Author Topic: This kid - all 66 pounds of her - is fat (according to the City of New York)  (Read 2025 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Online mountaineer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 78,109
This kid is fat (according to the City of New York)
NY Post
Quote
Gwendolyn Williams is a pencil-thin, bubbly 9-year-old who is a perfectly healthy third-grader.

But according to city bureaucrats, she’s practically obese.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my God! Why did I get this?’” the Staten Island kid recalled Thursday after getting a Department of Education-issued “Fitnessgram” that described her Body Mass Index as “overweight.”

“I’m 4-foot-1, and 66 pounds, and I’m like, what?!” Gwendolyn exclaimed of the school handout, which the city is sending home in the bookbags of 870,000 public school students, grades K through 12.

The kids, who were weighed and measured back in November, are told not to look.

But the Fitnessgrams are sealed by only a small, easily replaced round sticker — and peeking is rampant, parents complain, with devastating effects on their self-esteem.

Gwendolyn’s mom, Laura Bruij Williams of Port Richmond, says she found out about her daughter’s Fitnessgram Wednesday night, as she was tucking the girl in for the night.

“She said, ‘Hey, Mom. The school told me I’m overweight.’ And then she started jiggling her thighs, and saying, ‘Is this what they mean?’”

“That was heartbreaking,” said the stay-at-home mom of two. The next morning, Williams sought out Gwendolyn’s principal at PS 29.

“She was sympathetic, but said the kids weren’t supposed to open it. My response is, they’re kids. How can you believe they’re not going to open it?” Williams said.

“It’s a very positive thing for some kids who are overweight, but we shouldn’t be putting these assessments in the children’s hands,” the mom added.

“Fat-shaming,” experts called the practice on Thursday, criticizing both the fallibility of BMI calculations and the mental-health effects of kids being graded on their size.

“My friend who was next to me, she opened hers, too, and she was overweight too, and we were both saying, ‘Did the Fitnessgrams get mixed up?’” said Gwendolyn, who plays softball and loves to ride her scooter.

“I just don’t think that it’s fair to be called overweight when you’re not really overweight!”

BMI, while supported by the Centers for Disease Control, was designed decades ago by the insurance industry as a way of assessing the health of groups of people, not individuals, said Chevese Turner of the Binge Eating Disorder Association.

“Dieting, especially for kids, is the gateway drug for eating disorders, and so is the public shaming that can come with this,” she said of the Fitnessgrams.

“My organization and others believe that BMI report cards have no place coming from schools and can be more harmful than helpful.”

A DOE spokeswoman defended the Fitnessgrams Thursday as “just one indicator…which helps students develop personal goals for lifelong health.”

But for Gwendolyn, the Fitnessgrams are just dumb.

“I know that I’m not overweight, so why should I believe the New York Department of Education?” she said.

Does she look fat to you?
Support Israel's emergency medical service. afmda.org

Offline EC

  • Shanghaied Editor
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 23,804
  • Gender: Male
  • Cats rule. Dogs drool.
How grotesquely obese - says absolutely no one.

BMI is a total BS measurement, and, more to the point - one that should not be applied to kids in the first place. Any parent knows that, kids stock up then hit a growth spurt. Waist to hip ratio is a far more reliable indicator.
The universe doesn't hate you. Unless your name is Tsutomu Yamaguchi

Avatar courtesy of Oceander

I've got a website now: Smoke and Ink

rangerrebew

  • Guest
How grotesquely obese - says absolutely no one.

BMI is a total BS measurement, and, more to the point - one that should not be applied to kids in the first place. Any parent knows that, kids stock up then hit a growth spurt. Waist to hip ratio is a far more reliable indicator.

Do you think she's as obese as Moochelle?  Personally, I don't think so. :silly:

Offline jmyrlefuller

  • J. Myrle Fuller
  • Cat Mod
  • *****
  • Posts: 22,326
  • Gender: Male
  • Realistic nihilist
    • Fullervision
Reading the rationale... they're using flipping percentiles.

