Madam, - The Government has reason to be concerned about the scale of the problem of child obesity recently highlighted in your paper. But will it stand up to the companies that sell such vast quantities of junk food, or advertise unhealthy food on television? No, I cannot see his happening.
Once again the school is set to be the old reliable in the campaign. The National Taskforce on Obesity will be endeavouring to enlist the school in the fight - even to demands for the restructuring of the curriculum to allow for more time for PE. What should be the normal educational and welfare role of the parent tends more and more to be pushed on to the school.
This is one problem that should be "deschooled". I believe the time has come for teachers to resist such calls and instead demand that those at the centre of the problem of obesity - Government and parents - take the initiative. The school cannot compensate for the problems of home and environment no matter how the teacher may adjust the timetable.
That said, of course, the school is part of the problem, for in all school situations children learn to be dependable consumers of technology, victims of clever packaging and marketing. They learn the value of conformity in the consumer race and few avoid being enslaved by powerful child-focused food advertising. This is the real challenge for schools: how to equip their charges to withstand insidious advertising, how to help them to master technology, rather than be enslaved by it.
In short, schools should be places designed to help the young person to gain and maintain control of himself, his society and the environment - not to be weight-watchers. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN F. FALLON, Boyle, Co Roscommon.