Is this totally messed up or not?

[RogueRose]

I was thinking of my childhood for some reason and I started remembering some of the worst days of K-8th grade. This day was when the class (25-30) kids would be called as a group to the nurse for a "physical". We would sit on the floor and one by one the kids were called up alphabetically and be weighed, measured, hair examined and brief skin exam (where it was viewable).

I had some heavy boys & girls in the class and I dreaded when they had to be weighed. I felt like they could cut the tension. I remember in 6th grade, while most boys were like 135 lbs, the heavy "ones" might have been 185-200 and a girl or two the same. They would approach in tears and return hiding their face to the laughter of the other kids. I felt sick the entire day and dreaded it as the worst day of the year (maybe even worse than giving speeches).

For those that don't know, the nurse would take the measurements and say them out loud for the teacher to write it down, while she sat her fat az across the room. How hard would it have been for the nurse to do this alone, or call kids down 1 at a time or maybe 2-4 at a time. The rest of the day it was stares and chuckes at those kids and I can only guess how they felt, because I felt for them.


This happened for 9 years and it made me hate that school. IMO this is totally a form of ritual abuse.

 

[McGraysoldtowngifts]

Wow

I do not think this would fly in today's school system with all of the new privacy laws and such. I am sorry you had to bare this at such a young age. I hope this school has adopted some of the new policies and does not do this any longer.


Todd

 

[hmlove1218]

Wow, that's horrible. I remember having physicals like this in middle school, but never humiliation like that. I feel for those children and hope they turned out to be healthy and happy individuals. I never understood bullying.. why can't everyone just be nice to each other?

I agree with McGray and don't think this kind of thing would fly in school systems today, thankfully. As someone who has dealt with body image issues my whole life (even though I shouldn't because I've never been fat per say), that would have absolutely tortured my little mind.

 

[shunt2011]

I too remember this occuring when I was in school. It was humiliating for many of the kids. And it would not happen today thank goodness.

 

[pamielynn]

That is completely messed up and still is! They just send letters home, now. My friend has 3 daughters who are all naturally slim like she is. From k-8, with her last one, she got letters home every year telling her her daughter was underweight. These kids are the healthiest eaters I've ever seen, yet my friend had to go up and justify why her last one was underweight. The overweight kids get letters home, too and of course, that gets around. Body shaming? You betcha!
My son was overweight most of his school years and I would have lost my mind if he was in that school system. Hi, like I don't know my son has a weight issue?
It's all just disgusting and very damaging, IMHO.

 

[Obsidian]

School can be traumatic enough without them get involved in a childs weight/health. I'm glad my school didn't do this, the worse we had was the annual national fitness testing which no one ever passed. I also remember in grade school, lining up to get vaccinations.

 

[dixiedragon]

I think the idea is to have a system in place to help them notice health issues, abuse, etc. These things are so weird. I remember getting ear and eye tests by the librarian every year. I had TERRIBLE vision - literally 20/200. Meaning what a person with 20/20 could see at 200 feed, I could see at 20. Yet this was never noticed at these yearly eye exams. It was 7th grade before somebody actually said, "Maybe she should get her eyes tested." And my MOM has really bad vision and wears glasses!

I used to take a looong time to do math home work from the board so the teacher decided I had "trouble" with copying stuff. So my mom, to help me as the teacher suggested, would read me the problem from the math book so I could right it down in my note book and then solve the problem. Nobody said, "Huh, she has go stand 3 feet from the board to write stuff down." It's weird.

I also remember getting a scoliosis exam in PE. I think it may have been from a school nurse, but still.

 

[lenarenee]

I sure hope that doesn't happen any more. Adults can be so ignorant and unsensitive about what affects a kid! When I was in middle school, p.e. required changing in the girls locker room into a gymsuit, and then a shower afterwards. There were no doors on the showers and no private place to dress. We're 12 years old and expected to get naked in front of all the others girls 3 times a weeks (Well, technically 6 - before and after p.e.) I quit participating in p.e., and naturally got a failing grade, but my parents never said a thing about it.

 

[lenarenee]

I was thinking of my childhood for some reason and I started remembering some of the worst days of K-8th grade. This day was when the class (25-30) kids would be called as a group to the nurse for a "physical". We would sit on the floor and one by one the kids were called up alphabetically and be weighed, measured, hair examined and brief skin exam (where it was viewable).

