Less than one-third of Texas third-graders passed all six parts of a new physical fitness assessment that debuted statewide this year and older students fared much worse, according to results released today. About 21 percent of female seventh-graders and 17 percent of male seventh-graders reached healthy standards in all six zones.

By the senior year of high school, just 8 percent of females and 9 percent of males reached those targets. “These results just confirmed what many of us already know and that is our children’s health is in jeopardy,” said Sen Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound. “We cannot allow an entire generation of Texans grow up and live a shorter life than previous generations.” About 2.8 million of Texas’ third- through 12th-graders took the test, which measures stamina, strength, flexibility and body composition. Students’ targeted healthy zones vary depending on gender and age. To be considered fit, for example, a 10-year-old boy must be able to run a mile in 11 minutes, 30 seconds and do 12 curl-ups, nine trunk-lifts, seven push-ups and a eight-inch sit-and-reach. Texas is spending about $2 million to implement the new testing program, which was designed by The Cooper Institute in Dallas. They plan to use the results to see if physically fit children perform better on academic exams, are absent from school less and cause fewer disciplinary problems.

This is just pitiful. The standards on these tests are very low, and yet these kids still fail. Looks like we will be taking care of these kids in our old age.




  1. Mister Ketchup says:

    Somebody air-brushed the kid on the Whoppers container = fixed it for you: http://tinyurl.com/hrf8e

    [Want to try that again?- ed.]

  2. Mister Ketchup says:

    Oh well, nevermind…

  3. #1, 2, 3, 4 – Ketchy

    You must be fermenting.

  4. bobbo says:

    Does society “owe” our kiddies a physically healthy upbringing==especially when the assets are there and paid for sitting empty with only the need for paid/volunteer staff to supervise?

    I think so. The brain is not a muscle, but fat stops critical thinking.

    The trade-off will be more injuries. I think tort reform and better health coverage would negate the worst of that making the tradeoff worthwhile.

    Is life about making the richest among us even richer, or is it about creating an environment where each can excel to their own potential?

    More emphasis on the latter, less on the former.

  5. Ryan Hupfer says:

    Hey, I could never do that stupid shuttle run…I hated that day in gym class.

    Also – if someone from this blog could please get in contact with me, that would be awesome. I have a couple questions to run by you guys.

    Thanks!

  6. JimD says:

    Texas = too much barbecue and chicken-fried steak !!! But they ought to start by getting rid of any VENDING MACHINES in the schools !!! Soda and Candy have NO PART IN ANY HEALTHY EATING PROGRAM !!!

  7. kanjy says:

    Is it bad that I had never even heard of a trunk lift before reading this blog? I looked it up on the Internet. Sounds nasty.

  8. edwinrogers says:

    I have met three Texans, one guy a pilot in Antarctica and two “Texas gals” in Rome, and all were fine examples of robust good health and credits to their homeland.

  9. Angel H. Wong says:

    Texas is going to be the Soylent state.

  10. bobbo says:

    #12–edwin==those were “ex-Texans.” Everybody knows you have to be IN TEXAS to be a Texan. Everything else is wanna-be, or used to be.

    Think that is really stoopid? Ask a Texan==who is living in Texas, not the other bogus kind making BBQ sauce in New Yawk City.

  11. John Paradox says:

    Mister Mustard said
    #1, 2, 3, 4 – Ketchy
    You must be fermenting

    At least he doesn’t have Salmonella.

    Er.. you don’t, do you Mr. Catsup?

    😉

    J/P=?

  12. richardbt71 says:

    I’ve been to every state in the US. There’s about the same percentage of non-fit people everywhere. If some of you would get off your asses, you would know that.

  13. Mister Ketchup says:

    Mustard, I just got back from vacation in Dominican Republic and can’t get it together, sunburned, got seasick on the scuba dive boat and entirely too many French people there. Just FYI they hate Bush there too.

    Anyway the little fat kid was wearing a t-shirt that says “I fuck on the first date.”

  14. Mister Ketchup says:

    #15 – Now the thinking is the salmonella didn’t come from tomatoes. Could be from licking food stamps.

  15. McCullough says:

    #16. Not Colorado, I can truly say with confidence the ratio of fat to fit is much higher on the fit side. Not sure why, maybe its the altitude.

  16. Jägermeister says:

    This one’s good… ID checks really work… not. 😉

  17. MikeN says:

    Running a little faster than five miles an hour for a little more than ten minutes in fourth grade doesn’t strike me as a minimum standard.

  18. bobbo says:

    #20–Jag==that reminds me of skits on the “Man Show.”

    Not really “funny”, just inappropriate, like most of the Man Show==pretending to be for Mens’ Rights, but actually just denigrating women?

  19. Likes2LOL says:

    Just imagine, in a No Child Left Behind way, that these kids’ physical education and fitness was a requirement to pass… That’s the way it works in the armed forces, where many of them are headed, right?

  20. rahlquist says:

    No sh$#? Take away all recess, make a kid sit at a desk from 7:50 am to 3:10 pm and you’re telling me they get fat and out of shape?!?! Wow you don’t say? But what about the 30-60 minutes of Phys Ed they get a week? Doesn’t that help?

  21. Ben says:

    While I couldn’t do well in physical education in school, I was not fat. In fact I was very skinny.

    I was later easily able to pass the physical fitness requirements for the US military. Something is wrong with physical fitness in school.

    I remember one PE test where the coach would throw a football and you had to catch it 8 out of ten times. He threw it right to the people he liked, but other people he threw it over their heads and marked them low grades for failing to catch it.

  22. MikeN says:

    You know what would help? Get rid of all these safety rules. You tell a kid he has to wear a helmet when riding a bike, next time he won’t ride the bike. So he flies off every so often, and maybe some kids die. You end up with healthier kids. Also, bring back the jungle gyms and any lawyer who sues, make them sit inside the gym.

  23. ANNOYED says:

    I say chase them all with a big stick – the pain of running will be less than the pain of the big stick!

    Seriously though — A healthy body will help with the development of a healthy mind. Sugar, additives and the like have been proven to send kids loopy, their test results and social skills degrade. One nneds to view a human as a holistic entity – no kid left behind needs to be social,physical,and mental for it to work. School can only help to a certain degree however, the rest is up to the parents and GASP society as a whole. I grew up in Italy, and if I was doing something stupid an adult not known to me would have no issue with telling me so, and guess what? I listened because there was a sense of respect instilled throughout the society. Also, should my parents have found out about it, they would not have objected because ‘how dare anyone tell my kid what to do!” – the problem extends beyond the physical…

    However, noe that it is too late-chase them with a stick! Run Fatboy Run!!

    BTW – don’t give me that “you’re insensitive” rant. YOU CHOSE to be fat, just as I CHOSE to smoke, until I made the CHOICE to stop! You are all probably quite happy to abuse smokers or substance abusers – well guess what (excepting RARE medical conditions) fat people ARE substance abusers – they abuse food!

  24. Personality says:

    Good job you fat fatties.


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