Funny. Maybe weight report cards don't "work" because they're a bad idea
It would be funny if it was not actively harmful, but "Surprise! Weight report cards don't change weight."
It should be funny that people thought that telling parents their kids weigh more would make the parents change their child's weight. As if weight was some choice the parents were making, and that weight status tells us what the parents are doing in the first place. As if weight can be changed, like a bedtime or a recycling campaign. As if the largely arbitrary BMI scale tells us whether a child is healthy or not. and why.
It could be funny that the conclusion on seeing that the report cards didn't "work" was to think that the parents must not have received it, or not read it, or not understood it. Um.... really? Maybe they, as I would have, flipped the school the virtual bird and said "Heal thyself, educators." I might have added that they should try an experiment where they weigh the teachers, janitors, superintendents, and cafeteria staff and post it in the front hallway and see how that goes? Maybe then these educators might look up the actual science (and industry) of weight loss.
It is funny, you have to admit, that now that the shaming campaign isn't "working" the schools are doing things they ought to be doing anyway for ALL children: offering better quality food and keeping kids active. I hope they don't stop doing that when they find out that this won't "work" either at fixing people's weight, but I'm pretty sure they will then just start blaming parents again. Good luck with that.
Here's the thing: it really isn't funny. Not at all.
It should be funny that people thought that telling parents their kids weigh more would make the parents change their child's weight. As if weight was some choice the parents were making, and that weight status tells us what the parents are doing in the first place. As if weight can be changed, like a bedtime or a recycling campaign. As if the largely arbitrary BMI scale tells us whether a child is healthy or not. and why.
It could be funny that the conclusion on seeing that the report cards didn't "work" was to think that the parents must not have received it, or not read it, or not understood it. Um.... really? Maybe they, as I would have, flipped the school the virtual bird and said "Heal thyself, educators." I might have added that they should try an experiment where they weigh the teachers, janitors, superintendents, and cafeteria staff and post it in the front hallway and see how that goes? Maybe then these educators might look up the actual science (and industry) of weight loss.
It is funny, you have to admit, that now that the shaming campaign isn't "working" the schools are doing things they ought to be doing anyway for ALL children: offering better quality food and keeping kids active. I hope they don't stop doing that when they find out that this won't "work" either at fixing people's weight, but I'm pretty sure they will then just start blaming parents again. Good luck with that.
Here's the thing: it really isn't funny. Not at all.
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