Sep
24
In the Beginning…
Filed Under Childhood Obesity, Educators Fitness Info | Leave a Comment
This is the actual story that we used to read the kids at Jefferson Elementary School in Davenport, Iowa to set the stage for OPYOW.
…The Old Coach
Pull Your Own Weight:
A Really Strong Story For Kids
Johnny was a kindergartner. But his cousin Jamal was a senior in high school and a star running back on the football team. Johnny always looked up to Jamal and hoped one day that he too would be a star athlete, with his picture in the newspaper, and people talking about him on television. Everyone thought Jamal was really cool.
One day after supper Jamal and Johnny were wrestling around on the living room floor. When the action slowed down and they were each catching their breath, Johnny said. “I want to be just like you when I grow up Jamal. Do you think I will be?”
Jamal thought for a moment before he answered. Finally he said “Johnny, if you really want to be strong like me it’s up to you! If you play your cards right, you’ll be strong in all kinds of ways. And if you play your cards wrong, you’ll probably be weak. Now which would you rather be Johnny, weak or strong?
Johnny just smiled and said “I want to be strong just like you Jamal. But I don’t understand what you mean about the cards. What do you mean when you say I have to play my cards right?
You Gotta Set A Goal And Practice Regularly To Be Strong
“Ok Johnny” let me give you an example of what I’m talking about so you’ll understand. One way to get strong is by setting a goal and doing exercises, like for example…pull ups, right? Now I have lots of friends in my school who hate pull ups, but it’s because they’re weak, they weigh too much, and they can’t do pull ups. So when the coach puts them on the pull up bar and they can’t do anything but hang, they get totally embarrassed.“
“But personally, I love pull ups because I’m strong, light, and I can do lots of ‘em. You could say I’m a star on the pull up bar” said Jamal with a cool smile.
“But one of the reasons I’m strong and light is that I’ve practiced doing pull ups twice a week ever since I was in fifth grade when I decided that I wanted to be able to do more than anyone else in my class…which I did, because I was the only one who practiced doing them.”
“Now, seven years later, after I’ve made little slices of progress every week, every month, every year, I look back and see that all those little slices of progress have added up to a great big pile of progress, especially if you compare me to others who never practiced pull ups.”
“Lots of my fellow students think I’m just a natural. What they don’t know is that anyone can be really strong on the pull up bar if they just practice regularly over a long period of time. It’s that simple.”
“So” Johnny said, “if I practice regularly, I’ll get strong like you, right Jamal?
You Gotta Eat Right
“Well that’s the first and most important part of the strength recipe,” replied Jamal. “But there are three more things that we need to talk about here Johnny. First we need to talk about the things you eat. That’s really important too.”
“For example if you eat lots of junk food like chips, soda pop, fries, and candy you’ll be depriving your body of the nutrition it needs to get really strong. Not only that, junk food tends to make you overweight, even fat. And the more you weigh, the harder it is to pull your own weight…to do pull ups. So it’s really important that you eat the right foods if you really want to get strong. Understand Johnny?”
“Yah, I understand Jamal,” said Johnny. “So I should practice doing pull ups every week, eat right, and I’ll get strong just like you, right Jamal?
You Gotta Get Your Rest
“Hang on Johnny. There are still two more things we need to talk about. The next one is getting your rest. You see as important as regular practice, and good eating habits are, it’s also really important to get enough rest if you really want to get strong. See your body needs time to recover from work, that’s why you only practice pull-ups twice a week…three times at the most. If you do more than that you won’t recover enough to get really strong.”
“Not only that, but you have to get to bed at night in order to get enough sleep. Lots of kids try to stay up too late, and get up too early, and their bodies don’t get enough rest. They can’t build the muscles necessary to be strong. Got it?”
“Got it Jamal. But you said there’s one more thing, right? What is that?
And You Gotta Avoid Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs
“The last thing you need to know is that, even though lots of kids today think they’re cool, things like cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs make you weak. The fact is that anybody can smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, and do drugs. That doesn’t take any talent.”
“But the kids that I know who are into that stuff, just get weaker, and weaker. In other words those kids can’t pull their own weight in any way. Not only that, they’re afraid to try for fear of failing, just like those kids who are embarrassed by being on the pull up bar. Their fear causes them to escape and to become weak in all kinds of ways.”