Her BMI is listed at 19... which is borderline UNDERWEIGHT. Yet somehow their listing comes out as being in the 88th percentile. There has to be a mistake there. Even so, the idea of using percentiles, comparing one kid to every other, is not good science-- as we know, the populace as a whole is getting more obese, which would skew an ideal-sized person down, but obviously that wouldn't make a person at the ideal weight "healthier" or "skinnier."
New profile picture in honor of Public Domain Day 2024

Offline Bigun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51,331
  • Gender: Male
  • Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God
    • The FairTax Plan
Reading the rationale... they're using flipping percentiles.

Her BMI is listed at 19... which is borderline UNDERWEIGHT. Yet somehow their listing comes out as being in the 88th percentile. There has to be a mistake there. Even so, the idea of using percentiles, comparing one kid to every other, is not good science-- as we know, the populace as a whole is getting more obese, which would skew an ideal-sized person down, but obviously that wouldn't make a person at the ideal weight "healthier" or "skinnier."

They are COMPLETE idiots! End of transmission!
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Offline kevindavis007

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12,380
  • Gender: Male
How grotesquely obese - says absolutely no one.

BMI is a total BS measurement, and, more to the point - one that should not be applied to kids in the first place. Any parent knows that, kids stock up then hit a growth spurt. Waist to hip ratio is a far more reliable indicator.


I think the whole BMI is worthless.  When I had a health fitness some time ago, I was at 209, and I'm 5'10.. Yet I'm skinny.. However according to the BMI I'm fat. The correct weight for me would be 175 which for me would make me skin and bones..  Each person is different.   
Join The Reagan Caucus: https://reagancaucus.org/

Offline musiclady

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 22,682
This government is going to create a whole generation of anorexic children.
Character still matters.  It always matters.

I wear a mask as an exercise in liberty and love for others.  To see it as an infringement of liberty is to entirely miss the point.  Be kind.

"Sometimes I think the Church would be better off if we would call a moratorium on activity for about six weeks and just wait on God to see what He is waiting to do for us. That's what they did before Pentecost."   - A. W. Tozer

Use the time God is giving us to seek His will and feel His presence.

Offline musiclady

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 22,682

I think the whole BMI is worthless.  When I had a health fitness some time ago, I was at 209, and I'm 5'10.. Yet I'm skinny.. However according to the BMI I'm fat. The correct weight for me would be 175 which for me would make me skin and bones..  Each person is different.

BMI has to be combined with other methods of evaluation.

Every mesomorph comes out 'overweight' on the BMI chart, yet they are some of the fittest people on the planet.

The whole world has gone mad.
Character still matters.  It always matters.

I wear a mask as an exercise in liberty and love for others.  To see it as an infringement of liberty is to entirely miss the point.  Be kind.

"Sometimes I think the Church would be better off if we would call a moratorium on activity for about six weeks and just wait on God to see what He is waiting to do for us. That's what they did before Pentecost."   - A. W. Tozer

Use the time God is giving us to seek His will and feel His presence.

Offline musiclady

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 22,682
Reading the rationale... they're using flipping percentiles.

Her BMI is listed at 19... which is borderline UNDERWEIGHT. Yet somehow their listing comes out as being in the 88th percentile. There has to be a mistake there. Even so, the idea of using percentiles, comparing one kid to every other, is not good science-- as we know, the populace as a whole is getting more obese, which would skew an ideal-sized person down, but obviously that wouldn't make a person at the ideal weight "healthier" or "skinnier."

They're also conflating the concept of "skinny" with "healthy."

Some of the least healthy people I know are skinny.
Character still matters.  It always matters.

I wear a mask as an exercise in liberty and love for others.  To see it as an infringement of liberty is to entirely miss the point.  Be kind.

"Sometimes I think the Church would be better off if we would call a moratorium on activity for about six weeks and just wait on God to see what He is waiting to do for us. That's what they did before Pentecost."   - A. W. Tozer

Use the time God is giving us to seek His will and feel His presence.

