Our
topic is Childhood Obesity
The
link connected to my topic:
1B.
Post individually
- What you did for a “take action” and reflect on how it felt.
If I were a teacher in Horace Mann
School, I will write a letter to parents:
Dear my students’ parents,
You may be used to hear Childhood Obesity from news, or just used to see
the children who are overweight in your life. However, as Childhood Obesity
becomes one of the hottest topics in American society, we cannot only get used
to it since it may influence your children’s health so much.
Obesity is generally defined as an excess of body fat. However, there is
no clear delineation between how much fat is normal and how much fat is
abnormal. Furthermore, body fat is difficult and expensive to measure directly
in large samples. Therefore, obesity is often defined as excess weight after
adjusting for height. Body mass index (BMI, calculated as weight in kg/height
in m2) is used in adults to ascertain obesity status, and a BMI 30 is
considered obese. However, because children are growing, the age and gender of
the child must be taken into account in order to evaluate a child’s obesity
status (Spruijt-Metz, Donna, 2).
In the last three decades, obesity rates have tripled in youth aged 6–12
(qtd in Spruijt-Metz, Donna, 2).
The influences of Childhood Obesity can include Fat, Gut and Brain (qtd
in Spruijt-Metz, Donna, 4). For example, it is now recognized that obesity also
leads to a physiological state of chronic inflammation, which is attributed to
elevated plasma levels of inflammatory markers (cytokines) such as tumor
necrosis factor and interleukin 6, many of which are secreted by adipocytes
themselves (qtd in Spruijt-Metz, Donna, 5). Moreover, children's mental health
will be influenced deeply.
As your children’s teachers, we will try our best to keep your children
fit. Here is what we have done for your children.
No matter when it is, we will ensure your children have
breakfast and lunch.
|
Every day, students will have at least one to one and a
half hours for the gym class;
|
During the snack time, we will offer fresh fruits and vegetables
to children;
|
But after school, we need your corporation.
Please control your children’s
eating of candies, sodas, fries, chips and even hamburgers. It doesn’t mean
they cannot eat those foods and drinks but asks you to control their diet.
Also, please encourage your children to take exercise or just take them walk around.
It will be good for their digestion as well as their physical health.
Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Qiaoyi Zhu
- Reflect on how taking this type of action connects with democratic values.
Because
it asks the corporation of schools and parents, the school should first be sufficient
transparency in the plans of keeping students from getting too fat. After the
school shows what they can do for children and give appropriate suggestions,
they can get the parents’ understanding and corporations.
- Last, where do you lie in regards to teaching about social justice issues? You as an Educator need to decide for yourself what education is all about—do you believe that education is an instrument for the public good?
I think it is really important to take
action to prevent children from getting too fat and keep them fit. As an
educator, we should not only focus on children’s learning of subjects but also
cultivate their ideas of cherishing their health.
I do believe that education is an
instrument for the public good. Here, the public good means the mainstream of
society. Society consists of people. If majority of people have the same attitude
towards one thing and all the people follow it, they can be in harmony with
each other. On the other hand, if a person learns well and knows a lot but does
nothing or even hurt society, he can be very dangerous in the world. Our work is to help people get the idea about
how to lead a harmonious life.
- What do you think about that quote of
- “Struggle for social justice is central to our nation’s history…“Concerns about the common good and the rights of the individual, no matter how humble in social standing, transcends politics and holds a definitive place in the realms of morality, ethics and federal law, and therefore in the world of teaching social studies”
Yes. I do agree with this quote. “Struggle
for social justice is central.” In terms of politics, the action for some
issues which are decided by the government is usually up to the governor’s will.
If the governor represents the interest of interest groups or is supported by
some interest groups, for example, the companies which sell firearms, it will
never totally ban the circulation of guns. But here the will of the government
doesn’t belong to individuals’ wills. So even the decision of permitting the circulation
of guns is made up by the government which consists of many elites, we still
treat this decision as the incorrectness.
1C. reflect on this whole current event project and
what you learned the most out of engaging in this one topic.
Where do you stand on this topic?
I do agree that we should take action to prevent children from getting too fast.
Give your reasons for why you believe what you believe.
As I mentioned before. Childhood Obesity will hurt children's physical health as well as their mantal health.
What are good arguments against your position?
There is no need to take action to prevent children from getting too fast.
Where do you stand when you consider all sides to your topic?
I do agree that we should take action to prevent children from getting too fast.
Give your reasons for why you believe what you believe.
As I mentioned before. Childhood Obesity will hurt children's physical health as well as their mantal health.
What are good arguments against your position?
There is no need to take action to prevent children from getting too fast.
Where do you stand when you consider all sides to your topic?
I do agree that we should take action to prevent children from getting too fast.
Do you think teaching using current events is important?
Yes. To know the current world can help students care about themselves (for example, their health) and apply what they learn from schools to their daily life. They are living in society which consists of people. For knowing this society, they can finally get well with others.
Here is my another thinking about this question:
(1) Have a wider view of the world is very important and the knowledge of the maps and the world can help students to know that the world is bigger than where they live, which may leads to take a new look at themselves.In Taiwan, as a result from many situations, many children are taught to love Taiwan and treat Taiwan Island as their whole world. This makes children have limit views about the world. So a famous writer named Yingtai Long once wrote a poem to tell her children that they need to focus on the world map, which can help them to be not always so lazy but spare no effort to pursue dreams and lead a life they desire.The situation, to some degree, happens in America as well. America is the most powerful country in this world. As a result, some Americans are not often proactive pay attention to the international news. Their many impressions about the world or some countries are based on news that is produced by medium, which usually represent some interests and offer guidance to public opinion. So exploring the world by themselves rather than follow the medium can make them have a rounded and suitable attitude to different countries and people.(2) As we know, America is a culturally diverse country. There are so many international people around this world here. Maybe in children’s classrooms, they can meet some international classmates. So if they know where they come from, it will be much easier to make friends.
Work Cited
Spruijt-Metz, Donna. "Etiology, Treatment, And
Prevention Of Obesity In Childhood And Adolescence: A Decade In Review." Journal
Of Research On Adolescence (Blackwell Publishing Limited) 21.1 (2011): 129-152.
Education Research Complete. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.
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