Introduction Founded on February 9, 2010 by First Lady Michelle Obama, the Let’s Move! campaign, seeks to be a driving force in solving the childhood obesity epidemic faced in the United States within a generation, by the year 2030 (United States, White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity [WHTFCO], 2010). As part of the Let’s Move! intervention there was a sub-intervention call the Let’s Move! Active schools that was implemented three years after the beginning of the original movement (SHAPE America, 2015). This sub-intervention sought to make changes specifically in schools, due to large amount of time children spend at school, an average of six to seven hours a day (SHAPE America, 2015). In America 17 percent of all youth, ages 2 – 19, …show more content…
are considered obese, meaning their body mass index (BMI) is above the 95th percentile of Centers for Disease Control (CDC) growth charts (CDC, 2013). This is an increase of over three percent since 2000 and it is almost 8 percent larger than the percentage of obese children between 1988 to 1994 (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2012; Ogden, Flegal, Carroll, & Johnson, 2002). Any BMI indicating overweight or obese is detrimental to individuals, children in particular, because it typically leads to future health problems such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other health relate problems (Sothern, 2004). One key factor that contributed to this rise in obesity is thought to be from a 12 percent decrease in daily physical activity that was observed in high school students from 1991 to 2013 (CDC, 2013). Additionally, in 2014 only four percent of high schools required daily physical education or activity for all grades, throughout the entire year (CDC, 2013). The Let’s Move! Active Schools campaign, which was implemented to stop this increase in obesity in the youth of America, which seeks to increase the amount of physical activity in these youth, will be thoroughly examined in this paper. This will include its effects on the intrapersonal level, all the way to the governmental policy level as well as areas that the intervention can be expanded to be more effective. Program Description The Let’s Move! Active Schools intervention is setup with an ultimate goal of ensuring that children in school achieve at least 60 minutes of physical activity per day, every day of the school week (SHAPE America, 2015). By 2018 this plan hopes to have enrolled 50,000 schools and impacted 25 million kids (SHAPE America, 2015). As of the most recently released numbers for the beginning of 2016 the program reports they have enrolled 18,389 schools and affected 10.3 million kids (Let's Move! Active Schools, n.d.). This intervention is a blended top-down, bottom-up approach based program which is setup in such a way that it intends to affect most levels of the socio-ecological model(SEM) from the intrapersonal to the community and environmental in such a way that can effectively reach the youth of this country and make a substantial change.
It does not implement direct changes at the macro and policy level of the SEM. The program works as such that school enroll in the program via the Let’s Move! Active Schools website and from their they are walked through a screening and data collection phase in order to develop action plans tailored to these individual schools (Let's Move! Active Schools, n.d.). These action plans seek to adapt five elements to ensure that goal is met which are to provide physical education that is enjoyable for the students, creating active classrooms so there are physical activity breaks in the lessons, implement physical activity programs for before and after school, training and involvement of staff in physical activity importance and implementation techniques, and lastly is to reach out to the community and families to make school a hub for physical activity and active spaces (Let's Move! Active Schools, n.d.). These five elements seek to make changes in the behavior of the students so that they become immersed in physical activity which could lead to them carrying these habits into their daily lives later on. The elements also act on providing information to all those connected to the school such as the students, staff, parents, and community in ways to incorporate physical activity in school and develop programs that further promote this activity outside of the classroom before and after school. The implementation of this program would also lead to policy shifts in schools and school districts at the community level since the structuring of classes and appropriations of funding would need to be modified, something that is not usually governed at the
school level. Let’s Move! Active School is designed to be free for schools who wish to enroll and take advantage of the program and offers access to several of grants that can be applied for if the school or school district is unable to pay for the implement and adaptions needed to follow the action plan (Let's Move! Active Schools, n.d.). These grants are not from the government but are from partners of this program such as, the NFL, USA Track and Field, Unicef, Spark, Nike, NBA fit, and many more (Let's Move! Active Schools, n.d.). The program as a whole is also a collaboration between several private sector companies such as Sports & Nutrition, SHAPE America, Alliance for a Healthier Generation, and several others as well as the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (Let's Move! Active Schools, n.d.). This companies serve various roles that are very broad and not detailed on their website but it seems that these companies provide some of the counseling and training that is outline in the action plans provided to schools (Let's Move! Active Schools, n.d.). Assessment On an intrapersonal level this intervention does not directly seek to make changes in the self driven behavior of the children. Instead this intervention creates the possibility, that through the physical education process, the children might retain or develop good physical activity habits due to the habitual nature of daily exercise (Let's Move! Active Schools, 2015). Part of the rational of this program is to promote physical activity in order to improve attendance, test scores, behavior, and of course lower the rates of obesity (Let's Move! Active Schools, 2015). It has been shown in studies that there is positive correlation between an increase physical activity in children and measure of academic performance tests, which are standardized tests that look at the progression of youth education (Edwards, Mauch, & Winkelman, 