Week 12 Post 2

Despite ease and opportunity, Des Moines Public Schools and the national school system has failed to equip the next generation with the resources necessary to overcome the temptations and obstacles to health  literacy in the 21st century. Already we have seen programs that were once made to uplift and empower students to make beneficial health decisions cut under the notions that they can no longer be funded. For example, the integration of health into a week-long virtual module at school and, currently, the seizure of middle school sports. It has become obvious that the district has decided that health literacy is an unnecessary add when compared with other necessities. However, to look at the statistics or weigh the outcomes in the environment that this generation has grown up in, PE and health class should be the most important classes that a child will take. As the job field becomes more demanding and people must have a college education or a sellable skill, it seems that good health is a prerequisite to success. Children in low-income neighborhoods are nine times more likely to be overweight. The lack of safe play spaces, low-cost organized sports, and adequate grocery stores makes PE the children's only realistic chance for success and health literacy. In America, there is no lack of resources but instead misconstrued priorities. In 1961, when President Kennedy assumed the White House, he made it of utmost priority that he would improve the health of the upcoming generation. And he did. With frequency, the president updated knowledge about health literacy in the young and the overall wellbeing of the nation. At first, he challenged the marines and white house staff to hike 50 miles, a challenge set by Theodore Roosevelt to prove the might of the US Marines. Kennedy suggested that the marines had grown weaker and challenged that should they prove they can complete the 50-mile-hike, his White House staff would as well. The nation followed, enjoying the great task set for by their president. Although this was great fun and raised morale for being fit and healthy, this was only a small side step to Kennedy's overall plans to increase the next generations chances of success and survival. Kennedy successfully created a school health curriculum. He could not enforce it but because of his position, most applied to it. In the first wave of his fitness program, a quarter million students participated and he traveled to hear about their experiences. During that year (61-62), double the amount of children passed their physical fitness exams. With that success came expansion. All of this to say that the White House and small school systems even have the power and the ability to make positive changes in the health of the next generation.

Tufts Medical School tackled the problem using a different approach. A third of American children are overweight and 14 million are obese. These issues have proven to make a child more likely to be bullied at school, have low self-esteem, show poor academic performance and employment as adults, and now, are leading to chronic illness during childhood. PE is the most obvious way to combat the issue, however, in the high school setting, there may be more interesting and enriching ways to involve students in health literacy education. In research done by the Tufts Medical School, 66% of students surveyed reported valuing learning about science, compared to 98% who valued learning about health. This data was consistent across rural. urban, and suburban populations. So, the Tufts Medical School teamed up with various schools and put their course "The Great Diseases" into action. The year-long course was broken up into four units: Infectious disease, neurological disorders, metabolic disease, and cancers. The class helped students to make informed health choices while providing them with knowledge on common diseases. After the course, students reported great interest and 50% felt confident in their ability to make informed health decision and felt they had good health literacy, opposed to the beginning when almost none could report these truths. The program aimed to catch students interest, not use fear tactics, and it worked. To think of a typical class room in this day, 50% with adequate understanding and majority with interest is extremely impressive in a public school. 

If children were given the resources to be healthy and were not corrupted by the influence of disinterested adults, students would be healthy. If PE classes were given a larger budget, they could more affectively engage students. If students were not expected to sit for most every hour of the day, health outcomes may be improved. However, that is not one Des Moines Public Schools wants to budget for. As a student, it is unclear where the money is going. The median nationwide annual budget for PE is $764. That does not even near the amount of money necessary to combat a whole epidemic. The nation and our school district is failing students miserably.