Netizens Rally Against New Law That Would Allow Schools To “Monitor” Overweight Students In A “Weight Management” Program

On September 28, a post on one of Korea’s largest online communities uploaded an amendment to an existing law that would allow schools to monitor overweight students.

Korean students | Daily Sabah

According to the author of the post, the amendment mandates that schools weigh and measure students throughout the school year. If a student is deemed overweight, the bill allows schools to enroll the student in a health program.

This is a change from the current bill mandating schools to measure students once a year.

Korean students | WJTV

According to the OCED, the Organisation For Economic Cooperation And Development, about 4% of the adult Korean population is obese, and about 30% are overweight.

Population of overweight citizens by country | OCED

Netizens rallied against the amendment, stating that schools could potentially harm children by forcing them to enroll in programs and that the law could potentially lead to further bullying of overweight children.

• “Even now, they make students who are overweight enroll in programs, but this is so traumatic. Students will be bullied!”
• “This will be so traumatic for students…”
• “Even now, students who think they are overweight don’t like to eat in cafeterias in front of other people and starve instead. Why are they stressing them out even more? I would hate to go to school if my teacher was to check my weight.”
• “How about teaching children not to be so concerned about their looks? Just make the children not be stressed about their weight first.”
• “Now that I think about it, I think it’s weird that schools check students’ height and weight. What do they mean by ‘weight management’? As soon as kids hear that, they are going to be teased.”
• “Why not pay for students’ gym memberships instead? This proposal may make students starve during lunch and binge eat at home. It is a sensitive time for students, so the authorities should be more cautious.”
• “This will just lead to more teasing, bullying, and hurt. They don’t know anything.”

What are your thoughts?