2010). By increasing academic performance, it will serve to boost confidence of these students that might have not achieved as high of a grade without regular physical activity. This boost in confidence can lead to improved attendance, and therefore a decreased drop-out rate in schools which would inevitably lead to an increase in the percentage of high school diplomas achieved as most schools that do not have a 100 percent graduate rate (Let's Move! Active Schools, 2015). The knowledge gained from not only the physical education which could change how they maintain this regular activity post high school, could affect their health status, and employment status later in life. These are all positive effects that could arise from the increase in physical activity in schools. One potential negative effect at the intrapersonal level could be a decrease in self-esteem especially if the child suffers from a medical condition that would exclude them from physical activity, a medical condition that relates to being obese, or if the child was not as good as other children at the activities. If a child is unable to keep up with their peers or participate in the same activities as them they can tend to feel left out and develop decreased feelings of self worth because they believe they are not as good as their fellow classmates. This could lead to a decline in academic performance as well as mental health in the populations that are essentially excluded from this school encompassing program meant to bring kids success, but will unfortunately backfire on those that cannot participate. Interpersonally the Let’s Move! Active Schools works towards developing a cultural norm that exercising daily and become physically fit is the correct way to live. The end goal of the Let’s Move! program is to bring obesity levels down to 5 percent by 2030 which would require a change in attitude towards physical activity and other factors that contribute to this (WHTFCO, 2010; Jette, Bhagat, & Andrews, 2014). While attempting to bring down the levels of obesity by making a norm of physical activity, it could be detrimental to social structures of friends and families. This is the rational of a paper by Jette et al. that this forced daily activity could lead to reducing physical activity to nothing more than something that ought to be done, diminishing the levels of fun in these activities (2014). This could be harmful especially to children where they use physical activity time and games such as soccer, baseball, and other group based sports to develop socially. If children are merely told to exercise and perform activities strictly for one’s well being it takes away part of this development and also could possibly reduce the pleasure for physical activity which could lead to a falling off of parental involvement in sports or participation in community sports. Children may no longer enjoy these activities thereby not desiring to involve parents in the active process of playing games, or learning about sports since it has been imposed upon them at school (Jette et. al, 2014). However, the imposed physical activity and learning of sports could lead to more children participating in school and non-school related sports possibly since it has become part of their daily lives. It could increase family bonding since family and friends typically support each other when one another is competing or performing. It could also give friends something to participate in together especially if it is a team sport.
3 September 1939 when Australia joined the war playing a significant role in World War 2, winning a lot of their campaigns. Almost million Australians, both men and women helped win WW2 all over the world. The war started for Australia when Great Britain declared war on Germany. This lead to Australia fighting in Germany and Italy in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, Japan in south-east Asia and other parts of the Pacific. Australia was involved in one of the most important battles in WWII, Kokoda track campaign in 1942. There are several reasons why this battle was so significant. Firstly, Kokoda track campaign stopped the invasion of Australia. Secondly, the Kokoda track campaign lead to the victory of WWII with the defeat of Japan. Lastly, the conditions that all the troops at the Kokoda campaign had to go through was atrocious and against the ally troop’s odds. This battle leads to the development of the nation. This is why Kokoda was the most important battle fought by the Australian’s in WWII.
We won’t budge is an autobiography by Manthia Diawara which was published in 2003. This book contains the author’s own life experiences in his home country as well as in both France and America where the he goes on to include how his fellow immigrants were mistreated and struggled to establish themselves in the new countries. Manthia Diawara argues that most mistreatments faced by immigrants like himself had much to do with racism rather than just being immigrants. Racism “Paul Berg’s Dictionary of New Words in
“Remarks to the NAACP National Convention” is a transcript of the speech Michelle Obama gave to the NAACP Convention. Mrs. Obama urges the members of the NAACP to take action and support the “Let’s Move” campaign to combat childhood obesity. In this speech, Mrs. Obama stresses the four main components of her “Let’s Move” campaign. The first goal of the campaign is to offer parents with the information that they need to make healthy choices for their families. The second goal of the movement is to put healthy food into schools.
In all the history of America one thing has been made clear, historians can’t agree on much. It is valid seeing as none of them can travel back in time to actually experience the important events and even distinguish what has value and what doesn’t. Therefore all historians must make a leap and interpret the facts as best they can. The populist movement does not escape this paradox. Two views are widely accepted yet vastly different, the views of Richard Hofstadter and Lawrence Goodwyn. They disagree on whether populists were “isolated and paranoid bigots” or “sophisticated, empathetic egalitarians”; whether their leaders were “opportunists who victimized them” or “visionary economic theorists who liberated them”; whether their beliefs were rooted in the free silver campaign of the 1890s or the cooperative movement of the 1880s; and finally whether their ideal society was in the “agrarian past” or “the promise of a cooperative future”. They could not agree on anything, over all Richard Hofstadter seems to have a better idea of the truth of populism.
