College's Too Fat to Graduate rule under fire.

[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?