Tom Harkin: “some time back, a principal of a school in Atlanta, GA, explained why his school had eliminated recess from its school…”

“some time back, a principal of a school in Atlanta, GA, explained why his school had eliminated recess from its school day, and why new elementary schools in Atlanta were being built without playgrounds: He told The New York Times: ``We are intent on improving academic performance. You don't do that by having kids hanging on the monkey bars.'' Now, there is no reason to pick on Atlanta alone. Nationwide, only 8 percent of elementary schools provide daily physical education or its equivalent for all students. We are building schools without playgrounds, subdivisions without sidewalks, roads without bicycle lanes. The average American spends more than 4 hours each day sitting passively in front of the TV set-- that is equal to 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year. Then we are shocked, shocked to find that rates of overweight, obesity and diabetes are skyrocketing, and cardiovascular disease remains the No. 1 cause of death in our country. Among children, we have what the Centers for Disease Control describes as an ``epidemic'' of obesity and juvenile diabetes. The shame is that so much of this is entirely preventable. Americans are suffering from a range of diseases and conditions--obesity, heart disease, diabetes, stress, and depression. All of these are largely preventable by changes in diet and lifestyle; specifically, by increasing the amount of physical activity in our lives.…”