But if you practice regularly over a long period of time, eat right, get your rest, and stay away from things that make you weak, you will be a star at almost everything you do Johnny.”
You Mean I’ll Be Good At Everything?
“I’ll be good at everything? Will getting strong on the pull up bar make me better in other stuff too Jamal?”
“Good question Johnny” Jamal replied. And the answer is that the same habits that make you strong on the pull up bar like regular practice, good eating, and getting enough rest, will help make you strong at anything else that you really want to do. You just have to decide what’s important, practice regularly, eat right, get enough rest, and over time you’ll see those thin slices of progress piling up into big chunks of progress that will make you strong in all those things that you choose to do. And that’s called pulling your own weight in all kinds ways” he added.
“So now do you understand what I said about playing your cards, right Johnny? And do you understand that whether you become strong or weak is pretty much up to you? And do you also understand that it’s up to you to choose those things that’ll make you strong, and avoid those things that’ll make you weak.
The better you are at making those choices Johnny, the stronger you’ll be. Right?
“Got it” said Johnny with a great big smile.
“Now” Jamal said “let me show you how to work out on that pull up bar and you’ll be pulling your own weight before you know it.”
THE END
Sep
24
OPYOW’s 12 Step Program
Filed Under Educators Fitness Info | Leave a Comment
Here’s The 12 Step PYOW Program In A Nutshell
1. Read the Johnny and Jamal story (see the page called Setting the Stage) to your child in order to set the stage and give ‘em a context in which to understand the Pull Your Own Weight program.
2. Introduce the Height Adjustable Pull Up Bar/Leg Assisted, Jump Pull Up Technique by demonstrating it, and allowing the kids to try it. They’ll all quickly discover that the strategy is to show all participants how to succeed right from the get go, and to give them a way to progress regularly, and feel good about what they are accomplishing…in public.
3. Determine/Record The Participant’s Correct Starting Point by adjusting the bar level to a point where they can perform at least eight pull ups, but not more than twelve. The idea here is to do eight repetitions in the first work out, nine in the second, ten in the third, eleven in the fourth, and twelve in the fifth. When the participant performs twelve pull ups at this height, the bar is moved up one inch and the entire eight to twelve routine is performed all over again.
4. Determine/Record the level at which the child will eventually run out of leg assistance, the point at which he or she is doing regular pull-ups, and designate that level as the participant’s END GOAL. Then Count the number of links from their starting point to their end goal, and multiply that number by five in order to determine approximately how many workouts it will take to achieve the end goal. Depending on how many workouts per week you do (maximum of three) you should also determine how many weeks it will take to reach the end goal, mark that date of their projected final work out on the calendar and aim to finish up by that date.
5. Do workout number one with the child performing eight pull-ups at their designated starting point. When they’re done, make sure and give the child a high five, a smile, and a pat on the back so they know, and all their peers know that you’re proud of them.
6. On the PYOW chart, record each workout date, the level at which the workout was done, along with the number of pull-ups (between eight and twelve) the child did on that day. Then set a date for workout number two.
7. If you have multiple children participating, make sure that they are all rooting for each other, giving each other high fives, and patting each other on the back. This strategy effectively promotes self competition, winning almost performances every time, children experiencing joy in other’s success, and teamwork.
8. If possible, find five or ten minutes to talk with the kids about their feelings and the various lessons that can be learned from this project (i.e. getting stronger through regular workouts over a period of time, eating right, getting sufficient rest, the fact that nobody else can do the work for them, you have to do it for yourself, how avoiding tobacco, alcohol, and drugs makes you strong, not weak, and lots more that’s discussed in detail in a later chapter.)
9. Follow the inch by inch strategy all the way to the END GOAL. When the child has accomplished the goal they should receive a material reward of some sort (a “Wall A” T-Shirt or baseball hat, etc). From this point forward they are allowed to do as many pull-ups in each workout as they can do. We called this achievement…PASSING YOUR BAR EXAM.
