[ajmurmann]

As someone not from the US all this is bizarrely moving a health concern into school which should be about education and nothing else. If it's reasonable for school to prescribe exercise for kids why not have them schedule doctor visits for the kids and create meal plans? Where is the line?

[munchenphile]

>schedule doctor visits

Lots of schools have an in-school trained nurse.

>create meal plans

Most schools in the US sell/provide subsidized lunch.

So yeah, there ISN’T much of a line here in the US. The school is daycare, education, basic medical attention, a cafeteria/food welfare program, and sports/after school program all rolled into one.

During early COVID in the Bay Area, the middle school in my neighborhood kept “serving” lunch. That is to say, it was too “dangerous” to hold class. However, they still staffed cafeteria staff and had a line down the street at lunch time of kids with subsidized/free lunch, and they handed out brown paper bags. So the school was literally operating ONLY as a child nutritional welfare program for a while, but not as a school.

[HeyLaughingBoy]

That happened in a lot of places. In fact, one of the good policies that emerged from COVID was that in order to remove the stigma of "kids who qualify for free lunch," the school district made all meals free. I think you still have the option of buying extra food if needed. My child still has about $80 unused in his lunch account for the last couple years.

[danenania]

It probably has as much effect on later adult quality of life as anything academic they could be doing, but yeah I suppose there are very different cultural views on this in different places. Where are you from btw?

I do think it’s a bit brutal and unnatural to make kids sit in classrooms all day in uncomfortable chairs under fluorescent lights with no time outside and no time for physical activity.

Afaik lots of schools in the US do facilitate physical exams by a doctor. I remember having one in middle school. It was the subject of much discussion among the boys in my class at the time since it involved a female doctor and a hernia check...