School is meant to prepare students for the big world awaiting them, but any education is pointless if students become so big they jeopardize their futures. America’s Department of Education needs to implement a greater and more substantial amount of health and nutritional education into curriculum mandates.

Each state has different mandates and health class requirements, allowing each state to set the number of health classes and topics covered. States such as Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, Alaska, and Connecticut do not require health education for graduation; the states do not have any specifications of the amount and what is taught in health class.

“Teenagers need help and guidance for their health and will continue their bad eating and exercising habits unless they are taught the right way,” Ashley Mazzocchi, senior, said.

Cheap, tasty, high calorie, high carbohydrate, high sugar, over salted, fatty food is available everywhere at all hours of the day. People do not even have to leave their cars to get a feast.

The majority of Americans assume food availability equals food is healthy. Studies and surveys show that a majority of people do not know what healthy foods are, nor what a portion size actually looks like, according to the article ”Lack of basic nutrition knowledge contributes to overweight and obesity,” on http://examiner.com.

Last year, the Huffington Post conducted a study with Philadelphia high school students that shows obese girls who were trying to lose weight were 40 percent more likely to exercise for an hour per day than those who were not trying to lose weight. But those same girls were also three times as likely to drink soda every day, undoing many of the benefits of exercising. For obese boys, those trying to lose weight were actually found to be less active than boys who were not trying to lose weight. In fact, they were 47 percent more likely to play video games for three hours each day.

Knowing how to maintain a healthy body is essential knowledge and is necessary in order to live a long healthy life. Yet America continues to ignore the rise in obesity rates and does not demand to add more health education into school districts.

At LZHS, students take health class for one semester their sophomore year, and take physical education for the rest of their four years, unless in a varsity sport. The District’s health curriculum is filled with vital information for students, yet teachers are not able to go in depth in many of the topics, like nutrition, due to lack of time. Students should be taught how to exercise and stay fit, but without proper nutritional education that knowledge is useless. Our health curriculum is filled with vital information for students, yet teachers are not able to go in depth in many of the topics, like nutrition, due to lack of time.

“I think lack of education is one of the main reasons our nation is obese, so by teaching and educating students on nutrition they can make the right choices and hopefully prevent lifestyle disease and obesity,” Kristen Finnigan, physical education and health teacher, said.

Making a mandatory set amount of time and curriculum for health classes all over the nation would greatly improve students nutritional knowledge; therefore, helping to decrease America’s rising obesity rates. America needs to start taking initiative now, and improve the lives of its future generations.

“If students have knowledge they’re going to be more likely to use it,” Finnigan said. “When you know better, you do better.”