10. From this point forward, one workout a week will probably allow them to maintain their ability to perform pull-ups, and to remain on Wall-A. But if their performance begins to slip, say from twelve pull-ups one week down to ten the next week, that’s a WARNING SIGN that they need to adjust something. It could be their diet if they’re picking up weight, or it could be the amount of rest they’re getting at night. It could be they’ll have to increase their workouts per week back up to two or even three in some cases. But quick and easy adjustments will allow them to maintain the level of performance they’ve cultivated and to stay firmly on Wall-A for as long as they choose to do so.
11. Now if a child can perform a certain number of regular pull-ups but still wants to be more lean, all they have to do is to increase the number of pull-ups they can do and the leanness will follow as a matter of course, naturally. In other words, more pull-ups means more strength (muscle mass), or less body weight, or a combination of both…any one of which indicates an improvement in body composition, the fact that the child is becoming leaner.
12. Understand that the Golden Rule of PYOW (those who can do pull-ups can’t be obese, or those who are obese, can’t do pull-ups) is just as true for teenagers and adults as it is for elementary school kids. So, Mom and Dad, or big brother or sister, if you want to be a model for your elementary age participant then have at it. There’s nothing better for your child than to see you walking the walk right along with them.
Recognize That You’re Building More Than Strength
Understand at the initial stages you’re building much more than upper body strength. You’re also building in the expectation of success. So it’s critical at the initial stages that regular progress is achieved, and recognized with high fives, etc. The child should feel good about doing his pull ups, and even look forward to the opportunity to do them, because (s)he is not allowed to do more than three workouts a week. Actually progress will occur with only two workouts a week if you want to restrict it that much. But again the restriction makes it special, and not something they can do any old time.
So in the big picture, as you raise the bar, and increase the workload, along with the child’s sense of “I can do this,” the bar will eventually become high enough that they run out of leg assistance and they’ll achieve the goal of pulling their own weight in a conventional sense. But again, there’s still more going on here than meets the eye.
Self Confidence And Motivation Is Built Into This Program
Now that sense of “I can do this,” the sense that “I can try something a little bit harder than I did last time and still expect to succeed,” is called confidence, self esteem, self worth, etc., and it’s crucial to anyone’s growth potential in any endeavor whether it’s pull ups, a high school degree, or succeeding in business. If you’re scared to try, you’re doomed to fail.
The possibility of success is often stopped in its tracks by a person’s own inability to take a chance, by a person’s own fear of failure. The fact of the matter is, anyone who is psychologically intimidated by failure has effectively doomed himself, stunted his own growth, and guaranteed his own failure. In order to grow and to succeed in anything you have to have confidence enough to try something a little new, something a little bit harder than last time…and you must “expect to be able to do this.” Failing to try, guarantees failure!
What Happens When Progress Stalls?
And if you reach a plateau where progress has stalled, you must be able to step back and figure out a way to start it moving again. Using pull ups as an example, you may have to adjust the amount of rest you’re getting in between workouts, add some calorie burning aerobics to your routine, or modify the quantity or quality of the food you’re eating to drop a little weight, and just watch as progress kicks back into gear as the result of your adjustment.
Now let me ask, how valuable is it to learn these kinds of lessons in a hands on kind of way, at an early age? If you say “it’s real important,” you see what I mean when I say the lessons you’ll learn from a pull-up bar go well beyond eliminating obesity.
A Natural Antidote To Peer Pressure
This self confidence thing by the way is that inner sense of strength and self worth that allows a child to think for himself and to avoid caving into peer pressure in situations where that needs to occur. A child who lacks that genuine sense of self confidence, is the child who is swayed by the group into doing things that he knows down deep, he should be avoiding. But psychologically they can’t afford to buck the crowd and to be called un-cool, etc. Inner strength weathers the peer pressure storm, and allows a child to stick with doing things that make him strong, and to actively avoid things that make him weak.
Sep
24
Operation Pull Your Own Weight PLUS!
I’ve had some people ask, “What happens to a participant who has not only learned to do pull ups, but who has also mastered the life lessons that are built into Operation Pull Your Own Weight? Where’s the incentive, the motivation to stay interested and involved for that child?
The answer to that question is Operation Pull Your Own Weight PLUS. OPYOWP is tailor made for the graduate who would enjoy teaching others what they’ve learned from participating in OPYOW. On the initial level, there’s already a high degree of satisfaction and confidence built into the basic OPYOW experience. And of course, all participants can continue working to improve on their own performance levels.
