Colleges and Wellness

Thankfully our university doesn't require health or wellness classes to graduate. They do have a decent wellness program you can sign up for, tho I stopped going to the employee program when the pool was yanked out from underneath the program (tho since the powers that be insisted on the pool temp being in the arctic range, going to aqua fitness classes was rapidly becoming unbearable. One should not be freezing while in the middle of a serious workout!). The program does seem to be geared more for student flexibility then employees who may have problems getting off work to get to some of the more interesting classes.

"I, for one, don't have any problem with the idea of having a mandatory class on health and wellness, in fact I was under the impression that it was already a requirement for graduation in most schools... Everyone needs to know how to develop healthy habits and take care of their bodies, even if they never choose to use that information"

Sorry, but I'm going to have to respectfully but vociferously disagree with this. As I said on the forum, I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with basic nutrition-type education in junior and high school, though this is in itself problematic itself when the focus is on weight and losing / not gaining it (and avoiding this assumption is in a weight-obsessed climate where 'wellness' has itself in many quarters become shorthand for 'anti-obesity' is in itself more difficult than can even be imagined).

And I can understand that in school there is a legitimate argument for giving kids the chance to try things they might otherwise avoid, as a means to encouraging a well-rounded person with a range of interests, although even then care must be taken not to judge those who participate only grudgingly or under duress. Some people are just not 'physical', they don't enjoy exercising for the sake of it (as opposed to as moving as a by-product of everyday life and transport, such as walking or cycling) and will always resent being forced to do it because some authority somewhere decided they 'should'.

However in college (university in the UK), there's a certain assumption that you're a responsible adult. You're normally there on your own merit, because you're a good artist or an able scientist or have a wonderful command of creative writing. The possibility that all that potential could remain unrecognised because that someone - fat or thin doesn't really matter - can't do 50 'reps' or run a lap in a specific time (and moreover has little interest in trying because they'd rather direct their energies elsewhere) is absolutely absurd, and that's what we're basically talking about with the withholding of qualifications that accompany these mandatory programs.

Blanket policies are no answer to the 'problem' (if there even is one) of people not being aware of health and body issues, and take no account whatsoever of our individual differences, particularly by the time we reach college age when a large proportion of what constitutes our personalities will have already been developed. By all means OFFER these programs and publicise them so that those who are interested can partake, but also ensure that those who are not or who disapprove for whatever reason have the option to follow their conscience and steer well clear. I've no problem with there being salad and wholewheat pasta in the canteen provided I can still get soda, pizza and chips should I make the perfectly legitimate individual decision to consume those items. By the age of 18-19 most people know their own minds to a sufficient degree to decide whether they'd rather spend the evening in front of the computer, reading in the library, or working out in a gym, and choose accordingly. Compulsion takes all that away, and with it the ability to make one's own decisions based on an assessment of risk, rewards and all the rest.

In any case it's not as though there's any shortage of 'wellness' information and health advice out there, quite the opposite in fact. Contrary to the assertions of the public health types, people know exactly where to look if they want to know this sort of information because unless they've been living on Mars, they've likely had it shoved in their faces for most of the last decade. We've all been indoctrinated to believe that health is an absolute principle beyond challenge and that its pursuit is a worthwhile end in itself. What people don't necessarily realise is that much of said info is faddish, already out of date, poorly researched or otherwise open to debate, and why should anyone be expected to follow one set of health 'rules' set by a university over another promoted by a magazine, medical journal etc, or for that matter none at all, as a condition of graduation?

I think it's a bit different to high school trigonometry, not only in that there is none of the considerable moral dimension ascribed by our society to one's ability or otherwise to solve mathematical problems, but also because (certainly in the UK) if you suck at math(s) and have no interest in it you can drop it at 16 and no-one will think any the worse of you, especially if your talents lie elsewhere.

I appreciate that the UK follows a slightly different approach in that our universities focus on developing expertise in a particular specialism, whereas in the US the 'major' subject is taught alongside a much broader, general curriculum right up until Masters level, and it does seem anomalous that US institutions, even those of adulthood such as workplaces and colleges appear excessively paternalistic and 'hands-on' when in most other respects your society seems far less prescriptive and more respectful of the individual than ours.

Either way I don't want the next generation taught that health or the illusion of striving for 'health' is a moral imperative and I certainly wouldn't want their achievements and abilities in a subject disregarded because they refused to partake in an unrelated and unwanted healthist program, or support the principles of that program in their written and other work (I can't imagine that turning in an essay with a FA slant to the convenor of one of these courses would go down too well somehow.)

Sorry about the ramble; I'm having great difficulty concisely verbalising my thoughts on this topic, but if there's one thing FA has taught me it's that 'compulsory' and 'mandatory', with their accompanying legitimisation of the control of the powerless by the powerful through sanctions and punitive measures, should be employed sparingly, not for the victim's 'own good', and never ever without the most robust justification. If this makes me a fat libertarian, then so be it, though I suspect my conflicted views on healthcare provision may rule me out of that camp also.

"A waist is a terrible thing to mind" - Tom Wilson

I hear what you're both saying but my point is that going to a particular college is a *voluntary* activity and they all offer some conglomeration of mandatory classes that a student may or may not wish to take to get their degree. If the school you're looking at requires you to take a wellness class and you don't want to, don't get your degree from that school. It's no different from foreign language requirements or math requirements or writing requirements.

