The Student Body Page #2

and measured us

and it really

made me uncomfortable

because there's another child

in there too with you.

So I mean, it just, like,

really made me feel awkward

and I really didn't wanna do it.

Did they give you a choice?

No, they made us do it.

What Maddie didn't realize

is that the district

was actually grading students

on something more

than just academics.

And here was my report card.

Then I found this letter

or what's left of it anyways.

And it basically says

that, you know,

I'm high in my weight

and I ripped it up

and I threw it in the trashcan.

She got the mail that day

and opened up her report card

with great anticipation

of receiving money

from her good grades

and she didn't wanna talk to me,

so she ran to her room

and locked herself upstairs,

so then I went

to the garbage can

and found that she had shredded

part of what came in the mail

and it was the letter

from the district.

My mom found it

and pieced all the pieces

that she could find together.

But obviously,

not the letter was found.

I felt like I wasn't accepted

in the society, basically.

I could never think about

anything else at that time.

I could always think

about how I'm a disappointment

to everyone.

The children

that received that letter,

they'll remember that

the rest of their lives.

They will remember, um,

how nice or sweet the school

tried to make it sound.

They'll remember

that the school said,

"you don't fit in.

"You are different.

"You are not acceptable

at what you're doing now

and that something

needs to change."

So essentially,

if they received it

for being underweight,

they're too skinny.

If they received it

for being overweight,

the school is essentially

saying, "you're too fat."

Um, those are words

and that's a moment and time

that these children

will never forget,

um, and that is a shame.

Sorry.

So, in life, you hold on

to those things.

And so, it's hard

when it's your kid.

At the time,

I was really mad at the nurse

because her name was signed.

But then, the nurse

met with my mom

and she told, um, her

that she had to send it

and she didn't have a choice to,

so I just felt

really sorry for her

and I wished that that never

happened to her either

because I mean, how much pain

that put her through,

and it's something

she deserved for that.

Nobody seemed to know

where the letter started,

why it went out in the mail.

I mean, how does

a letter like this go out

and no one know about it?

It just isn't possible.

Well, someone has to know

where these letters came from,

so I setup an appointment

with one of our school

board members

who also happens to be

a nutritionist,

college professor,

and doctor.

I'm a dietitian

whose private practice

is centered around

weight management

and eating disorders.

So, I was absolutely alarmed

that that went out

because you can't talk

to kids that way.

That's the whole wrong approach.

I was glad to hear

that someone else

thought that these letters

were a bad idea,

but I wanted to know

who was responsible,

so I went to the president

of the school board.

I don't think anybody

may have known

about it until that night

that she came and spoke.

The way those letters

are generated

is a state of Ohio

mandates that every school

conducting every child a BMI

or a, uh, body mass index

to, uh, to see where they fall.

This is sounding more sinister

than I thought.

State lawmakers

are forcing our schools

to do BMI testing on us

to determine our health?

Is that BMI

is an indicator of something,

but is it the most important

piece of information

about that student's health?

It's not even in the top five.

So I'd say

it's really not a value.

Well, that's good to hear

because lots of students

feel the same way.

But we're still forced

to step up on the scales,

so I decided to bring

my own scale

and mandate a BMI test

for every adult

that I interview.

Your height.

My height?

Uh-hmm.

Uh-oh. I'm five-six.

Five-six.

Uh-hmm.

I already know what mine is.

It used to be 19.

Can I use that one?

Sure.

Not surprisingly,

she didn't go for it.

No, not after age 30,

I wouldn't.

I mean, kids

that too, wouldn't they?

No, no. I agree. I agree.

Yeah.

It would've been,

you know, as a teenager,

it would've been

very private for me, too.

Uh-hmm.

I would not have appreciated it.

I was told that kids

were weighed in gym class

and they weren't given a choice.

Would it surprise you

that many of these kids

felt uncomfortable about this?

Well, sure.

I mean, nobody likes to be,

uh, tested, put on the spot.

But I think people

need to understand

where they fall on the scale

and how they're doing as related

to the rest of the population.

Well, I'm glad you say that

because I'm doing

my own BMI test.

Uh, would you mind stepping

on the scale for me?

Um, oh, boy.

I probably...

I probably should,

but I prefer not to.

Apparently, I don't have

the same mandate power

that the state has.

To be given a choice,

would you like that?

You're good.

Um...

As it turns out,

the board president was right.

Two years ago, state lawmakers

introduced senate bill 210,

which mostly

addressed improvements

and diet and exercise

in our schools.

Our healthy choices

for healthy children website.

And with a name like

healthy choices for healthy

children's act,

it would be political suicide

to vote against it.

Maybe that's how

this one little

controversial item

made its way into the bill.

The bill proposes to measure

body mass index, BMI,

on school entry

in grades k3, 5, and 9.

And that's when the discussion

got interesting.

To say that our schools

are gonna body mass index

little kindergarten students

and third graders.

Taking people's

body mass indexes,

I personally

find that offensive.

This is a national

security crisis

for the United States.

Make our people better,

thinner, stronger

so we can wage wars

and fight the battles

that need to be fought.

If you pick up an apple

and you eat it,

you know, their hunger

may go away.

Give me Liberty, give me death.

Two hundred thirty years ago

the English,

now it's about a twinkie.

You must have went swimming

over the holiday weekend

and hit your head

on the diving board.

When I was in the marine corps,

you get your rear end kicked

if you're not in shape.

It's kind of like

boiling a frog.

Slowly up the temperature

five or ten degrees

until the flesh

falls off the frog.

Or you stand

and fill sand buckets

until you lose 20 pounds.

Maybe mom and dad

ought to take these folks...

Okay. Wait.

Everybody calm down.

What is BMI anyway?

BMI was created

back in the early 1800s

by a Belgian researcher

named Quetelet,

and he was a man

of many interests.

He was a mathematician,

he was an astronomer,

and he did some work, um,

analyzing body measurements

and he came up

with a calculation,

weight over height squared.

It's calculated

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