(CNN) -- Most college students expect to receive their diplomas on the basis of grades, but at a Pennsylvania school, physical fitness matters too.
Students at Lincoln University with a body mass index of 30 or above, reflective of obesity, must take a fitness course that meets three hours per week. Those who are assigned to the class but do not complete it cannot graduate.[1]
Okay, that's pretty straight-forward. I can see what they're trying to do - they're trying to improve the health of young Americans.[2] That's commendable, I suppose. However, it's how they are going about it.
By using BMI as their basis for graduation (and what "healthy" means), they are using a flawed system to possibly de-grade people (Get it, de-grade? Because grades don't matter? And they're making them feel bad!). The measurement of BMI is a simple weight-to-height ratio. It does not take into account age, health, blood pressure, gentic conditions, or even muscle mass and body fat percentages. As such, it is completely flawed.
An example of what I'm talking about is myself. I'm overweight. My doctor tells me that I could stand to lose some weight, yet I am closer to a 30BMI than to a healthier one. I also have a lot of muscle mass in my legs and arms. I'm not "obese" at all, but yet my BMI is nearly obese. My doctor tells me all of the time that my healthy weight, based on my muscle mass, would be 10-15lbs less. Yet to get to a "healthy" BMI, I would need to lose 30lbs. In order to do that, I would not only have to lose a bunch of fat, but once I did lose that fat, I'd have to become anorexic and let my muscles atrophy.
Another (and perhaps better) example is a college friend of mine, Matt. He was over 6' tall, and pretty decently built. He didn't have six-pack abs or anything, but his stomach was smaller than mine by a long shot. His BMI was 32, which is over obese. By the rules of Lincoln, he'd have to take a fitness class, and I would not. But yet very feel people in the world would look at him and think "Wow, that guy needs to lose some weight", and I doubt any doctors at all would say it.
So, Lincoln University, while I see what you're trying to do, you're failing, hardcore. You need to use better methods of determining who is "unhealthy". BMI is not the correct method at all. It's an inferior method of determining health. If you're going to invade the privacy of students enough to find our their BMI, perhaps you should simply switch to testing them for body fat percentages.
Oh, but they solved that issue, apparently. By measuring somebody's waist.
Because BMI is not a perfect measure of obesity, students also have their waist circumference measured, he said. There are some people who have a high BMI because of their muscle mass, but are not actually obese, and the waist measurement is meant to weed out those people.
Again, an incorrect measure. I have a large stomach and chest cavity, which are 100% genetic. There is little fat to my stomach (a little bit at the bottom), but I have a large belly. My doctor has told me that there is no way to rid myself of this. So not only would my BMI be high, but my stomach as well. Luckily, my BMI isn't quite 30. But if it was 30, I'd be stuck taking a fitness course when other people are probably much more needy of it.
Why they can't simply measure bodyfat percentage, which is a much better measurement, is beyond me.
And while I'm on it, since when did anybody have the right to invade somebody's medical privacy? How can this university even know what somebody's BMI is? I'm not the only one that feels this way, either:
From a legal perspective, the school's requirement seems "paternalistic" and "intrusive," said David Kairys, professor of law at Temple University Law School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Maybe some wise, upstart student will fight the powers that be. I can't wait.
1. Source
Students at Lincoln University with a body mass index of 30 or above, reflective of obesity, must take a fitness course that meets three hours per week. Those who are assigned to the class but do not complete it cannot graduate.[1]
Okay, that's pretty straight-forward. I can see what they're trying to do - they're trying to improve the health of young Americans.[2] That's commendable, I suppose. However, it's how they are going about it.
By using BMI as their basis for graduation (and what "healthy" means), they are using a flawed system to possibly de-grade people (Get it, de-grade? Because grades don't matter? And they're making them feel bad!). The measurement of BMI is a simple weight-to-height ratio. It does not take into account age, health, blood pressure, gentic conditions, or even muscle mass and body fat percentages. As such, it is completely flawed.
An example of what I'm talking about is myself. I'm overweight. My doctor tells me that I could stand to lose some weight, yet I am closer to a 30BMI than to a healthier one. I also have a lot of muscle mass in my legs and arms. I'm not "obese" at all, but yet my BMI is nearly obese. My doctor tells me all of the time that my healthy weight, based on my muscle mass, would be 10-15lbs less. Yet to get to a "healthy" BMI, I would need to lose 30lbs. In order to do that, I would not only have to lose a bunch of fat, but once I did lose that fat, I'd have to become anorexic and let my muscles atrophy.
Another (and perhaps better) example is a college friend of mine, Matt. He was over 6' tall, and pretty decently built. He didn't have six-pack abs or anything, but his stomach was smaller than mine by a long shot. His BMI was 32, which is over obese. By the rules of Lincoln, he'd have to take a fitness class, and I would not. But yet very feel people in the world would look at him and think "Wow, that guy needs to lose some weight", and I doubt any doctors at all would say it.
So, Lincoln University, while I see what you're trying to do, you're failing, hardcore. You need to use better methods of determining who is "unhealthy". BMI is not the correct method at all. It's an inferior method of determining health. If you're going to invade the privacy of students enough to find our their BMI, perhaps you should simply switch to testing them for body fat percentages.
Oh, but they solved that issue, apparently. By measuring somebody's waist.
Because BMI is not a perfect measure of obesity, students also have their waist circumference measured, he said. There are some people who have a high BMI because of their muscle mass, but are not actually obese, and the waist measurement is meant to weed out those people.
Again, an incorrect measure. I have a large stomach and chest cavity, which are 100% genetic. There is little fat to my stomach (a little bit at the bottom), but I have a large belly. My doctor has told me that there is no way to rid myself of this. So not only would my BMI be high, but my stomach as well. Luckily, my BMI isn't quite 30. But if it was 30, I'd be stuck taking a fitness course when other people are probably much more needy of it.
Why they can't simply measure bodyfat percentage, which is a much better measurement, is beyond me.
And while I'm on it, since when did anybody have the right to invade somebody's medical privacy? How can this university even know what somebody's BMI is? I'm not the only one that feels this way, either:
From a legal perspective, the school's requirement seems "paternalistic" and "intrusive," said David Kairys, professor of law at Temple University Law School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Maybe some wise, upstart student will fight the powers that be. I can't wait.
1. Source
2. Not the David Bowie song.
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