More problematic I think are the requirements for passing such a course, which we can't know for every school so we don't know if they are discriminatory. Every phys ed or "wellness" class I have ever participated in required only that you try everything that was asked and do the best you can do. I would certainly object to classes that required specific fitness goals over genuine effort, regardless of the results. I'm thinking now of the presidential physical fitness test in HS which is discriminatory and makes me want to put my fist through a wall, but that was mandated by the govt and not any particular school.

Bottom line, sometimes you have to do things you don't particularly want to do to accomplish a bigger goal . That's just life. The problem comes when those things are made impossible to accomplish by discriminatory requirements.

My complaint with the physical education in the US is that it isn't about health and wellness at all. Sometime before the sixth grade it has morphed from anything resembling health to a program committed to instilling the cultural values of competition. The moral imperitive is NOT to be healthy, but to be a winner (even if that means breaking a developing bone -- healthy?), or to be a good team player, to help the team win. The values in US football are to hit harder, faster, and to be clever in how you disguise any illegal moves or personal, supplemental activities that may improve your advantage. Along the way, coaches may use language to the contrary -- "I just want you kids to learn something and have fun." But kids are smart. They quickly pick up that having fun means winning, and that "learning something" means how to be hypocritical -- such as disguising a license to hurt others as "health" or "sport." In all of this, however, they do not learn health. The talented athletes claim the pitcher's mound or don the pads. Everyone else hides or tries to fit in somehow.

I disagree with your comment Richie that there is no shortage of wellness information and health advice. Stuff posing as health advice is everywhere, but it's often false or misguided. (I suspect that these college courses will, in large part, advance more of the same.) I think legitimate health and wellness taught and promoted in the schools would be refreshing. Yoga anyone? Tap dancing? You'd be laughed out of the middle school gymnatorium. I think healthy food in the cafeteria -- green lettuce instead of white, whole wheat pasta, real whole wheat bread (not the stuff with the brown dye), fresh fruit instead of syrupy "cocktail" -- would be a hoot! Bring on the health! TRUE health, however. NOT fat phobia posing as health.

Jennifer Haubenreiser, director of student health promotion at Montana State University and vice president of the American College Health Association, says that “college students, overall, tend to be a healthy population” less affected by obesity than is the general public.

Wow, college students are a healthy population? I guess most of them weren't drinking heavily every weekend, and eating crap food, like the students at the university I attended.

Some people are just not 'physical', they don't enjoy exercising for the sake of it (as opposed to as moving as a by-product of everyday life and transport, such as walking or cycling) and will always resent being forced to do it because some authority somewhere decided they 'should'.

I'm so glad you put physical in quotes richie, because movement for a purpose, to get from A to B or for pleasure, is how it should be. That's the duty of adults to children and/or young people, nuturing the former and helping them find ways to experience the latter.

Not to lazily impose uninspired and punishing movement that actually threatens our desire to move at all.

What you call resentment is not much different to feeling a sense of violation by say, unwanted sexual attention. It's peculiarily demoralising to know that you are colluding in the violation of your consent about your physical self. It makes you feel as if you're body isn't your own. When dealing with children especially, those in charge need to bear that in mind.

Update----Lincoln University has decided to drop the required class:

Obese students at Lincoln University won't have to take a fitness class to graduate after all.

The "fitness for life" course will instead be suggested to certain students after a freshman class that addresses a number of health issues.

It's great they're doing this, but it seems they will still try to shame fat freshmen into taking the class anyway. One day at a time...

Fantastic news Bree. In the current climate, and whilst far from perfect, a 'suggestion' is about as good as anyone can hope for; at least you can tell someone to shove a 'suggestion' where the sun doesn't shine. I still hope this university reaps the rewards of its hate-fuelled policy in the form of lower application numbers in future years as fat, talented students remember this as the school that tried to make weight a condition of graduation and look to more tolerant institutions for their education.

"A waist is a terrible thing to mind" - Tom Wilson

I am glad they dropped it. I have to say I agree with Richie. I do not think colleges should have mandatory wellness classes. While it is true all colleges have mandatory classes that have nothing to do with a student's major, the point is to create a well rounded ACADEMIC experience. Colleges should not mandate lifestyles. Required classes should also be reasonable. Would it be reasonable for French majors to take a mandatory class on fly fishing? Students should also have some say in what the mandatory classes are. I teach college and I have never taught at an institution that requires a mandatory personal wellness class. There is often a science requirement, but it is not tied into anyone's personal health data which is where they really crossed the line!

"Fat can be beautiful. Intolerance is ALWAYS ugly!"

Yeah pani they always do 'cross the line' because they think their contempt for fat people is the way fat people must feel about themselves.

I trust it has been useful for them to find out otherwise.

Just another instance of the rampant assumptions made about people with high and low BMI...i.e. people with
high BMI must not know about (or lead) a healthy lifestyle and people with low BMI must be doing everything right! Just as a anecdotal counterexample take me and my husband. My BMI is quite high and I work out every
day (30 cardio, every day + 1 hour body pump classes 3-4 times a week), eat a low-fat, low cal diet at least 6 days a week, etc. I have low blood pressure and sugars...i.e. no problems due to my weight. My husband is thin and tall...and pretty much never leaves the couch or the chair in front of his
computer...It is like pulling teeth to get him even to walk somewhere. He is also has a horrible diet, (never touches a vegetable unless it is fried or in salsa, eats large quantities of chips, red meat etc). Yet when people meet us they assume that *I* am the couch potato and assume that he must be the one who spends that $100/month on the gym! I think it is a good idea for colleges to have a class on healthy lifestyle but it should also reach those with low "healthy' BMIs like my husband!