Obesity: The Number One Problem in America (Revised Edition)
Why are there so many obese teens in America? is it because of the fast food restaurants? Is it because of technology? Is it because of the schools? Actually it’s because of all of them, but this paper focuses on the schools contribution to teen obesity.
Schools contribute to teen obesity because they serve un-healthy food, give too much homework, and they offer inadequate physical exercise. Food Did you know that 97% of schools in America serve un-healthy food? According to “Healthy choices Magazine, 2009” they do. That’s over 1,000,000 schools in America. Take my school for example. For entrees they offer pizza, hamburgers, deep fried chicken nuggets, deep fried chicken fingers, hot ham and cheese sandwiches, and nachos. The pizza is loaded with grease! One time I dabbed of all the grease from one slice of pizza, it soaked through 15 FOLDED napkins! “There’s puddles of grease on the pepperoni’s!” says 12 year-old Maddison, a seventh grader at my middle school.
How disgusting is that? The lunch I typically see is: a slice of pizza, chocolate milk, and a container of fries. The kids who order this are typically obese. According to the documentary “Supersize Me” if schools offer more healthy food choices, that teens are more prone to choose that healthy food choice. That means that students are less expected to fall asleep in class. This means that students will be more probable to graduate High School with a diploma. Homework According to Teen Ink’s article “The Homework Revolution” the United States of America gives out more homework than any other country in the world.
Imagine this, you are a 13 year old boy/girl, and you have a tremendous amount of homework. You have 60 math problems showing all work, read 4 chapters in your AR book, finish a science test review, and study for your geography map test on Europe. You also have to be at the gym at 7:00 pm. Well seven o’clock rolls around and you still have homework! Guess you can’t go to the gym. See? If teachers give out tremendous amounts of homework each night, it really cuts into exercise time, and that means teens are more probable to become obese.
“An average 7th grader should have no more than 70 minutes of homework, yet this sometimes doubled, or even tripled!” writes a teenager from Glen Rock, New Jersey for “Teen Ink Magazine, 2010”. See what I mean? Schools give out too much homework! Which in the long run, contributes to teen obesity. “Who cares if we have too much homework; we have all summer to exercise!” says 14 year-old Trevor, an 8th grader at my middle school. Well that may be true, but guess how my seventeen year-old brother spent his summer. On the couch. Texting people.
Playing videogames. You call that exercising? Well maybe for your thumbs. Physical Exercise One drawback about school is…
WE DO NOTHING BUT SIT ON OUR BUMS ALL DAY IN A CLASSROOM! It’s true! You want to know my encore classes for the whole year? Theatre and drama, life skills, orchestra, and hands on equations. See what I mean? No gym class what-so-ever. What’s even more sad is, high school students, they don’t get recess. Because they are required to have high school credits to graduate, they are more prone NOT to choose a P.E class.
which, consequently, contributes to teen obesity. It’s a fact. Schools all across the country offer inadequate physical exercise. So you see? These are the main reasons how schools contribute to teen obesity. Now it’s time to do something! Today, here’s what I want you to do: bring a sack lunch! Ride a bike! Try to finish homework in class! I guarantee if you do these few simple tasks, it will be the best thing you can do for your body (at this time in your lives), and the best thing you can do to stop teen obesity!
