The word 'obese' is banned from letters to parents of fat children in case it upsets them

By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 7:07 PM on 17th December 2008

Ministers banned the word 'obese' on letters to the parents of fat children - because focus groups did not like it, England's chief medical officer said today.

Professor Liam Donaldson revealed that the term was replaced on letters to parents by 'very overweight' over fears it would upset and stigmatise fat children.

Writing on the BBC News website he said obesity had become a taboo word or an 'O word'.

The Department of Health announced in August that for the first time parents would be routinely informed if their child was clinically overweight.

Children are weighed on entering primary school (at age four or five) and in their final year (aged 10 or 11) as part of the National Child Measurement Programme.

Parents can opt out of having their child weighed if they wish, but the vast majority do not.

Letters are then sent out to make parents aware of potential problems with their child's weight so they go and see their doctor about it if needed.

But Professor Donaldson said that in the planning stage, a 'stumbling block' was the wording of the feedback letter.

'At an earlier stage, some child health professionals had argued against the idea of a school-based weighing and measuring scheme because it would stigmatise overweight or obese children and lead them to being bullied.

'When the letter was field-tested with parents in focus group interviews there was a clear message that the term "obese" was unpopular. They felt they were being personally blamed for their child's health, and that their child would be "labelled for life".

'The majority of these parents felt that using the term "very overweight" in combination with the associated health risks was a better approach. Suddenly, we had stepped on eggshells.'

He added: 'Obesity has become the new cancer. A word that is taboo, that intimidates, strikes fear, that promoted softer euphemisms. In effect it has become an "O" word.

At the time, the National Obesity Forum described the Government's decision not to use the word obese as 'prissy and namby pamby'.

Professor Donaldson said it was not just children who appeared not to like being branded obese.

He recounted a meeting in 2006 which was held to discuss action on obesity. He described it as 'downbeat', with people saying very little.

'After the meeting broke up, one person crept back into the room and whispered to me: "We couldn't talk about it properly because someone obese was in the room",' he recalled.

'Today, the word obesity arouses deep feelings and provokes strong opinions. It influences in ways that can't always be predicted.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1096945/The-O-word-The-word-obese-banned-letters-parents-fat-children-case-upsets-them.html

50% - The lowest grade students can receive

Pittsburgh schools may change grading policy

by The Associated Press

Thursday December 11, 2008, 6:58 AM

PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Public Schools officials may change a policy that makes 50 percent the lowest grade students can receive -- even if they do zero work.

The policy is meant to help students recover from a bad grade or the odd missed assignment. But the district's teachers complain that some students refuse to hand in assignments because they're content to get the "50 percent" grade for doing nothing.

Proponents of the policy say students who aren't given a chance to recover from low grades lose incentive to improve them. But critics say the policy coddles lazy students and undercuts the district's "Excellence for All" campaign to improve student performance.

Officials expect to tweak the policy, which they say is used in other districts, but not abandon it entirely.

THE WUSSIFICATION OF AMERICA

A school resource officer by the name of Derek Jones in a Massachusetts better be looking for another job. You see, Derek had the idea that government school children need to be trained to defend themselves if they are ever being held by a gunman. Common sense and government schools don't mix very well .. and I'm afraid Derek may learn the hard way.

Naturally, his idea didn't go over too well. His proposal was to teach children fifth grade and up (that's about 10 years old) to fight back against a gunman than came into the classroom. They would learn techniques on how to use their backpacks or textbooks to fight or defend themselves.

Derek says, "Do we want the kids to sit there and literally have the gunman be able to shoot them one at a time? Or do we want to allow instincts to kick in and basically allow them to protect themselves against the threat?" Boy, isn't that the painful truth? Most parents don't want to answer that question. Instead, they are worried about how the children would handle the training emotionally. It may frighten them!

Protecting yourself from an attack? Is this guy nuts? Doesn't he know that the standard practice in any school - right up to and through college - is to sit there and wait for your turn to be attacked?

Needless to say, I don't think government school children in Massachusetts will be getting this training any time soon.

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Controversy Erupts Over School Proposal to Teach Kids to Fight Back Against Gunmen

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A proposal to teach children as young as 10 years old to fight back against a classroom gunman is causing quite a stir in a small town in Massachusetts.

The Georgetown Public Schools in Georgetown, Mass., are considering a proposal to teach kids to fend off a gunman with backpacks or textbooks as part of a proposal to revamp their "Code Blue" safety policy.

Those who support the idea say it may seem extreme, but it could save a child's life.

Georgetown Police Chief James E. Mulligan told FOXNews.com the proposed technique was intended to be a "last ditch" thing to be used in cases where a gunman has been able to thwart police and get inside a classroom alone with students.

But others think the last thing you want to teach young kids is how to fight off an intruder with a gun.

"To put that expectation on young, emotional, scared, frightened children is really a slippery slope," says Kenneth Trump, the president of National School Safety and Security Services. "It has a high risk and higher probability of escalating a situation than it would to neutralize the situation."

The controversy began when the district's school resource officer, Derek Jones, proposed the training in a memo after hearing it had been used in schools in Florida.

"[He] was starting the conversation with us to say, well, ‘Do we want the kids to sit there and literally have the gunman be able to shoot them one at a time? Or do we want to allow instincts to kick in and basically allow them to protect themselves against the threat?'" Carol Jacobs, the district superintendent, told FOXNews.com.

"It might include using a book or hiding behind a backpack or something, some kind of shield."

Jacobs said the proposal to teach kids in fifth grade and up how to ward off armed attackers in a worst-case scenario created some concern among administrators.

"We had immediate discomfort with all of this because it’s not the way we’ve thought about it in the past, and also, we worry a little bit more about the liability of all of this," she said.

Jones' memo was intended only for school officials updating the school safety policy in Georgetown, a coastal community north of Boston, but it was leaked to the media before the district's safety committee could even discuss it, leading to concern among parents.

"A lot of kids come from unsafe places at home, and school is their only haven, you know, and for them to come into school and have to think about that stuff I think can be scary," parent Hope Carter told MyFOXBoston.com.

Barbie Linares, who has three children in the district, including a 10-year-old, said she has confidence in how the school administration deals with proposals.

"If it was going to be implemented, I would hope that it would be implemented in, say, fifth grade and above, or middle school and above," she told FOXNews.com. "I do think that it would be better off with the older kids."

Trump said it makes more sense to train school staff to deal with a gunman.

"We’re asking them to make some quite serious judgments that even trained adults are challenged to make," he said. "I think that’s an unrealistic and highly risky expectation and burden to put on kids."

Current policy, Mulligan said, is on par with districts across the country, allowing police to enter a school in lockdown and engage an attacker "to minimize the harm to children and staff in the school."

Officials say the Georgetown community is safe. The only recent activity was an unfounded bomb threat six months ago that lead to a school evacuation.

The safety committee plans to discuss the Code Blue proposals on Thursday.

"The intention here is just to make sure that we are always on the cutting edge of what we need to do to keep our kids safe and obviously to learn from lessons of tragedies in other places," Jacobs said.