The results are in and we have all heard them: Americans are
getting fatter. We eat too much and don't exercise enough.
Children are no exception. According to a recent survey by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 13 percent of
children ages 6-11 were overweight in 1999, up from 11 percent
in the years between 1988-1994, and 7 percent in the late 1970s.
What's more, despite the fact that kids seem unable to sit
still, the CDC survey found that fewer than one in four children
get 20 minutes of vigorous activity daily; a contributing factor
to the levels of inactivity for many New York City public school
students is a lack of adequate physical education classes.
Researchers from Educational Frameworks, a Manhattan-based
consulting organization, spent more than two years studying
physical education programs in City public schools and found
that, even though New York State mandates physical education for
all students, "as many as 41 percent of elementary schools and
23 percent of high schools d