Check this out.

Obesity Report Cards and Eating Disorders at Feministe

If that doesn't get your blood boiling, check your pulse.

Children are being punished, it would definitely seem like a punishment to me, over something that is for the most part, beyond their control.

Schools don't have healthy lunches, they make deals with the soda companies to get funding, and recess and p.e. are getting cut, along with art and music, because they don't have anything to do with NCLB.

Actually, they do, because physical activity and creative projects make the education well-rounded, more enjoyable... so maybe kids that enjoy school may do better on state tests?

My high school had an open campus - buildings were added over the years as the population grew. So we had to go outside at lunchtime. The food sucked, it and it barely fed you, but we got sunlight and fresh air. The newest school in the county is safer than mine, but the safety came at the expense of the outdoors. Surely schools could be built around a courtyard, ensuring safety from intruders and allowing children (high school students are still children, no matter what they say) a fresh break in the middle of the day.

But that takes them away from test prep, which is fundamental in the determination of what schools get their funding cut. (The struggling ones are penalized, while the successful ones get more money!)