Article #16 >>>>> Origin and Consequences of Wretched Public Education Throughout the United States

The Unhealthy and Cosmetized American

Health education should be a part of the preK-12 curriculum, sequenced grade by grade for focus on particular issues pertinent to developmental stages of childhood, adolescence, and prospective adulthood.

But health as a subject area of focus is weakly represented at preK through grade 5 and abominably taught at grades 6-8 and 9-12.  Many health education teachers are overweight and not given to healthy dietary habits or exercise regimens.   

Thus do Americans go forth as adults ill-educated as to matters of health, with many never acquiring or acting upon information on healthful living beyond the school years: 

Thirty-six and five-tenths percent (36.5%) of Americans are obese;  another 32.5% are overweight, for a total of 69% carrying excess body weight.  

Americans consume on average three pounds (3 lbs.) of refined sugar per week.  Seventy percent (70%) of the American diet is derived from processed foods;  fifty-five percent (55%) of calorie consumption comes from processed foods.  Fifty percent (50%) of calories in the American diet are consumed in the form of pizza, burgers, fries, chips, candy, and soda pop.  Less than one- third (33%) of calories are derived from the healthiest foods:  vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

Fewer than 25% of Americans get at least twenty minutes of aerobic exercise per day.  As a result of unhealthy diets, lack of exercise, sedentary habits, and prolonged temporal spans sitting in ergonomically deleterious positions and chairs, at least 33% of adult women and 25% of adult males have lower back pain.  Approximately 25% of adults have had treatments for back pain in the last year.  Gastrointestinal problems plague the American population;  approximately 16% of all adults and 33% of those over sixty years of age experience chronic constipation.

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Given the lack of good health habits and the discipline necessary to maintain proper physiological functioning, the propensity of Americans to seek artificial means of attaining popular goals pertinent to physical appearance is striking.

The United States leads the world in cosmetic surgery at 1,309 per 100,000 population.  Ninety-two percent (92%) of cosmetic surgeries are peformed on women.  Approximately 14 million women and one million men in the United States have cosmetic surgery per year.  Among women, 310,000 per year seek breast enlargement, 258,558 have liposuction, and 213,780 have their noses reshaped.

The cosmetics industry in the United States generates $511 billion annually.  The high fashion industry generates $759 billion per year.  Every year, women purchase $36,741,000,000 worth of high heels. Men buy $3,000,000,000 worth of neckties.

Thus do women with garishly painted faces go forth on little stilts that are the contemporary form of footbinding, while men even in hot climates hang nooses around buttoned up collars as they scramble into air conditioned buildings in artificially and excessively populated areas of the nation.

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And thus do people go forth from our wretched public schools ill-prepared to live as culturally enriched, civically prepared, and professionally satisfied citizens, retreating into lives of poor health, pitiful cosmetization, and irrational attire, living according to the insidious standards of a society that only dimly perceives the forces that induce the behavior of a populace controlled as marionettes by a hidden puppeteer.