In 2014 Beyond Blue released a video campaign that illustrated that ‘Discrimination stops with you’ and posted a message that ‘No one should be made to feel like crap just for being who they are’ (Beyond Blue 2014). The campaign dubbed The Invisible Discriminator showed a sequence of events where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience racism and links how these incidents that may seem insignificant to those being unconsciously racist can lead to anxiety and depression.
Childhood obesity proves to still be on the rise in our schools and not enough is being done to stop it. Despite the many reforms
Obesity in children across America has become an increasing public health concern. Obesity has been identified as an epidemic that is plaguing our children in the United States. In some countries around the world children are dying of starvation everyday. How can this happen when here in America the opposite is a major problem? This is not to say that in America there are no hungry or starving children. It has been proven that our children suffer from obesity, and “children who are overweight or obese as preschoolers are five times as likely as normal-weight children to be overweight or obese as adults” (“Hope”). Obesity not only can cause a child to become more prone to having health problems down the road, but it can also make them feel insecure about themselves. There needs to be action taken in schools as well as in homes to help prevent this growing epidemic.
From Kindergarten to 12th grade, children spend most of their time at school. School, what we adults think, is supposed to be the teachers of our children while we are at work. They feed them lunch, and possibly breakfast, five days out the week, keep them active, and teach them all about their body and health in health class. But, are they really taking care of them enough? Some schools fail to serve healthy foods, teach health class, or even provide enough time to be physically active. One in three kids are obese, that is reason enough to care about these children’s lives at school. Schools are one of the reasons that the younger generation has a fast growing obese rate.
Woods, C., Mutrie, N., Scott, M. (2002). Physical activity intervention: a Transtheoretical Model-based intervention designed to help sedentary young adults become active. Health Education Reseacrh, 17(4), 451-460.
...). A future research idea piggybacks on this program by encouraging an initiation of state and/or national legislation, specifically for change moving towards healthier school nutrition and additional school nutrition education. This legislation would also mandate increases in the amount of time children are allowed for physical activity in their school day as a lack of physical activity is a huge risk factor for overweight and obesity. Another thought is to designate a school health coordinator who will be responsible for maintaining and continuing the positive work that this study began. Utilizing the success of this program and others like it in this regards will lead to action on all levels of the social ecological framework. Ultimately, a multilevel examination of determinants and interventions needs to be aimed at preventing child overweight and obesity.
Childhood obesity has been on the rise in the last couple of years. In the 1970’s childhood obesity was never a concern to the public until the number increased over the years. An alarming rate of 31% of all adults have been obese since they were children and the rates of childhood obesity don’t fall too behind with an 18% of children being obese. That makes almost half of obese adults and children. A child that is obese has a 70-80% higher chance of staying obese even through their adulthood if no action is taken. Childhood obesity is not something children are in control of, these children suffer from different outcomes since they can’t look after themselves and heavily rely on someone to aid them when they need it. These numbers can be drastically altered in a positive way by educating both children and parents about healthy, nutritious foods to consume, supplying schools with better lunch and healthier vending machines with healthy choices and promoting after school activities to keep children active and away from electronics.
According to a 2010 report by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past thirty years. As well as having an impact on health, studies have cited a relationship between obesity and poor school performance as well as a child’s readiness for learning and education. This can be correlated with studies finding “obese children have a greater risk of social and psychological problems, such as discrimination and poor self-esteem” (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, para. 2). It has also been documented that obese children miss more days from school than the general student population and “many will lack the energy to sustain the concentration needed to process new information” (Yaussi, 2005, p. 106).
We want to solve the problem by helping kids and adults each healthier by making healthier lifestyle choices when it comes to eating. We also want to also increase physical activity of children and adolescents. I believe with the proper diet and exercise we can help decrease the obesity issue in this country that has grown so much in the past two decades. These steps are vital to helping prevent childhood obesity and even kids who currently suffer from childhood obesity. Since the 1970’s approximately 15 percent of children and adolescents are now overweight. "Prevent Childhood Obesity-Get Your Kids Moving!" Prevent Childhood Obesity-Get Your Kids Moving!
The textbook states that, “physical education teaches students to add physical activity to their daily lives and exposes them to content and learning experiences that develop the skills and desire to be active for life”
Educational institutions have the potential to, first and foremost, educate and assist the young people of today with making the positive, healthful choices necessary to maintain good health. Over 4,500 students have been followed in recent research studies and these “thousands of sixth graders who participated in a school-based health program were less obese by eighth grade than a group of similar children who did not, according to a new study done for the National Institutes of Health” (Rabin). Schools need to create health programs focused on assisting all children suffering from being overweight or obese. Policies such as fitness programs, nutrition classes, and healthful meals can even impact every student by creating a strong foundation and awareness of the negative, long term effects associated with practicing unhealthy habits. Although the financial expenses would be necessary, the adaption of scho...