Minneapolis Public Schools teaches and employs a very flawed system, called Body Mass Index, more commonly known as BMI. Body Mass Index (BMI) when put into perspective, is a fundamentally flawed, racist, sexist, outdated system. BMI was originally developed in the mid 1830s, by a man by the name of Adolphe Quetelet, a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statisitian, and sociologist. He was approached by Belgian health experts and asked to make a system for calculating obesity using weight and height. Obesity in of itself is a deeply flawed term, as it medically means unhealthy and overweight, but the BMI could classify you as "obese" and you could be 100% healthy. BMI only shows the outside, not what your health status is on the inside. For example, BMI doesn't account for high blood pressure, cholesterol levels, things like that.

I'd like to share an example, written about in the online medical magazine Endocrineweb. A woman came into her doctor's office for a normal checkup. Her doctor told her she had an increased BMI from her previous visit, even though she hadn't changed her lifestyle. The woman complained of symptoms like an unexplained appearance of acne, among other things. The doctor refused to look into it, saying it was just her weight. The woman sought another opinion, and she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, and, according to the article, POS causes weight gain and acne, as well as a variety of other symptoms. 

When Quetelet started working on this system, he went around his hometown, the tiny Belgian village (now city) of Ghent, taking measurements of people he viewed as "average," in other words "not fat," who, not surprisingly, were all adult, white, males. Females, children, people of color; nobody else was taken into account. There are body differences among people from different cultures, too. It's simply evolution.

So why is this being taught in a school district whose mission statement is "To provide a high quality, anti-racist, culturally responsive education for every Minneapolis student."

In middle school fitness classes across the district, a standard pre and post fitness test is given to students. While this test involves expected exercises and reasonable activities such as pushups, situps, and jumping jacks, it also uses BMI, which, in order to be calculated correctly, requires students to weigh themselves. Students are told to use a machine which takes their weight and height, then turns it into their BMI score. They are then supposed to use a poster mounted in the room to classify themselves in their respective category. While student's parents or gaurdians may opt them out of this, student's are not made aware of this. Even if they were made aware, some might not feel comfortable approaching a parent or gaurdian about this topic. Furthermore, student's grades are knocked down a point for opting out, on the grounds of not participating. 

This system is completely inaccurate for teens and preteens, because, as you experience puberty, your body shape is changing rapidly, and your body fat is re-distributing itself. As I mentioned before, BMI is racist, as a person of color, female, or child could be classified as "obese" just because there is no data in the system about their body type. People from different races have very different body shapes, because of the parts of the world people are from. 

When taking this into account, only 16.8% of Earth's human population can be classified as "white males" That means that 83.2% of human bodies are not represented in this system, neither are the internal health statuses of people subject to this system. 

In Western Culture, (though not exclusive to Western Culture) fat shaming, or bullying/harassing/abusing someone because they are fat is a huge issue, as highlighted by many high profile news stories.A 2017 survey showed the 94% of teenage girls and 64% of teenage boys were shamed or bullied due to their weight. In April of 2016, a 14 year old Ohio girl penned this letter to her school after she was asked to calculate her BMI for a school project.

"Ever since I can remember, I've been a 'bigger girl,' and I'm completely fine with that; I'm strong and powerful...." "But, at the beginning of the year, I started having very bad thoughts when my body was brought into a conversation. I would wear four bras to try and cover up my back fat, and I would try to wrap ace bandages around my stomach so I would look skinnier....My doctor and I talked about my diet and how active I am. He did a couple tests and told me I was fine....My BMI is none of your concern because my body and BMI are perfect and beautiful just the way they are.

 In conclusion, BMI is an outdated way of determining a person's body health, and it's a measurement that SHOULD NOT be used in a school setting where students are already self-conscious and lacking confidence in their unique bodies."

As a student, I call for all BMI related activities to be removed from Minneapolis Public Schools curriculum immediately. It is an outdated, racist, sexist, and deeply flawed system that deserves no place in our schools.