The fate of The United States of America rests on the shoulders of the youth. The children of today will become tomorrow’s politicians, community leaders, and voters. Their physical and mental health will greatly affect the choices they make when they become adults, thus, affecting the future of our nation, for better or worse. As President Hoover said, “If we could have but one generation of properly born, trained, educated, and healthy children, a thousand other problems of government would vanish.” (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States). Well educated and healthy children are the key to a successful future which is why we need to take action to improve their health and carefully consider how our choices will affect the younger generation. A high priority issue that needs to be addressed is childhood obesity. …show more content…
“The percentage of children with obesity in the United States has more than tripled since the 1970s.1 Today, about one in five school-aged children (ages 6–19) has obesity” ("Healthy Schools" 2017). Children with obesity have a greater risk of health problems, such as diabetes, and obesity often continues into their adulthood which has been known to correlate with other diseases, like heart disease and select cancers ("Healthy Schools" 2017). The mental and emotional health of children has also been affected by the obesity epidemic since children who are overweight are bullied more often than children of average Chambers 2 weight and the condemnation from peers can cause depression and other mental health issues ("Healthy Schools" 2017). To solve this problem, health professionals, teachers, and concerned citizens have turned to schools to make positive changes in the health of students due