Online mountaineer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 78,109
Some of the least healthy people I know are skinny.
Some of the least healthy people I know are vegans.  :laugh:
Support Israel's emergency medical service. afmda.org

Offline Bigun

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 51,331
  • Gender: Male
  • Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God
    • The FairTax Plan
BMI has to be combined with other methods of evaluation.

Every mesomorph comes out 'overweight' on the BMI chart, yet they are some of the fittest people on the planet.

The whole world has gone mad.

 :amen:

If they evaluated Navy Seals this way 90% of them would be Obese!
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
- J. R. R. Tolkien

Offline truth_seeker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 28,386
  • Gender: Male
  • Common Sense Results Oriented Conservative Veteran

I think the whole BMI is worthless.  When I had a health fitness some time ago, I was at 209, and I'm 5'10.. Yet I'm skinny.. However according to the BMI I'm fat. The correct weight for me would be 175 which for me would make me skin and bones..  Each person is different.
Muscle weighs more than fat, for a given amount of body volume.

An excellent measurement is 'Percent Body Fat."

Being fat has become so common, that a surprising fraction of women with awful bodies, dress in revealing rather than concealing clothing styles.

It repells me.
"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

Offline kevindavis007

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12,380
  • Gender: Male
BMI has to be combined with other methods of evaluation.

Every mesomorph comes out 'overweight' on the BMI chart, yet they are some of the fittest people on the planet.

The whole world has gone mad.


I agree... Every person is built in a different way..
Join The Reagan Caucus: https://reagancaucus.org/

Offline kevindavis007

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12,380
  • Gender: Male
Muscle weighs more than fat, for a given amount of body volume.

An excellent measurement is 'Percent Body Fat."

Being fat has become so common, that a surprising fraction of women with awful bodies, dress in revealing rather than concealing clothing styles.

It repells me.


I agree, that has is the biggest factor and I agree with you on second part..


I have seen that at well.
Join The Reagan Caucus: https://reagancaucus.org/

Offline NavyCanDo

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6,494
  • Gender: Male
Isn’t her weight and BMI her pediatricians concern not the schools?   When I was in school the school nurse checked your eyesight and hearing every year or two, and applied Band-Aids to your booboos, That’s it.   
A nation that turns away from prayer will ultimately find itself in desperate need of it. :Jonathan Cahn

Offline NavyCanDo

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6,494
  • Gender: Male

I think the whole BMI is worthless.  When I had a health fitness some time ago, I was at 209, and I'm 5'10.. Yet I'm skinny.. However according to the BMI I'm fat. The correct weight for me would be 175 which for me would make me skin and bones..  Each person is different.

I was a bean pole all the way through school. And it wasn't for the lack of eating. I loved food - even the school lunches back in the day when they were "real lunches".   It was just my metabolism.  I Went into the Navy 5' 11'' and 144 lbs. That ended about 6 years later while working one summer for Dominoes, and enjoying all that free pizza. Oh, what I’d do to have that 32 waist back. 
My 12-year old son is the same way I was his age – very skinny. 
A nation that turns away from prayer will ultimately find itself in desperate need of it. :Jonathan Cahn

Online mountaineer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 78,109
Being fat has become so common, that a surprising fraction of women with awful bodies, dress in revealing rather than concealing clothing styles.

It repells me.
Spend a little time on a college campus and you'll be beyond appalled. Whether male or female, there's no embarrassment with young people today about being fat and it's like a doggone stockyard with all that beef on the hoof. I remember my freshman year and the horror I felt at having put on some "cafeteria food" weight (omg, who's going to ask me on a date if I'm fat?!?) so second semester I dieted and exercised like mad and got back to where I should be. Now, the attitude is pretty much "so what."

But for a little elementary school student who isn't the least bit chubby, it's ridiculous for the schools to push this BMI nonsense.
Support Israel's emergency medical service. afmda.org

Offline truth_seeker

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 28,386
  • Gender: Male
  • Common Sense Results Oriented Conservative Veteran
Spend a little time on a college campus and you'll be beyond appalled. Whether male or female, there's no embarrassment with young people today about being fat and it's like a doggone stockyard with all that beef on the hoof. I remember my freshman year and the horror I felt at having put on some "cafeteria food" weight (omg, who's going to ask me on a date if I'm fat?!?) so second semester I dieted and exercised like mad and got back to where I should be. Now, the attitude is pretty much "so what."

