Commentary:

What Is To Become Of Our Children?

I’m very active in a women’s organization that works with veterans and children and at a local level, works with the schools promoting history and patriotism. This week, I was to visit three area schools to present medals for ‘Good Citizenship’ at their awards ceremonies. The principals and teachers provided me the names of a boy and girl they felt deserved this medal and certificate, based on five criteria: Honor, Service, Courage, Leadership and Patriotism.

My three boys go to a small Catholic local parish school. It’s not one of those big fancy expensive private schools. The priest is insistent that all kids in the parish be afforded the opportunity of a Catholic education, whether their parents are hourly workers struggling to pay for one tuition or are wealthy, capable of writing a blank check to send five kids. Our building is bare bones, our facility was destroyed during two hurricanes, but it is a close knit school and even though the make up tends to be white Catholic, socio-economically it is very diverse.

The vast majority of the kids are active in sports or dance. They show up to school clean and of the appearance they are well kept. We have enormous parental involvement. And other than a few kids who fight the curse of genetics with body fat, most of the kids are lean and look like they play outside a lot. It’s not utopic, we have our problems, but overall, it’s a nice place to have one’s child educated.

Whenever the news comes out stating the statistics on the average American child being fat, I am always stunned. I don’t see it in our little school. I always look for it, but I don’t see it. Even when I go out to the local soccer fields with my kids, filled with kids from every crosswalk of life, I don’t see it. I glance over to the local ball fields, across the street from the soccer fields… no heavy children. All the kids look like something out of the movie Sandlot. Then I think to myself, ‘Well, of course there will be no heavy children in sports…” But everyone I know, both public and private school families, has their kids involved in sports or dance. Doesn’t everyone?

Where were these heavy American children?

I went to a public elementary school Friday morning to give the awards to a boy and girl, both in 5th grade. Parents were in great abundance. The principal was in a suit. Located in the middle of a very nice community, this elementary school has the ‘gifted program’. It is known to be one of the best elementary schools in the north county. The socio- economic cross section of this school is quite diverse, but I would say it is more ‘middle class’ to ‘upper middle class’, very few free lunch children. Once again, I know parents who struggle monthly with their bills whose kids go there, yet my cardiologist also sends his kids there.

The kids piled in, single file, standing straight, carrying on like 5th graders do. They were clean, all wearing collared shirts. There was much excitement as their folks were there, awards were being given out and… it was the last day of school! Summer was quickly approaching and I am sure they were restless with visions of sleeping in, swimming, and playing ball all summer.

It was a fun morning.

That afternoon, I went a couple miles down the street to another local elementary school. It is also economically diverse, but there is no gifted program. Kids are bussed in from poorer neighborhoods. I’d say this school is more ‘lower to middle class’. There are many free lunch children. There are no upper middle class families who send their kids there… I do not believe. It is located in a wonderful neighborhood, originally built by engineers with families from what used to be a thriving aerospace industry down here in Palm Beach County.

I met the principal, who was very casual in a polo shirt and clam diggers. I met the assistant principal and said, “Where are all the parents?” There was one family of seven there, and then a scattered parent here or there, but not many. She said, “Oh, they don’t come.”

I was puzzled. I replied, “Oh, I guess they have to work.” She looked at me blankly and said, “Not really.”

Later, while speaking to one of the mothers who did show, I was informed that it is not stressed to the parents to come. This is an awards day for the kids. I found this disturbing. In a day where I hear repeatedly that parental involvement is lacking in our public schools, should not every opportunity be used to get them there? Awards ceremonies in particular?

I sat on the side of the cafeteria as the kids ‘shuffled’ in, literally. There was the usual cutting up, but for the most part, there appeared to be no self pride. Scuzzy t-shirts, unkept hair, slouchy gaits, barely picking their feet off the floor, they all slid into their seats. Sure, there was an exception here or there, but… not many. I was shocked.

What shocked me most was… 75% of them had weight problems. This is the first time I saw fat America in child form. I could not quit staring. Forget the slovenly appearances, I could not get over that what I heard on the news, every week, from every medium was true.

I saw America’s fat children. It broke my heart.

It took all I had not to hug the boy and girl I gave the awards to, but I refrained as I know how the public schools can get... and I was a stranger afterall. These kids were ecstatic... this made their year and their classmates who I had been told were dreading this awards ceremony were carrying on and cheering for them. I will forever have those two children's names and faces burned into my brain.

This school… this is the average American school. The school I visited in the morning, with the gifted programs and high parental involvement was not the norm. *This* was the norm. And it made me sick.

What is happening to our society? What have we done? As I sat there looking at these kids, instead of listening to the ramble of names for various awards I thought, “Good God. These children are going to be adults. They are going to have some serious health problems.”

I have spent an inordinate amount of time looking for some correlation. Is it economic? Is it education within the family? A combination of both? If economics is a factor, we as a society are doomed to not only continue to have middle and lower middle class citizens of this country struggling to make ends meet and educate their children, but as adults they will be doing so under the intense burden of health problems. What is this going to do to our working economy as well as our health care system?

I don’t think I heard a death knell while watching this; I do not think we are doomed… yet. But I heard a warning bell. I am wondering, what is it going to take for America to wake up and realize… we are killing ourselves and our children?