Going Beyond Yourself
But when one child is teaching another child how to immunize themselves against obesity for a lifetime without pills, shots, or special diets it moves the teacher well beyond himself or herself. In other words when you can successfully explain the details of anything to someone else, even of both participants are children, your understanding of that subject grows deeper every time you light another fire. OPYOW is no exception to the rule. Not only that, but being able to instruct another person in something important like this, increases any teacher’s self-confidence significantly…including very young teachers.
Parents Gained Self Confidence
Actually, at Jefferson School we were working with an at-risk population and we recruited parents to come in and teach the kids to do their pull-ups. Now many of these parents initially lacked confidence in themselves. But if they stuck with the program as they’d promised to do, and showed up a couple times a week, on time (they didn’t want to disappoint the kids), these parents developed a sense of confidence that was lacking before they began working with the kids. In other words, they discovered their own ability to do something important (teach others), and they were recognized publicly for their efforts. Occasionally some of these parents were recognized in the local newspaper.
Real Teaching is a Fulfilling Experience
Teaching in the best sense, is a very fulfilling experience. That is to say, when you have one person who understands a subject well enough to explain it to another person who is dying to learn that subject, the transfer of knowledge from one person to the other is extremely fulfilling for both teacher and student. And Operation Pull Your Own Weight Plus fills that void, as it creates more potential teachers, all at the same time. So in answer to the question how do you keep kids involved after they’ve learned to do pull-ups, we just said…OPYOW Plus. Teach others what you’ve learned.
Sep
24
A School PYOW Success Story
Filed Under Educators Fitness Info | Leave a Comment
A ‘Fitness Success Story In A Public School System
PULL YOUR OWN WEIGHT
by Rick Osbourne, M.S.
According to the most recent report from the President’s Council on Physical Fitness: “There is poor performance by large numbers of boys and girls on tests of arm and shoulder strength and endurance. Many have insufficient strength to handle their own body weight in case of emergency and are often unable to carry on daily work or recreational activities successfully and safely.”More specifically, “64 percent of today’s children aged 6 to 17 fail to meet the Council’s standards of a healthy youngster: 35 percent have at least two heart-disease risk factors and 42 percent have high levels of cholesterol.”In the midst of couch potatoes and junk food junkies; in an era when at least 1/3 of our student population is physically in trouble and funds for physical education are being reduced on a regular basis across the country, I would like to spotlight one fitness success story in our nation’s public schools that deserves our close attention.
For the past two years, Bob Ascher, supervisor of physical education for the Public Schools of Newport News, VA and former president of the Virginia AAHPERD, has conducted a citywide pull up contest.
The results you ask? The first year it produced in excess of 500 kids who progressed from being unable to do any pull ups to being able to do at least one pull up. The second year produced in excess of 800 kids who achieved the same distinction. In other words, more than 1,300 kids in 2 years made the transition from being unable to do any pull ups to being able to do at least one pull up.
That is, 1,300 kids can now literally PULL THEIR OWN WEIGHT in a way that they could not before. The third year’s results will be reported in the spring of ‘89, but it does look promising!
The most interesting aspect of all this to me is the fact that Ascher’s pull up contest attacks simultaneously 2 of the most fundamental problems of our functionally unfit students. Obviously upper torso strength is directly affected and encouraged by the contest. But equally affected by the contest is the problem of student obesity.
The pull up, by virtue of using the student’s own body weight as its major resistance factor, takes into account not only his strength, but also his body weight at the same time. The student in this contest can only progress if he loses fat, or if he increases his upper torso pulling muscle mass (strength) in greater proportion than his overall body weight. That is to say a student must improve his body composition if he expects to make significant progress in pull ups (or dips, or hand stand push ups, etc) (1)
How did all this occur? Well, Ascher, in conjunction with a retired football coach and physical education teacher from Cleveland named Chet Rojeck, conceived the idea. Ascher had a group of kids who could not physically pull their own weight. Rojeck had designed a simple machine (later to be called the Pull Up Trainer) that would allow anyone to do pull ups immediately, in repetition, without pain, strain or injury. In short Ascher had the problem and Rojeck had the means to resolve the problem.
The contest was conceived as a voluntary program (to date, only about half of the schools in the NNPSS have participated which makes the numbers even more impressive). The logistics of the contest are basically a simple data gathering process since pull ups are being tested at all the public schools already.