But for a little elementary school student who isn't the least bit chubby, it's ridiculous for the schools to push this BMI nonsense.
I have lived near the beach in Orange County nearly all my life. Within one mile of the surf for nearly 48 years.

One thing that meant was getting to look at beautiful  girls and women in bathing suits. On that I feel I have an expertise.

Of late, the demographics and lifestyles of people in the region give different experiences at the beach.

In days of olde, lots and lots of teens and young adults, in the bikini styles of the time. Blondes, brunettes, well tanned and bare as can be. Carried a backrest and towel to their sunspot. Surfboards in abundance.

Today lots of fatties, already browned minorities, often no bikinis, hauling tons and tons of coolers, umbrellas, and food to their feeding stations on the sand. Surfboards rarely seen.

What used to be a treat, is now disgusting. When I am in very  guarded company, I point out the rare sighting of a blonde at the beach. Or the rare sighting of a pretty girl with a nice figure in a bikini at the beach.

To drive home the evolution towards fat women, I reviewed old photos from the area in the 1920-1960s. The beachwear was not especially revealing. But the figures were representative of women concerned about their appearance.

Today the females of our species from teens to 30s are slobbish when it comes to appearance, since their peers are equally overweight.
"God must love the common man, he made so many of them.�  Abe Lincoln

Offline Right_in_Virginia

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 79,320
This government is going to create a whole generation of anorexic children.

Totally agree with this.   It needs to stop and stop now.

Offline Slide Rule

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,321
  • Gender: Male
Greetings from
 NYC Department of Education
 Office of School Wellness Program
 
 http://schools.nyc.gov/wellness


Sounds like a major govermental fiasco can be terminated.

Reason?  Stupidity
Reason? Not teaching Reading Writing or Arithmetic.

White, American, MAGA, 3% Neanderthal, and 97% Extreme Right Wing Conservative.

Recommended

J Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson
E Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
N Davies, Europe: A History
R Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics
R Penrose, The Road To Reality & The Emperor's New Mind
K Popper, An Open Society and Its Enemies & The Logic of Scientific Discovery
A Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, & Everything he wrote

Online mountaineer

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 78,109
Here's another one ...
Quote
Fit students deemed ‘overweight’ & ‘unhealthy’ by DOE
By Gabrielle Fonrouge and Laura Italiano
NY Post
May 24, 2014 | 2:24am

Daniel Strausberg plays baseball and soccer and is a yellow belt in jiujitsu who can do 200 push-ups — yet he was judged “overweight” and “unhealthy” by the Department of Education.

“I literally have to take his pants in three inches on both sides, and he has a six-pack,” says his mom, Sadie.

“It’s more like an eight-pack,” dad Bruce added.

The Brooklyn parents were outraged this week to find that Daniel was rated just shy of obese in a school Fitnessgram.

Daniel paused from breaking in a new baseball mitt Friday to list his accomplishments.

“I’m a normal-sized kid,” he said. “A kid that’s strong, athletic — and handsome!”

The Strausbergs, of Bay Ridge, are among many city parents furious their kids were sent home with questionable Fitnessgrams.

Staten Islander Judy Meccia was stunned to see that her wafer-thin 5-year-old daughter was deemed “overweight.”

“She swims three times a week, goes to karate three times a week, is in dance competitions three times a week,” the mother said.

Anita Logan of Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, said her lithe 10-year-old daughter, Shawn, was also labeled overweight and unhealthy.

“She’s the tallest in her class. The doctor said she’s fine. I had to tell her, ‘It’s not true, you’re not fat,’ ” she said.

Tub o' lard Daniel Straussberg and his BMI of 18
Support Israel's emergency medical service. afmda.org