My wife Sandi teaches second graders in one of the poorer parts of San Diego County. To demonstrate their serious approach to academics, the school focuses the children all day on classwork. Once a day they get 15 minutes to play outside. Once a week they get 45 minutes for PE. At least they have video games to play when they get home.
It's a good thing they'll be literate. It'll help them to decipher those complicated forms they make you fill out when they begin to treat you for conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.
R World (Ron Davison muses aloud)
Showing posts with label childhood obesity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label childhood obesity. Show all posts
15 September 2009
07 February 2007
How Cutting Government Spending Can Boost the Economy
My wife teaches 3rd grade at San Diego City Schools. Her kids get P.E. once a week. Why do I mention it? Because this is a warning of how cuts in government spending can stimulate the economy - but not in necessarily positive ways.
Layoff 80% of your PE teachers and now schedule PE for your kids only once a week instead of once a day. So, how does this stimulate the economy? Stay with me to watch the dominoes fall.
Kids who are less active gain weight. Some even become obese. This has health consequences, triggering demand for weight-loss products, treatment for childhood diabetes, new wardrobe, and joint pains and injuries associated with the stress of being overweight. Dealing with all these problems involves cost - what politicians call economic activity.
Measures for economic growth are both less objective and less obviously a positive thing than many would have you believe. Economic growth that comes about as the result of increased spending on security equipment, health complications, or thrash metal concert tickets is evidence that economic growth needn't acttually correlate with improvements in quality of life.
Layoff 80% of your PE teachers and now schedule PE for your kids only once a week instead of once a day. So, how does this stimulate the economy? Stay with me to watch the dominoes fall.
Kids who are less active gain weight. Some even become obese. This has health consequences, triggering demand for weight-loss products, treatment for childhood diabetes, new wardrobe, and joint pains and injuries associated with the stress of being overweight. Dealing with all these problems involves cost - what politicians call economic activity.
Measures for economic growth are both less objective and less obviously a positive thing than many would have you believe. Economic growth that comes about as the result of increased spending on security equipment, health complications, or thrash metal concert tickets is evidence that economic growth needn't acttually correlate with improvements in quality of life.
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