There is a boys’ winner and a girls’ winner for each age level. Ties are decided by weight (the heaviest is the winner).
The contest is well publicized before and after in the local media. Rewards for achievement are given out and the results of the contest are published in the local newspapers.
Rojeck, whom I have met since hearing of Ascher’s success story in Newport News, is a veritable Don Quixote of fitness in this country. Quixote, as most will remember from the Cervantes tale, was the elderly yet inexhaustible representative of truth who travels the length and breadth of Spain on horseback trying to right the unrightable wrongs of the world.
Similarly, Rojeck is a white haired gentleman who is past retirement age. And like Quixote, he travels the entire USA (but in a van, not on horseback) without complaint delivering his unique and practical form of the truth to whomever will take the time to listen.
Ascher listened and put Rojeck’s idea to work and presently has a public school fitness program that could serve as the Quixotian ideal for the rest of the schools in the country to follow. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly salute Bob Ascher and the public schools of Newport News, VA (and Rojeck, too) for recognizing the problem and for being bold enough to stand up and do something about it. Such understanding and appropriate action are qualities that we need to see a lot more of in today’s world.
For more details on Ascher’s Pull Up contest, I suggest you write directly to: Robert C. Ascher, Supervisor Health and Physical Education, Newport News Public Schools, 12465 Warwick Blvd., Box 6130, Newport News, VA 23606-0130.
(1) Basically exercise that uses the body weight as its primary resistance factor (somatatrophic exercise) shares in this unique and ultimately practical characteristic. By the same token, exercises in which extrinsic weight is the primary resistance factor takes only raw strength into account and therefore cannot make this claim.
(Rick Osbourne is a fitness consultant in the Chicago area and is available for workshops and other speaking engagements. He can be reached at 630-495-3445.)
Sep
24
Pablo
Filed Under Educators Fitness Info | Leave a Comment
Pablo: The Little Boy Who Didn’t Know He Couldn’t…Yet
When Pablo came into this world he had one big advantage, which was that he hadn’t yet learned that he couldn’t do certain things. As the result he tried doing all kinds of things and he discovered, much to his amusement, that some of the things he tried he could do, while others he couldn’t do…yet.
For example, he discovered that if he wanted to do so, he could stretch his arms, his legs, his fingers, and his toes out so they felt longer, or he could pull them back in so they felt shorter. He found that if he reached out and touched things he could find out what they felt like, hard, soft, cool, warm, smooth, rough, etc. He also found that if he could wrap his fingers and thumb around an object that he could kind of control it and bring it in closer. He could throw it on the floor, which is when he discovered that he could expect Mom and Dad to fetch and bring it back to him…a couple of times anyway.
He tried laying on his stomach, and rolling over to his back. Mom sat him up and he found that to be an interesting experience. He watched Mom and Dad do the things that they could do and Pablo wondered if he could do them too? The most interesting thing they did was to stand on their feet and legs, balance, and move around wherever they wanted to go. Mom helped Pablo to hang on to the high chair to help him to stand up and that worked out pretty good. But when he let go and tried to move across the room like Mom and Dad, Pablo fell right on his face. Dad picked him up, dusted Pablo off, and consoled him.
Mom And Dad Encouraged Pablo
But Mom and Dad kept encouraging Pablo to walk, the falls became easier, and one day several weeks after he began trying, he took his first four steps…and then he fell again. But four steps, that was something to celebrate, at least his Mom and Dad thought so. They kept encouraging him and Pablo kept walking and doing all kinds of new things all the time. Mom and Dad thought Pablo must be a very bright boy. And one of the other things Pablo learned was that if you keep trying to do the thing you want to do, the odds of doing it become better and better until you succeed.
In fact during his first four years of life, Pablo tried and learned to do all kinds of things all because he didn’t yet know that he couldn’t do them. And if he didn’t know that he couldn’t, then maybe he could. Not only that, but the only way Pablo could find out whether he could or couldn’t do something, was to try it. That way he knew for sure. In other words, if he didn’t try something, he’d never find out what he could do and what he couldn’t do. It was about that simple. And Pablo wanted to know. For all these reasons Mom and Dad always thought that Pablo must be a very bright young boy.
