Too Fat to Graduate

Lincoln University, in Pennsylvania, will soon be implementing a rule they set in on the incoming freshmen of 2006. Graduating seniors must have their BMI (Body Mass Index) tested before they apply for graduation. If their BMI is 30+, they are required to take a fitness course before they are allowed to receive their diplomas. Their reasoning is to promote healthy behaviors the same way they promote good math skills with basic mathematics courses.

I understand the need to promote healthy living and wise choices when you are sending students out into the world. I think it's a phenomenal and bold idea to be so actively geared towards helping out the next generation of movers and builders. We are a rather obese country, speaking in general terms. Fitness is a fad that comes and goes amongst the lower and middle classes. It's been sticking around a bit more in the last few years and that's great. I genuinely hope that we, the fat and unhealthy of this great land, are able to get with (and stick with) the program to get us on the right tract.

That being said...

Why on earth would Lincoln University think that it is at all acceptable to intrude to deeply into their student's lives as to require a testing of their body fat in order to allow them to graduate from college? The last time I checked, academic aptitude is what tells you whether or not you have earned your certificate or degree. The passing of courses related to the program in which you are enrolled is what determines the ability to use that degree towards a job and a life. Oh, let's not leave out the fact that the majority of these students have paid a rather large amount of money to take these courses, prove themselves to professors and college administrators over and over again. I guess I never realized that an individual's body structure has any merit, at all, over how that person is going to function in the world, where knowledge in the field of study should suffice.

Have we seriously gotten to a point that we are forcing our idealistic beliefs down the throats of others to the point of dangling their futures in front of them? I'm totally against this idea. I think they are able to mostly get away with it because they are an independently run and very small university. At least I hope that's the only reason they're able to get away with it.

Again, I'm not opposed to what it is, I'm opposed to the idea that people HAVE to take a BMI test and a fitness class before they're allowed to grasp their very expensive piece of paper and move on. I'm opposed to any rule that says I "have" to do something. There are those rules that are just simply there for the safety and sanity of the rest of the world. Do not drink and drive, murder people and harm animals. All very good rules. Glad those are laws. I am a citizen of the United States of America. I should not HAVE to pay thousands of dollars for an education only be told that I'm too fat to complete it. I absolutely should not HAVE to opt for health insurance just because it's being offered to me. These are choices. They should not be rules or laws. I refuse to get on board with anything that dictates how I live my life (or how others should live theirs for that matter).