The Body Mass Index, most commonly known as BMI, has been used for many decades to measure body fat based on height and weight for males and females. This method is used to determine whether or not an individual is within the normal weight range or if they are considered overweight or obese. Within the California State Fitness Exam, BMI is one of the six tests that a student needs to meet in order to pass P.E. However, this requirement puts too much emphasis on students’ weight and can lead to body image problems. BMI should not be one of the essential tests within the fitness exam because not only is it false in terms of calculating body fat, but it destroys students’ mindset, confidence, and acceptance of their bodies.

Students in Freshman P.E. take the California State Fitness Exam at the end of the year. A student is allowed to fail one out of the six requirements in order to pass the class and not have to take P.E. sophomore year. Passing P.E. is something that all students want to accomplish, but sometimes they are not able to because of the BMI component of the test. The California State Fitness Exam should have no right whatsoever to fail a student based on the cruel judgment of whether or not the student is “overweight” or meets the healthy fitness zone, especially if the student does well enough on the other aspects of the Fitness Exam. In general, measuring the BMI is an inaccurate way of determining one’s health or weight in a multiple ways and can have very harmful effects.

Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quételet was a Belgian man who was an astronomer, mathematician, statistician, and sociologist who developed the equation for the BMI. What many people do not know is that there are flaws within the system. To calculate BMI, take a person’s weight and divide it by their height squared. If this number is between 18.5 and 24.9, the person would be considered to be in the healthy fitness zone. This equation does not differentiate between muscle and fat and does not take into account bone density or overall body composition; therefore, it is inaccurate for measuring the exact amount of fat an individual has. Visceral fat, known as belly fat, is harmful as it develops deep among muscles and around organs, which disrupts the balance of its energy needs. Relatively thin people can have large amounts of visceral fat internally but are considered “healthy” according to the BMI standards due to factors like height or relative thinness. This can be a concern because it ignores potential risks that an individual can acquire and can falsely determines their health.

In this society, there are unreasonable standards when it comes to weight. When students hear that they must pass their BMI, fear of failing is always on their mind. Many students feel pressured to lose weight as quickly as possible to pass and may turn to unhealthy eating habits to solve their problem. Ninety percent of 25 random CHS students interviewed in a survey conducted by the Wolfpacket said they felt pressured to lose weight in order to pass their BMI. This is the worst aspect of the BMI because it can put many people into unhealthy situations just to pass a ridiculous test that essentially has no real meaning whatsoever.

No one should worry about the BMI test. It is completely unfair that one would fail a test because of their weight. This is one of the reasons why the BMI should not be one of the requirement tests to pass on the State Fitness Exam. It makes some people uncomfortable, and it shatters the confidence of young teenagers when they should be able to feel confident in their own skin and feel beautiful about every aspect in their body.