College's Too Fat to Graduate rule under fire.

[Kappamd]

Oh, I know that we were required to have 1 credit of physical education. Most of the physical education classes were 1/2 credits, so you had to take two unless you could find one worth more. However, "physical" was a stretch for some of them. Billiards, really?

I guess I just thought that was the norm. Interesting.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by Kappamd

Also, I was under the impression that most/all universities required some sort of physical education class. Am I grossly misinformed?

When I first started school, I was under this impression, also... until I started talking to my friends who attended other schools.

Penn State has a PE requirement. When I started school in 2002, every student had to earn 3 credits, and all PE classes were worth 1 credit (and usually only lasted for part of the semester). It was either in my sophomore or junior year when they changed the classes to 1.5 credits, but the curriculum was expanded (although not by much).

At Penn State Behrend, we were able to take everything from Golf, to Ice Skating, to First Aid/Personal Safety/CPR, Ballroom Dancing, Scuba Diving, Certified Lifeguarding, Personal Defense, Aerobic Dance, Jogging, Strenth Training, Skiing, Snowboarding... plus, a variety of health courses. You name it, they had it.

I took swimming one semester (and they added the requirement of writing a paper to bump it up the half of a credit), and a health course.

And if you played on a varsity team for the school, I believe you earned 2 credits. So you'd still have to take another PE class like everyone else.

It was a good way to spend a few hours of the week. I swam for 10 years before I got to college, but I just kind of stopped. After taking that swimming class, I was actually motivated to go to open lap swim on my own. If I didn't take that class, I probably never would have found my way to the campus pool.

I think this is a good idea as long as everyone is required to do it. Will it change everyone's life? Probably not. But sometimes, other kinds of classes don't do that, either.

[knight_shadow]

Physical education classes were required for some, but not all, majors at my alma mater.

When I was a communications major, it was required. When I switched over to business, it was not.

[sceniczip]

We're all required to take a PE credit but First Aid and CPR counts so that's what I took.

[MexicanMami0286]

My alma mater didn't have a PE requirement. I do remember my mom saying she took swimming as a PE requirement when she attended Lincoln back in the day...so I guess the idea of this shouldn't be so foreign to me.

[AGDee]

Back in my day we had to take at least 2 PE credits. I took 3 because I was one credit short at one point and well, how many 1 credit courses are there? I thought it was a great opportunity to try things you've always wanted to try but didn't have time/money. I took Modern Dance, Golf and Couple, Square and Ballroom Dancing. Sadly, I've never met a man who knew how to ballroom dance, other than my dad, but my dad and I really kick it up on the dance floor! I believe Sailing was an option too!

ETA: I think Modern Dance and Couple, Square and Ballroom dancing were both very physical classes. Golf? Not so much. It was like going to the driving range twice a week.

[PhoenixAzul]

This may have changed, but at Otterbein, we had to take 4 classes with different focuses. I took tai chi, fencing (which was AWESOME!), pilates with core stability, and group hunt seat riding. When I moved to the UK, people were SHOCKED that students had to participate in PE for academic credit. Yeah gym class.

[WVU alpha phi]

WVU offered gym classes but they weren't a requirement for graduation. I know the yoga classes filled up really quickly, and I think swimming and ice skating were options too.

[33girl]

We had to take a PE credit. I took volleyball my first semester to get it out of the way. As Kappamd said though, the "physical" part certainly was a stretch...we still laugh about the girls who took bowling and riding on the bowling bus.

Using a BMI as a determiner of fitness or healthiness is ridiculous, especially at that age. My BMI was probably far under 30 in college, and my diet consisted of yogurt, pizza, and kamikazes.

[angels&angles]

We had to take 5 (!) PE classes to graduate. They've since dropped the requirement down to four. We also had to pass a swim test to graduate. However, my PEs were Snowboarding, Ice Skating, Modern Dance, Self-Defense, and Badminton, so I really took the "non-exercise" route as much as possible. PE classes were some of the highlights of my semester, since I usually took them with my friends and they were easy to get good grades in. However, most people I know didn't have a PE requirement in college and laugh at me when I talk about mine.

[LXA SE285]

Oral Roberts University screens (or used to screen) applicants they deemed to fat to matriculate.

[DGTess]

The original case, though, is just another instance of an implicit statement that you're too stupid to know what's right, and I (in this case, faculty and/or administration) will play the "for your own good" card.

This is NOT the way to teach people to make decisions, accept responsibility, and abide by consequences.

[SydneyK]

I had typed a response to all this and lost it. Sooooo... in a nutshell:

I have to agree with KSigRC on this. Having below 30 BMI = testing out, IMO. Sure, BMI may not be the best test, but it's black & white and easy to figure. I can see why they chose BMI as the determining factor.

Regarding pbear's and 33girl's statements about knowledge, I don't think knowledge is always enough. And I think that's consistent with the ultimate goal of institutions of higher learning. Having knowledge about healthy lifestyles isn't enough to keep you from being obese. It'd be like a smoker telling an insurance company that his premiums should be that of a non-smoker's since he knows the dangers of smoking. Knowledge needs to be put into action if it's really to mean anything.

[pbear19]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

I had typed a response to all this and lost it. Sooooo... in a nutshell:

I have to agree with KSigRC on this. Having below 30 BMI = testing out, IMO. Sure, BMI may not be the best test, but it's black & white and easy to figure. I can see why they chose BMI as the determining factor.

Regarding pbear's and 33girl's statements about knowledge, I don't think knowledge is always enough. And I think that's consistent with the ultimate goal of institutions of higher learning. Having knowledge about healthy lifestyles isn't enough to keep you from being obese. It'd be like a smoker telling an insurance company that his premiums should be that of a non-smoker's since he knows the dangers of smoking. Knowledge needs to be put into action if it's really to mean anything.

Hmm. So you think that it's appropriate to force a 100-level course on a 30+ BMI person who knows everything there is to know about health and fitness, but who has a psychological barrier from putting that knowledge into action? Just because of their psychological issues? What exactly is that class going to teach them?

It is a very REAL fact that many people who are overweight are overweight because of emotional/psychological issues. A basic health class in college isn't going to fix that, and in some cases it makes it worse. To single them out for their weight, in spite of their level of knowledge, could very well exacerbate the underlying issues.

As for the analogy of the smoker and his insurance premiums, I'm completely lost on how that is even remotely similar to this situation. I don't think anyone is saying the 30+ BMI person is healthy. It's just that a college course should be about disseminating knowledge. And BMI is NOT a measure of knowledge.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by pbear19

It is a very REAL fact that many people who are overweight are overweight because of emotional/psychological issues. A basic health class in college isn't going to fix that, and in some cases it makes it worse. To single them out for their weight, in spite of their level of knowledge, could very well exacerbate the underlying issues.

I absolutely agree that many people who are overweight have psychological issues. While a health/PE class won't fix those issues, it will, perhaps, get the student moving more. Which, ideally, could reduce that student's BMI.

Originally Posted by pbear19

As for the analogy of the smoker and his insurance premiums, I'm completely lost on how that is even remotely similar to this situation. I don't think anyone is saying the 30+ BMI person is healthy. It's just that a college course should be about disseminating knowledge. And BMI is NOT a measure of knowledge.

@ bolded: To an extent, yes, college courses should aim to produce knowledge. However, simply having knowledge about something isn't always enough. The smoking analogy was meant to convey that. A smoker may know the dangers of smoking (much like someone with a BMI over 30 may know the dangers of obesity), but until action is taken (i.e. quitting smoking, or losing weight), what good is that knowledge?