Health, Weight, Education
You hear so much about obesity being such a problem, and that childhood obesity is also a huge problem - and that the overweight & obese cause dramatic increases the costs of healthcare.
Then why is there no "stimulus" money going to fund physcial education in our schools?
The local schools here have little to no physical education. In the elementary schools, they may have a PE class twice a week for about an hour. In the middle school, to give a specific example, my son, from the grades 6 - 8, had PE for 1 nine-week period. The local high school, this year, has cut back PE to the absolute, bare minimum, state requirment. (Which also leads one to wonder what other subjects are they cutting back to the minimum state requirment.)
If physical activity and excercise helps reduce costs in healthcare, and in the amount of healthcare, then wouldn't it be a more wise investment to fund Physical Education classes (and regularly) in our schools? I do believe that is far more important than the cash for clunkers. People will eventually get new or newer cars, out of necessity. But, it is much easier to teach people to live a more healthy lifestyle when there young, rather than trying to change poorly developed habits and lifestyles.
