Unintended Teacher Bias Could Be Linked to ‘Obesity Achievement Gap’
While there are various causes for children not performing well in school, recent studies are exploring the possibility of educator bias.
“Studies have found that teachers often perceive children with obesity as emotional, unmotivated, less competent and non-compliant.” according to The Hechinger Report. “That can lead to teachers giving these students fewer opportunities to participate in class, less positive feedback and lower grades.
School districts across the country have attempted many intervention programs in order to reduce childhood obesity. But, over the last couple of decades, the instances of childhood obesity continues to climb.
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Even with the increase in obesity among minors, schools have a responsibility to focus on health of the students, said the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health deputy director Rebecca Puhl. “Schools also need to train teachers and students to recognize and confront the weight bias they say is hampering the education of an increasing number of children.”
Puhl further argued, “There’s certainly been a big push for racial and ethnic diversity, for gender identity diversity, that’s so important,” said Puhl. “But weight is often left off the radar, it’s often not getting addressed.”
Researchers continue to look at the link between obesity in children and the reactions (whether conscious or subconscious) from teachers. A study at Harvard University looked at whether or not a child’s weight had a bearing on teachers’ perceptions.
While the study found that children with higher weights didn’t perform differently on tests, it did find that teachers had lower perceptions of the students’ abilities.
As for “Stephanie,” she plans to study psychology. “I want to understand people better, because I didn’t feel heard and there were a lot of things I didn’t speak about,” she said. “I just want to help people.”
