[pbear19]

I think this is a horrific rule. Not because they are doing it, but because they are choosing a select group that have to take this class that has nothing to do with their academic prowess. And to say that someone with a 30 BMI is more in need of a health class than someone with a 15 BMI is extraordinarily offensive. BMI is just not a measure of a person's health acumen in any way.

I also don't buy the "they knew about it when they enrolled" argument. I certainly didn't know every requirement of my undergrad institution when I chose to matriculate, and I doubt everyone here did, either. I learned about them after I was already a student. My first semester freshman classes were assigned to me, I did not get to register myself until second semester.

Should they have waited until their final year? No. But that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of how wrong this is. I would be very upset if I were forced to pay for 3 hours of a class that was solely based on my weight, when not every student was required to pay for the same class. Maybe if there was some way to test out of it, like there is for the "math and communications" issues they reference. Because a person with a 30 BMI is perfectly capably of being in much better shape than someone with a 28 BMI, and a person with a 30 BMI can be ridiculously knowledgeable about fitness and nutrition. The inability to manage weight does not automatically equate to being slovenly and uneducated about health.

I think a required health element is a good thing. But it's amazingly poor judgment to say that only some students have to take it, irrespective of the knowledge or abilities in the subject.