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I just wanted to share something very interesting that I remember from last year. I was the only guy in my old school that was growing his hair, and I had a gym teacher that always carried around one of those handheld computers. So one day, at the end of the school year he comes up to me and says
"Mihnea, who do you think this is?"
And he shows me this picture on his computer of a boy in his teens (I'd say maybe 16 years old) with long , straight, shoulderblade length blonde hair. Then he tells me that he had long hair when he was my age and regretted cutting it, now he has a receding hairline, and since he is 50 something years old with (no extreme) signs of a receding hairline/hairloss, I suggested that he grows his hair back again but he didn't think he had the patience to (and I believe him, everytime someone screwed up in gym class he had a vein on his forehead that was pulsing whenever he was angry;)
Just wanted to share it, it was a memorable event!
-Mihnea
This is the perfect example of why I hated gym class.
All the gym teachers I had didn't want you in the class unless
you played baseball like Babe Ruth or football like Tom Brady.
It's the perfect example of why so many kids are overweight,
instead of berating kids for not being good at xxx sport they
should have set up gym class as an excercize program. Have the
kids go in do wieghts, jogging, running, biking. The operative
word here is excercize, not have a contest to see who isn't
picked for the team in the whatever the game of the day is.
It was like the art teachers who didn't want you in their
class unless you were Picasso or the music teachers who
didn't want you in their class unless you were Mozart.
A pretty sad commentary on our teachers.
I live in California so I guess it's becoming more acceptable for teachers to have long hair because my english teacher had a shoulder length pony tail and I had a sub that had dreads to his waist
I live in France, but in my school, there's quite few longhaired teachers ^^ (I would say at least 5). I don't know how many teachers there are in my school, but I'm pretty sure they represent at least 15 to 20% (this must be rare).
For example, my last year's "Engineering's science" teacher had (and still has ;) ) a salt'n'pepper pony tail.
The perfect example of why kids are overweight is because their parents are uneducated and have no idea how to feed their children properly.
Of course a gym teacher will not help, but they are not the ones who drove them to eat rubbish food, it is the parents.
There are a *lot* of factors. I was never at the proper weight for my height, and I was never all *that* much less active than my peers, and I ate reasonably well. I just had a really bad self-image. Actually, if you look at my level of obesity vs. my psychological state, I was heaviest during the time when I was the most depressed. And I wasn't depressed because of my weight... I had plenty of other reasons (no friends, bad teachers, got a vanilla cupcake when I wanted a chocolate one, etc...). In high school, I finally got a decent self-image, and I started looking like something that didn't belong floating over a football game.
Kids nowadays are put under a lot of stress. They're expected to do better in school, without being given any extra resources. And their teachers' salaries depend on it. Standardized tests mean more than your GPA (says the person who got a 1290 on the SATs as a sophomore, but routinely got Ds and Fs, and graduated), and requirements for a good GPA keep getting higher. A student who wants to go to a state college is *expected* to take Honors and AP courses. That's the norm nowadays. What do you expect your kids to look like when they're forced to sit home and write 5-page essays every other night instead of going out?
Eh, I'm sorry... I'll stop ranting now...
(stupid school system failed me, grumble, grumble...)
Ha... you think its bad in America? wait til you come to Taiwan! Kids are routinely required to study no less than 16 hours a day, spend at least 10 hours at school (7 am to 5 pm, and rest of the time either on homework or at cram schools. If a kid makes less than an A (90%) then he has no chance at getting into any state high school or college (getting into high school is like College in America, they are starting to change that however by requiring high school education), in fact the kid will be the last place in class because school is extreamly competitive. 5th graders routinely commit suicide although alot of them are because of whole family suicides (the parents can't take it and wants to take the kids with them)
If you have learning disability or are not good at Language, math, or science (but are good at music and art) then you are SOL because they dont care about arts and music, the main focous is language, math, and science.
Schools in Taiwan is a game of darwainian competition.
Hey, just because I'm not being murdered, it doesn't mean I can't complain about being raped :-p
Statements such as this only confuse the issue. I know a number of somewhat affluent parents who have children who are overweight. I also know of several parents who have not gone past high school who have kids that are fit and trim.
You are confusing education with knowledge. There are many knowledgeable people who do not have an advanced education. And I know a couple of PHD's whose idea of common sense is having all dimes in their pocket.
There are too many factors that go into weight issues to slap a general statement on it as you do. Factors include physical, emotional, environmental, peer, and chemical. I will offer myself as an example here. I constantly have a driving urge to eat, or a hunger, 24 hours a day, even when I am stuffed and cannot eat any more. You often hear people say "Just eat less". If only it were that easy.