I had some heavy boys & girls in the class and I dreaded when they had to be weighed. I felt like they could cut the tension. I remember in 6th grade, while most boys were like 135 lbs, the heavy "ones" might have been 185-200 and a girl or two the same. They would approach in tears and return hiding their face to the laughter of the other kids. I felt sick the entire day and dreaded it as the worst day of the year (maybe even worse than giving speeches).

For those that don't know, the nurse would take the measurements and say them out loud for the teacher to write it down, while she sat her fat az across the room. How hard would it have been for the nurse to do this alone, or call kids down 1 at a time or maybe 2-4 at a time. The rest of the day it was stares and chuckes at those kids and I can only guess how they felt, because I felt for them.


This happened for 9 years and it made me hate that school. IMO this is totally a form of ritual abuse.

At the very least its neglect - not tending to the feelings and needs of a child.

 

[IrishLass]

Wow! How horrible! The only in-school exams given by the nurse in front of everybody that I remember from my school days were when someone in class came down with head lice. The nurse would come into the classroom with a big jar of tongue-depressors and check each our heads for lice over by the windows. Things such as giving physicals or checking weight, etc... were done in private by our family doctor at his office (the results of which were supplied to the school nurse).


IrishLass

 

[TwystedPryncess]

In America, the HIPAA laws are in place so that something like that does not happen. If it does, it's a violation. Doctor's offices aren't even allowed to let the sign-in chart have other patient's names visible. (This is one of the most common violations though, BTW).

If anyone goes through this now, they can speak up about it. HIPAA is a big deal in the medical field.

I was always the shortest kid in class and we had to do the height thing in front of everyone. I had a little girl try to bully me in kidnergarten for it. I remember her grabbing me up and giving me the 'Indian burns' on my arms afterwards and calling me"Shorty". Could have been worse, but it lit my temper up, and she learned how mean shorties are! (I was a mean little tomboy then).

That's info that is private. I hope no one goes through that mess anymore. I am an example of how something as harmless as height (the little grow worm chart on the door frame) can be a source of horror for a child. Most kids get embarrassed or shamed, which to me hurts way worse than just simple anger, which is what I experienced.

 

[RogueRose]

Thanks for all the replies and support! There is another story at the bottom in bold underlines which is VERY relevant to a potentially current situation and I REALLY need advice on this. (continued to the next post due to length...)


I have to say that I was lucky to not be to overweight (maybe 3-5% above avg) but I always dreaded when the others stepped on the scale. It was like I could feel the dread in the room and hear hearts pounding. It was the same every year. Slowly go down the list alphabetically and count down until "those" names were called. My friends approached the scale, timid, fists clenched (or arms crossed) gazing down as of being paraded through a 15th century New England Puritan church while wearing a scarlet A on their outerwear. At that point of time, the schools used the old "balance" scales with slide weights and I kid you not, it seemed that they took 3-5x as long to get the right reading - must have just been luck of the draw that the weights weren't sliding right.... After exclaiming the weight to the recorder ACROSS the room, the student turns around, face often as red as the aforementioned scarlet letter and very often trying to suppress the tears of sheer embarrassment and terror. Returning to their spot on the concrete floor, they overhear many of the class asses making fun of them (teacher HAD to have heard, but as ALWAYS does or says NOTHING!).

I know in the above situation I felt almost as badly as those few students. I knew had I been 10% above average, I would face the same ridicule, stares, whispers and blatant comments.

What really upset me is that there were a number of students who had tongues like razors and always knew what to say to cut the deepest These comments were blurted out, LOUDLY, for all to hear (including faculty) and never more than a very brief scolding of "Now that isn't nice" was the "punishment" for his perpetual ridicule. This is a kid that had "problems" (read ADD or ADHD) and took Ritalin 3x a day at the nurse - so he "couldn't help it" and got away with the most cruel actions and verbal assaults. When "normals" complained, the ADHD child was set loose on the individual with even more insidious comments for all to hear (very personal, family member oriented, etc), never with a word from the faculty. Same kid could start fights/brawls and those who defended themselves got punished the most and kid got more Ritalin. Kitten Love kind of world did we grow up in!!?