The Biggest Losers...

Because of my almost pathological dislike of commercials, and the power afforded by a good remote, I spend much of the little bit I watch television flipping through channels catching snippets of various shows. The other night my kids and I were watching one of their programs, and during the commercial I flipped to the show "The Biggest Loser". Having seen little bits of the show before we were all familiar, but this time became interested and watched for probably twenty minutes. In fact when I tried to turn away from it, all my kids yelled for me to switch back. I asked "why", and my youngest said "Because they're all trying so hard".

It's compelling to watch people try hard, especially when they've overcome odds. The Olympics are coming up, and America's favorite stories are of the underdogs who have overcome great odds to succeed. We love the underdog, even when they've created their own hole (maybe especially then...).

I talked with my kids about the show, and my youngest asked how the contestants became so obese. I told her that some of them probably got into some unhealthy eating habits, didn't exercise, or maybe had health conditions or other problems that led to their overeating. She said "I bet they hated gym. I love gym, but the fat kids hate it."

I asked her why she thought some kids hated gym, and she replied, "Because they aren't good at it." One of my other kids chimed in, "That's why I hate math." Out of the mouths of babes...

It's human nature that we spend more time doing things that we are good at than at things that are difficult. In schools, part of our challenge is to help students overcome their anxiety over working outside comfort zones. Too often we accommodate a student who is unwilling or incapable of working outside a comfortable area.

I have had parents of straight "A" students come to me to tell me that their child is receiving a "B" or "C" in physical education and that grade is ruining their g.p.a. The request is often to remove a student from P.E., waive the requirement, or look for a personal curriculum that will avoid the class. There is public and even educational sympathy for this position. However, the athletically, musically, or artistically gifted student who struggles in math is told to "suck it up" because math is such an important life skill. Schools fail when we fail to educate the "whole" student. Valuing education in one area over another is dangerous.

Renaissance education focused on physical education, and education in the arts as being as important (sometimes more so) as education in reading and mathematics. As states and our nation consider educational reform, or slash school budgets in response to growing financial concern, I worry about the loss of courses in the visual and performing arts, and in physical education.

The biggest losers in some of the budget cuts on the horizon for schools stand to be students who do not get the same kind of "whole" student education our schools have emphasized over time. The responsibility is on educators, parents, school boards and legislators to see to it that we not only turn out a generation of creative problem solvers, but a generation who is healthy in mind, body and spirit.