The sky has fallen. I find myself largely in agreement with a
public school teacher who wants to blame the parents for
something.
The sky has fallen. I find myself largely in agreement with a public school teacher who wants to blame the parents for something.
Pat Vickroy, who teaches physical education at four Gilroy Unified School District elementary schools, says that parents are part of the reason that that 31 percent of Gilroy’s students are overweight. At last we have the highest percent in Santa Clara County in something: obesity.
“People are not as trusting, so they don’t allow their kids to just go out and play like they did in the past.” Instead, he says, kids are constantly sitting around playing video games, surfing the ‘Net, and watching TV.
I concur with his assessment, except for the words “don’t allow.” I always allowed my kids to go out and play. But it took a tire iron to pry them away from the dang electronics. As resident harpy, I had to set strict limits on electronic entertainment.
I can’t claim any special virtue in being the meanest mom on the block. I just had a low tolerance for watching kids turn themselves into zombies. When they ran out of computer time, they would complain for awhile about how ridiculous I was, then they would read, or draw, or play a board game, or go out and play.
So I do agree that parents are largely to blame for the largeness of their offspring. But there are ways in which schools can help to alleviate the problem, ways which will have a positive effect on test scores as well.
I disagree with Pat Vickroy when he links our increase in student size to the increase of attention on improving test scores. I think the problem goes deeper that that.
Consider: Thirty and 40 years ago, there were no art, music, or PE specialists in grammar schools. Instead, Mrs. Hunter told us to take out our song books and led us in rousing choruses of “America the Beautiful” and “Waltzing Matilda.”
She passed out paper and gave us art lessons. She donned a whistle and took us outside and made us play kickball or tether ball or foursquare. She taught us how to square dance. We had PE every day for a half-hour, courtesy of our classroom teacher.
Then the specialists came, and undoubtedly they did a better job than Mrs. Hunter with the art and the PE and the music. But by the time budgets were cut, Mrs. Hunter and her breed had retired. The new breed of teacher did not pass out songbooks or red rubber playground balls.
I applaud Georgia Froumis at Glen View Elementary, who takes her students out for a run around the school every day. I encourage other teachers to emulate her. (Think how much you will save on gym membership.)
I was musing about obese children as my Algebra I class let out the other day. Those seven homeschooled students varied from lean to svelte. Thinking back over all the hundreds of homeschooled kids I have known, I can only remember four who were fat. None of those skinny kids’ mothers were PE teachers.
I recommend the book “Kid Fitness” to any teacher or parent who wants to start a simple fitness program for kids. And a fast-paced game of foursquare now and then makes a fun change.
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My daughter Anne scoffed at Julie Olater’s letter to the editor of Nov. 29. “So there are weeds next to the track at Gav,” she said. “There aren’t any weeds on the track.” She has a utilitarian turn of mind.
Anne is intimately acquainted with the track at Gavilan and with the long distance running trail behind the campus, because she has been taking Individualized Cardiovascular Fitness this semester.
It is true that the landscaping and building maintenance at Gavilan has been neglected the last few years. There has been a major budget crunch. Gavilan has focused on maintaining programs, staff, and students, rather than on weed control.
Good sense of priorities, I think.
The campus could use some attention. Perhaps Julie Olater could spearhead a community effort to do some weeding. Maybe even plant some flowers. As she points out, many people in the community, not just students, use this track.
