I couldn't be more enraged by the stupidity of this new BSA policy. Story here.
Apparently the BSA thinks its a grand idea to say that any scout or leader who is overweight, as decided by the BMI scale, will be banned from participating in many activities. It seems the rule is that if one is overweight you cannot participate in any activity that would take you more than 30 minutes from emergency medical help.
I have more than one problem with this. First, the BSA already required a physical to go to scout camp etc.. If someone were unable to safely participate the doctor would not clear them. Second, with the state of health in the youth of the country, is banning them really the good option here. But, if these were the only problems, I would just be annoyed, what enrages me is the use of the BMI to label kids and leaders.
I hate the BMI, I hate how it makes its blanket labels with no real differentiation between body type, or variables.
Now, I am the first to admit that I am overweight, and I am currently working on losing weight. But, I would direct you to this BMI website. It will tell you what weight you need to be to be considered not overweight according to them. For me? I would need to lose 78 pounds to finally drop into 'normal' weight. I would have to weigh 191 lbs. If this rule were actually enforced, I would have never been allowed to go to scout camp, work at scout camp, go rock climbing, etc.. I would have been unable to take my Varsity scouts down the Snake river a couple years ago.
It is hard enough to find adults who are willing and able to help out with scouting, if this is actually enforced, it would really be the death of any sort of outdoor/high adventure scouting.
I couldn't be more enraged at the BSA.
3 comments:
I completely agree with you about the BMI. The BMI is a good indicator for a general starting point when evaluating somebody’s health, but it is only that a starting point. According to the BMI I am overweight. The BMI also said I was overweight when I could run two miles under 13 minutes. That is fast by most standards. In fact that is a perfect score for all age groups in the cardiovascular fitness section of the Army Physical Fitness Test. I hate how people take a generated number as a shortcut for predicting health. Granted there are some pretty good trends based on BMI numbers, but there are a lot of other factors that are much more important than BMI. People should be looking at average blood pressure over a 90 day period, average hours of vigorous exercise per week, basic blood screening, and a chest x-ray. All of those options require work and qualified medical personnel to process so people are going to take the easy route.
Another problem with BMI is that weight changes over short periods of time. Just ask any wrestler or MMA fighter about how much weight can change over the course of three day. I think it would be bad policy to set up a system where people on the border dehydrate themselves to make the BMI requirement. It is just not safe.
I think the policy on this one is probably a step to enhance legal protections for the BSA. They probably won’t enforce it at all. If something does happen the BSA has another thing to point as a violation of policy to enhance its legal position. It is sad, but that’s the only reason why I could see this policy being employed.
As quality science, BMI ranks right up there with eugenics. People love it when "science" supports their favorite prejudices; eugenics also enjoyed broad international popularity before it got associated with the Nazis. How can we expose the BMI for what it is without any nasty atrocities happening?
I agree with RFB about this being a move to protect them from legal issues. That article has the Great Salt Lake council saying they don't want to be "policing" the issue or something like that. I don't know much about BMI, but it sounds pretty ridiculous.
It may have a few redeemable affects though. Almost every one of my summers at camp has involved leading high adventure groups- I can say first hand that there were just plain scouts that no way should be there. Obesity in a leader or fellow scout at several times seriously limited the high adventure trip or activity for the rest. I can think of one or two times when the whole trip had to be called back because an obese scout or leader was in danger and then we had to scramble for "high adventure like" activities for them to do in camp.
Sometimes leaders or scouts are dead set on going, but clearly aren't cut out for it. Maybe this policy could be used wisely (not based solely on BMI) to tell the individual that it's just not BSA policy. It's harsh I guess, but I would have made use of it a time or two.
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