Then Pablo Turned Five And Went To Kindergarten
Then when he turned five years old, Mom and Dad enrolled Pablo in kindergarten along with lots of other five year olds, and instead of comparing what he could do yesterday to what he could do today or tomorrow, the teacher taught Pablo to compare himself to the other kids in class. The teacher was very good at this kind of thing and she saw all kinds of things like some kids were tall and some were short, some had blonde hair and some had brunette hair, some were skinny and some were stocky, some were fast runners and some were slow runners. And most importantly to the teacher, there were some kids who were smart, some who were average, and some who were below average and she placed them all in groups that reflected this assessment of them.
Pablo Was Labeled Average
As it turned out the teacher put Pablo in the middle group, but he had no idea why. Anyway he learned this new way of looking at himself from the teacher. Then he found out that when he tried stuff because he didn’t know that he couldn’t, the way he’d always done, some of the kids would laugh and make fun of him if he failed to do what he was trying to do. They thought less of him when he tried and failed, and the teacher seemed to think less of him too.
From this experience Pablo learned that it was embarrassing and painful to fail in front of the other kids and he never knew that before. But once he learned that lesson, he decided to avoid trying when other people were around and in doing so, Pablo would avoid having the other kids make fun of him, laugh at him, and make him think less and less of himself.
Pablo Learns To Stop Trying
By the time his kindergarten year was over, Pablo had switched gears when it came to trying new things. Prior to kindergarten, as you will recall, Pablo didn’t know that he couldn’t, so he would try it and find out whether he could or not. And back then when he failed nobody made fun of him, his Mom and Dad encouraged him to keep trying, and so he’d persist until he learned how to walk, how to talk, and how to do all kinds of very difficult things, because he just kept going until he finally learned to do what he wanted to learn to do.
But once in school Pablo learned that failing in front of the teacher and the other kids was embarrassing, painful, and that the simple solution was to stop trying in front of them. At least then he had an excuse. After all…he wasn’t trying, right? And when he stopped trying, he could no longer find out if he could or he couldn’t do things. But at least he wasn’t embarrassed, at least the other kids weren’t laughing at him and making him feel bad about himself, because they wouldn’t know if he could or couldn’t because he refused to try.
Pablo Learns To Shoot Himself In The Foot
Now the problem that developed over time was the more that Pablo refused to try, the less he learned about what he could and could not do. And the less he learned, the more his teachers and his peers just presumed that he couldn’t learn to do new things, otherwise he would. Nobody wants to be labeled a dummy.
By the time he’d reached junior high school Pablo was no longer in the middle group, he had been labeled a slow learner, and a low performer. Even Mom and Dad threw their hands up and bought into what the teachers said about Pablo. Apparently he was not bright like they’d originally thought. After all, all parents think their own kids are bright, but some of them have to be wrong, right?
Pablo Even Began To Believe His Teachers
Worst of all Pablo began to believe what the teachers and his peers said about him. He began to feel angry and frustrated when he was in school…which by now, he absolutely hated. He began getting in fights with other kids and giving teaches a hard time, so now he was also being labeled a behavior problem too. Pablo finally dropped out of school without graduating, without a high school diploma, and then he went looking for work.
He applied for job after job, but found that the market for young people who’d dropped out of school, and who were also considered behavior problems, was pretty bad. And the jobs he was offered paid so little that they guaranteed Pablo would stay on the bottom of the heap, no matter how hard he now tried.
Let’s Go Over How All This Happened…
Now you can use your imagination and finish this story any way you’d like, but the main thing to understand is that Pablo, like almost every other kid who comes into this world, was born with a gift of curiosity which he turned into knowledge of many amazing things. He knew he didn’t know that he couldn’t do something unless he tried it and failed. Then he discovered that if he kept trying, sooner or later he’d often succeed.
So Pablo explored his environment, watched Mom and Dad, and he tried to do the things that he saw them doing. And this entire time Mom and Dad always encouraged and even expected him to be able to learn and do all these wonderful things, if he persisted, which he usually did.
But when he was enrolled in school with a teacher and with other kids, they taught him that if he tried and failed, that they’d make fun of him, and think less of him. And in the long run, they convinced Pablo that he couldn’t do much of anything, and that it was no longer worth trying.
