further discussion, Joe. 

You live in America, man. Ignorance & stupidity are virtues. If you're going to worry about being disappointed, then lower your expectations to fit the bill a bit.

[Tupac]

You live in America, man. Ignorance & stupidity are virtues. If you're going to worry about being disappointed, then lower your expectations to fit the bill a bit.

I gave up on public school.

It got to the point where we weren't doing anything in class, and the teachers tried their hardest to control the class, we would have a test every 2 weeks and hadn't covered any of the material.