When physical fitness results were released last month, they
looked grim. Less than 40 percent of San Benito kids passed all six
categories of the test, which assesses such things as running and
upper body strength for fifth, seventh and ninth graders.
Hollister – When physical fitness results were released last month, they looked grim. Less than 40 percent of San Benito kids passed all six categories of the test, which assesses such things as running and upper body strength for fifth, seventh and ninth graders.
But physical education teachers say one of the standards on the statewide test is faulty and severely skews the picture of how healthy school-age kids are today.
Physical education teachers say the Body Mass Index, or BMI, long used to assess the body composition for young and old, is outdated and doesn’t paint an accurate picture of what is going on in their schools.
“It can say that someone who is 230 pounds and six foot tall is obese although he looks like a Greek god,” said Randy Logue, athletic director at San Benito High School.
The reason the test is inaccurate is it relies only on height and weight and doesn’t account for muscle, which weighs more than fat, said Logue.
According to physical fitness test results, released in November, only 36 percent of San Benito kids passed all six categories of the test. But if the body composition component of the test was to be eliminated, the number of local kids considered healthy – or passing all the categories – would balloon to 66 percent, painting a different picture of student fitness.
The body mass index has been used for at least 50 years and is arrived at by dividing someone’s weight in kilograms by the height in meters squared. For example, a 16 year-old boy who is 5’8 and weighs 175 pounds would have a BMI of 26.7, a few points over what the state defines as healthy.
The California Department of Education admits that the BMI is less than perfect, but says it is still good enough for state-wide testing.
“It is recognized in the scientific community as an effective tool for measuring body fat,” Dianne Wilson-Graham, physical education consultant for the department. While other tests exist, such as the skinfold test and hydrostatic (underwater) weighing, doing them costs a lot of money, she said. The skinfold test uses calipers on the triceps and calves to assess the fat component of the body and hydrostatic places the person in a harness and submerges them underwater.
“They are not what I call very school-friendly,” said Wilson-Graham.
The skinfold application in school is complicated by the fact that teachers are required to conduct the test in private, to avoid upsetting students sensitive about their weight. And when the test is administered to nearly 700 students, as was the case for San Benito High School last year, it ceases to be practical.
“You can’t take the kid in the back room and leave the other 49 unattended,” said Logue.
Other teachers say the Body Mass Index is only one of the problems with the fitness test. One of them is John Kiesewetter, a fifth grade teacher at R.O. Hardin, who also teaches physical education. He says categories such as the shoulder stretch, in which kids have to join their fingers behind their back, and the lift trunk, in which they have to lift their chins while laying on the ground, are not valid measurements of student fitness and should be replaced with tests for the 100 yard dash and the shuttle run, that test kids’ agility.
“Some of the tests they have to do are just ridiculous,” he said.
However, Kiesewetter admits that students today are heavier than they were only a decade ago and blames the trend on the proliferation of computers as well as fast-food.
“Now if you want to play football, you don’t have to go outside,” he said. “You just sit in front of the computer and have a good time.”
Karina Ioffee covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected]
