Yes,it is all about personal respnsibility but the sad fact is that most kids AND their parents don't have the common sense of a jackass when it comes to nutrition.
This is especially true in the hood where hordes of overweight black and Mexican kids are gorging down the worst kinds of high fat sugary swill you can imagine at lunch and even for breakfast.Which is why the a newborn Latino kid has a 44% chance of becoming a diabetic sometimes in their life.
And gym classes are a big joke at the high school level.Half the kids sit on the bleachers and BS the period away.
Enough chubby white co-eds the college I work at and the local public hs for our own version of "What Not to Wear". They walk around with their "muffin tops", the fat that shows over the tops of the ridiculously low cut pants and under the crop tops. (Doesn't anyone look in a mirror before they step out the door?)
I don't think the black kids, or the Mexicans, or the Italian ones or the Columbians, have a lock on being overweight. It seems to be a very American trait. Too little walking, too much fast food, too few fruits & veggies, too large portion of food... etc.
Its not just a low income thing either; plenty of high income folks, who know better, are just too busy or lazy to prepare nutritious meals at home. That or they are picking and eating on the run; a great way to over-eat without realizing it.
I still think a school district serving marshmellows for a lunch option is stupid. We don't have soda in the machines either. Doesn't prevent anyone from bringing it in, but gives them a fighting chance to make a better drink choice too.
Is government intervention into this situation the solution or the cause?