Much mind exercise and too little physical education cause flab
By HOWARD TROXLER, Times Columnist
Published October 20, 2003
The other day Gov. Jeb Bush named a task force to look into what Florida can do about obesity, including obesity among children.
This is forward-thinking.
Obesity is one of our biggest and most expensive health problems. Obese children have a higher chance of growing up to become obese adults.
Of course, there's no big secret what's causing this "tidal wave of unhealthiness," as the state's health secretary, Dr. John O. Agwunobi, describes it.
The main causes are too much of the wrong kinds of food and not enough activity - in sum, supersizing and TV.
Agwunobi promises to consider all manner of solutions, even ideas that "may seem, at first glance, to be a little out there."
Yet with all respect to the governor and his secretary of health, it needs to be said that some of the state's own public policies might be contributing to this problem.
Let's start with physical education in the public schools.
Florida's schools have de-emphasized phys ed, often so they can drill for the governor's standardized test, the FCAT.
Pinellas school officials, for example, told me that many elementary schools have knocked back physical education to make more time for test preparation. Got to keep the third-graders cracking down, you know.
At the high school level, Florida's phys ed requirements are surprisingly light. Students taking the 24-credit graduation option are required to have only one credit hour of physical education, or one class in four years.
And in the Legislature's rush to take the cheap way out, and allow some kids to choose an 18-hour graduation option, it did not include a PE requirement at all.
Sure, it's important for students to demonstrate their progress in math and writing skills - but not at the price of neglecting their physical well-being.
Maybe the governor, like John F. Kennedy 40 years ago, should become the leader of a strong new emphasis on physical fitness. At the risk of sounding too radical, maybe we even should drop back just a touch on the FCAT prep time and put back in some creative new physical education.
One of the fundamental conflicts facing the governor is money - both a lack of money being spent in the public sector, and the simultaneous desire of the private sector to make money off young consumers.
There's been a terrible trend in Florida's cash-strapped public schools, as in schools around the nation, of making business deals with soft-drink companies. How can any school district justify this "liquid candy?" The money has been too much to resist.
To do anything about it, the governor would have to buck the tone set by his brother's administration in Washington, which considers the presence of soft drinks in the public schools to be free enterprise at work. The tone from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been to encourage exercise, but not to discourage consumption.
(After all, the sugar industry denies that sugar is a factor in childhood obesity at all. The industry even used its clout to get the White House to pressure the World Health Organization into weakening its dietary recommendations on reducing sugar intake.)
On another topic, Agwunobi made an offhand but extremely unadministrationlike comment. He said that one way of fighting obesity might be different planning of Florida's growth.
He is exactly right, of course. Florida's unofficial state religion ("sprawl") creates an environment that discourages foot or bicycle traffic as a part of everyday life. In most places, the only feasible way to travel is by car. Too many streets and roads lack sidewalks. Florida communities are among the most notoriously dangerous to pedestrians.
If Agwunobi persuades the governor and the Legislature to rewrite Florida's growth management in the name of public health, then he'll deserve a 100-foot-tall statue in front of the state Capitol.
A serious approach to obesity involves both a commitment of public resources and the prospect of reducing the private sector's profits. Anything less is just nagging. How does the old physical-fitness saying go? Oh, right. No pain, no gain.
Times columns today
Robert Trigaux: Florida needs to graduate to the MBA big leagues
Howard Troxler: Much mind exercise and too little physical education cause flab
John Romano: No hype, no ego, just wins
Diane Roberts: Who needs platforms? We have heroes
Gary Shelton: How to characterize this one? D-grading
Michelle Miller: Unleash tuna on childhood obesity
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