Pablo learned to hate school, his peers, and eventually to hate himself, all because he was systematically taught that he couldn’t do things, and for whatever reason, he and his parents thought the school system knew what it professed to know. After all, these people have college degrees and they are smart, right? But once Pablo himself bought into their suggestion that he couldn’t…his fate was sealed.
The First Really Good Question
Now, the first real question at this point is…who’s to blame? How would you answer this controversial question?
* Is it the overworked and underpaid teacher who’s given the task of sorting out the strengths and weaknesses of 25 to 30 kids each year in order to begin the selection and labeling process that we now call “education” in the 21st century?
* Is it the school administrators who are hired to oversee and operate the system?
* Is it local school board members who are elected to oversee and direct the administrators, and the school system?
* Is it the country, state, and federal educational administrators who concern themselves with marketing unfunded mandates like No Child Left Behind.
* Or is it Pablo’s parents who presumed that the people who made up the system knew what they were doing when it came to educating Pablo?
* Or Pablo himself who should have been stronger
* His peers who should have been more compassionate and understanding
* Or do each one of these parts kind of go along with, and feed on the others while under the hypnotic presumption that questioning the system that’s served this nation well so for over 200 years, is a sign of disrespect, disloyalty, is unpatriotic, and cannot be tolerated?
* And if you choose this last one, then who’s in charge of evaluating the bloody system and what it’s producing?
The Second Really Good Question
The second real question is, what can we do about this problem? What would you tell Pablo, his peers, his parents, his teachers, his school administrators, the school board who oversees the system? I know what I’d tell them. I’d say it’s the expressed goal of this school system to teach Pablo and all his peers that the only way to find out if you can or you can’t do something is to try doing it. And just because you can’t do it today doesn’t mean that you’ll be unable to do it tomorrow…so long as you keep on trying. No, there really is no substitute for persistence.
I would say that in order to succeed the system must convince Pablo and his peers that there is absolutely nothing wrong with failing to perform, and there is everything wrong with failing to try. After all, in the big picture, human life is all about exploring and testing our limits from day to day, plotting and planning how to push those limits back over weeks, months, and years.
Winning And Losing In Education
To the degree we achieve that goal, the system and everyone in it wins. To the degree we fail, everyone loses. As the old saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So the job of educational systems around the country is to do everything possible to produce strong links who know that if they only keep their eyes open, think for themselves, and relentlessly persist, persist, and persist, they can probably learn to do whatever they really need to do in life.
It’s the job of school systems to strengthen each and every one of those links, every day, every week, every month, and every year, and to make sure Pablo knows that if he keeps on trying, there’s very little that he can’t accomplish. On the other hand, Pablo needs to know that if and when you ever give up on yourself and stop trying, you are limiting yourself, you are shooting yourself in the foot, and you are dooming yourself to future failure after failure. For me this is the biggest lesson any child can learn during their formative years, and teaching kids to really believe, down deep in their gut, that they can do it as long as they persist…is what education in the best sense, is all about. And pull ups are no exception to this rule.
Sep
24
The National Institute of Medicine Weighs In With A Disturbing Report
Filed Under Childhood Obesity, Educators Fitness Info, Fitness Press | Leave a Comment
A Brief Summary of the National Institute of Medicine’s 9/10/06 Report…
http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/36/984/11722_reportbrief.pdf
The Full Report…
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11722.html#toc
Sep
24
OPYOW Speakers
Filed Under Childhood Obesity, Educators Fitness Info | Leave a Comment
If you need someone to give a presentation to your group on the topic of Operation Pull Your Own Weight, the following people are available.
Rick Osbourne: Call 630-495-3445 or email Osbourne.rick@gmail.com
Sep
21
The Wall A, Wall B Explaination
Filed Under Childhood Obesity, Educators Fitness Info, Fitness Basics | Leave a Comment
It’s Real Simple
| The Simple, Preventative Solution To Childhood Obesity That Doesn’t Require A Book Here, in a nutshell, is the conceptual foundation for this simple, natural, functional, and infinitely measurable solution to the childhood obesity epidemic in this country. And if you understand it, you can probably figure out how to proceed to a successful end without ever reading the remainder of this book. Check it out. Wall A, Wall B Story
|