It's no different than me telling a person who is hooked on smoking to "just not smoke". And you can't say that uneducated parents don't know that smoking is bad, can you?
I know there are a number of people out there that may lack a formal education, but have a firm grasp on what is good for them and their children, and what is not. And a blanket statement such as you made above probably would and did offend most of them.
There is a saying that many here will recognize. It goes:
"Engage brain before putting mouth into gear".
Big George
I agree totally with everything you said here George, I just think you replied as you did out of context.
In my view, I think that Daps' use of the term "educated" was not referring to level of formal education such as University, but more on being educated through knowledge (i.e. the very thing that you're saying!).
In my mind the phrase 'being educated about something', means 'having knowledge about something', whether through University, life-experience, self-learning or whatever.
If I misspoke I apologize up front. I was under the impression that he was drawing a distinction between uneducated parents and a teacher here.
I'll agree with the other posters who say it's a combination of many factors.
Advertising to kids is rampant, and most companies aren't trying to get children to eat an apple a day. Parents would have to blindfold their children, cover their ears, and homeschool them to keep the advertising away. And it's easy to say, "well, the parents are buying this junk," but we're all influenced by advertising whether we like it or not to some degree or another.
At least in the US, with the emphasis being placed more and more on tests, gym time for kids is being reduced every year. Any movement is better than nothing at all. It doesn't help either than there are so many tempting computer games/TV shows that pull kids indoors. Add to that the fact that in many places it's getting less and less appearling to go outside and you have a recipe for lower activity. I'd love to bike more often instead of driving, but it seems that I risk my neck crossing busy streets more and more often. That, and half the time I can't find a place to lock up my bike!
Families are also under a lot of stress. Everyone's busy trying to live the perfect life that there's little time for healthy, homecooked meals.
Healthy food is also more expensive. I live on a tight budget, and I sometimes much as I'd like to be buying more fresh vegetables and fruits, I know that the same money spent on pizza will fill me up more. Sad, but true.
The same things that affect children affect adults. After working as a personal trainer, I've learned that obesity is a complex problem.
It's easy to put all the blame on the parents of the overweight kid. However, it takes a village to raise a child.
Mouse
So for the amount you spend on that pizza go to your local
wharehouse food store and get a case 8 cans of peas......
I actually do this sometimes. My parents belong to one of those places and will take me grocery shopping on occasion. There's only so many canned peas/beans one can eat, but it's a start. The problem is that usually healthy food isn't quite as convenient as the junk stuff...and our tastes are often conditioned to prefer the junk. And yes, I know that canned veggies are convenient, but I prefer fresh stuff by far.
Learning to choose wisely, shop around, and cook are all great assets.
I've come a long way since college. In those days, my idea of having vegetables with dinner was eating mac and cheese while watching "Veggie Tails." :-)
Actually, you are right. He did pick favorites, I am not very good at sports myself (more of a music guy), and I got a bad mark in gym (but didn't fail), and my friend was his favorite student and he got a 90 something even though all he did was fool around and score a couple goals or whatever. It's really annoying when they play favorites... but other than that he was a nice guy.
-Mihnea
DaPs is right, it's not their fault that the kids are overweight.
-Mihnea
Hey Mihnea - I'm a longhair(ed) teacher. Yesterday at bus duty (lol)a kindergartner says, "you're a girl cause girls have long hair." I sent him to the principal...NOT. I teach 5th grade and sometimes the girls will say, you have really long hair. And I'll say stuff like, well duh, lots of men have long hair. I recently cut my goatee into a fumanchu and that was a TOTAL trip for them. Then they're like, you look like Paul Sr., or Dog the Bounty Hunter, or Hulk Hogan. Too bad they don't have any other references. I live in NASCAR country and so once I said, so what about Richard Petty, he has a ponytail. And they're like, yeah he's cool. So, hopefully I'm an example of a man with long hair; nothing more nothing less. And as for that kindergartner...well just wait until he's in my class in 5th grade....Ha Ha. Bruce'ster
Haha that's awesome, you sound like a cool teacher:P. I wish there were more longhaired teachers aroudn here, but I've only seen one in my school. He has his hair in a ponytail all the time and he has a beard, it looks cool on him.
-Mihnea
Cool story, as apposed to my gym teacher who said to me after i cut my hair... "good choice". He was bald and always wore tight purple under armor... with nothing over it. Strange man.