I was a fat kid. I also wasn’t very good at mathematics. Luckily, scientists have found that there is a correlation between not being the greatest in math and being a chubby kid! It’s like my childhood issues just collided! They found that obese kids always performed worse in math than the average sized kids. Along with poor math scores, the fat kids described themselves as being sad, lonely, and anxious. Scientists believe a poor emotional state can also lead to bad math tests.
To this I say: well, obviously. We live in a world where our society, as a whole, frowns upon fat people. When we think of the word fat, we think lazy, unambitious, slob, disgusting, and just plain ol’ ugly. We are taught that to be fat is to be bad. We are taught that the word “fat” automatically has a negative connotation. We are taught to ridicule something is bad, hence why overweight kids are poked and prodded at.
So, is the issue to teach kids not to be fat or should we be teaching kids to not bully the kids that are fat? How about both, America? How about both? Is it that difficult to teach a kid that bullying is wrong and has dire consequences? I think we put too much blame on the fat kids and aren’t putting enough blame on the people who make fun of the fat kids.
