If Bill and Hillary Clinton were serious about helping the nation's youth, they would not urge as a national priority that every kid have access to a computer and the Internet. Instead, they should urge that every kid, like the president himself, have ready access to a golf course. The one thing the nation's youngsters most definitely do not need is more time in front of a screen. The result is that American kids are fat and getting fatter and seemingly with a considerable assist from government policy.
Curfews keep the kids off the streets, where at least they get a little exercise.
Scare stories about schoolyard gunplay keep them locked up in their schools. And, under the guise of guarding their self-esteem, they are kept from competitive sports where there are winners and losers. Instead, the administration is encouraging the kids to plunk themselves down in front of a screen to access the information superhighway to the 21st century, the better to compete in the global economy. Since the dawn of the Information Age, in 1991, the prevalence of obesity has increased 50 percent, and the results of almost a decade of urging the nation's youth to sit inert and slack-jawed in front of a terminal are paying off. According to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control, the prevalence of obesity among the new digital generation, age 18 to 29, has increased 70 percent.