Obesity

==Ethno Obesity Addressed in Allegheny Traditional Academy (PPS)==
A doctor is organizing an effort to fight obesity in a local school. The children are challenged to walk the most miles in a five week period. He said it is hard to get multiple messages to the kids in such a short time. So nutrition is being ignored. 
Walking for miles is a fine activity, but it is a flawed program overall. Put the children on a leash, or better yet for safety, let's make those hampster cages and get them to spin their wheels. Drop snacks as the odomiter clicks. Another approach might be to make a gride stone and see who can keep their nose pressed against it for the longest period. 
Kids need real challenges, real coaching, real motivations. The walk-a-thon mentality is going to result in fatter kids. 
Obesity can cut ten years off of a person's life, so claim the medical experts. Kids don't care about those facts.
==Pull Your Own Weight==
I published a book, Pull Your Own Weight, years ago while living in Chicago. The PYOW program was used in a Rock Island school and it worked wonders. Pull up bars are put in classrooms. Volunteers help. A person's weight impacts upon how many pullups can be done. 
==Harvard==
Some colleges force a swimming test to graduate. To get your diploma, you need to swim a certain number of laps in a certain time period.
==Planks==
* What would happen if kids that want to get into CAPA in middle school needed to do 6 pullups as a third of their audition score?
* What whould happen if kids that wanted to get into the competitive Engineering program at Alderdice needed to do 9 pullups on entry and 12 to continue?