President Donald Trump introduced a brand new effort to advertise well being, health and diet amongst younger folks on Thursday by way of an govt order that features reviving the Presidential Health Take a look at, a once-defunct program returning to public faculties.
In keeping with CNN, a number of skilled athletes, together with golfer Bryson DeChambeau, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker and former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, joined Trump on the occasion, which marks the president’s newest effort to insert himself into sports activities, following a collection of current calls for throughout a number of leagues and ranges.
“From the late Fifties till 2013, graduate students all throughout our nation competed in opposition to one another within the Presidential Health Take a look at, and it was an enormous deal. This was an exquisite custom, and we’re bringing it again,” Trump stated.
Right here’s what to know in regards to the Presidential Health Take a look at, together with its historical past, participation necessities and the way efficient it could be for kids in faculties nationwide.
What’s the Presidential Health Take a look at?
President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched the Presidential Health Take a look at in 1956 after a examine confirmed that 58% of American kids failed a minimum of one in every of six workout routines, in comparison with simply 8.7% of European kids, based on Time journal. He stated the initiative might assist enhance bodily health amongst American youth.
“Latest research, each non-public and public, have revealed disturbing deficiencies within the health of American youth,” Eisenhower’s govt order learn. “Because the youth of our Nation is likely one of the biggest of our property, it’s crucial that the health of our youth be improved and promoted to the best doable extent.”
The check initially included workout routines like sit-ups, pull-ups, a 50-yard sprint, and a 600-yard jog, with modifications over time similar to including the 1-mile run. At its peak, passing required 40 push-ups, 10 pull-ups and a 6½-minute mile, The Washington Put up reported.
Why was the Presidential Health Take a look at discontinued?
In 2012, the Obama administration changed the Presidential Health Take a look at with the Presidential Youth Health Program to advertise an total lively and wholesome way of life reasonably than athleticism. Additionally they advised that the brand new revised program would scale back the comparisons amongst kids, per The Washington Put up.
Critics had lengthy argued that the unique check was embarrassing and dangerous to college students’ shallowness.
Nonetheless, a 2021 overview by researchers argued in opposition to these claims. They discovered little proof that the exams elevated bullying, suggesting college local weather performed a bigger function.
Why is Trump bringing again the Presidential Health Take a look at?
In his govt order, Trump spoke about this system and to “handle the menace to the vitality and longevity of our nation that’s posed by America’s declining well being and bodily health,” per The Washington Put up. He additionally mentioned particular well being points, illnesses, weight problems, and the way poor diet can have a lingering impact on kids.
“These tendencies weaken our economic system, army readiness, tutorial efficiency, and nationwide morale,” the order provides.
Whereas previous presidents have revived their variations of this system, there isn’t any info as to what the Trump administration will embody within the Presidential Health Take a look at.
On Thursday, White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned Trump’s effort to deliver again this system.
“President Trump needs to make sure America’s future generations are robust, wholesome, and profitable. President Trump needs each younger American to have the chance to emphasise wholesome, lively existence — making a tradition of energy and excellence for years to come back,” she advised ABC Information.
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