More PE, activity programs needed in schools

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Recommended: Unhealthy eating causes childhood obesity

USA TODAY nutrition and fitness reporter, Nanci Hellmich, in the essay written on May 23, 2013, “More PE, Activity Programs Needed in Schools,” emphasizes the importance of mandating at least sixty minutes per day of dynamic, physical activity in schools across the United States. Hellmich employs the rhetorical appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos to accentuate the beneficial role that daily physical activity at schools can have on a child’s overall development, health, and cognitive function. She adopts a compelling tone in order to convey to state legislators, departments of education, parents, educators, students, and those interested in health and fitness of the impact schools can have on the rising childhood obesity rates by taking one hour out of each day to focus on the student’s health and fitness.
Nanci Hellmich has been writing about diet, nutrition, and fitness for the USA TODAY for thirty years. In most recent years, she has received three media awards from the Dietetic Association and the American Society of Nutrition, as well as, a prestigious award for her excellence in reporting on the prevention of chronic diseases, from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (USA TODAY). The USA TODAY’s primary focus over the past few years has been to provide their readers with the latest research and innovative trends while covering specifically the obesity epidemic and the impact it has had nationwide.
Hellmich bases her essay in response to a national report published by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The IOM is an independent, non-profit organization that uses research/evidence-based information in order to provide every sector of society with advice to improve overall health (About the IOM - Institute of Medicin...

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...ganization. Each time the writer makes a claim; she is sure to support it with a direct quote or fact from directly from the report. By doing this, she is showing the audience that this information that she is providing them is factual not just her personal opinion.
Hellmich uses very little, if any, pathos in her writing. Because this was more of a factual essay, she is unable to appeal to the reader’s emotions. In the beginning of her essay, she states her position on this issue but chooses to provide facts and figures supported by the credible report rather than making the essay opinion based. In some statements, she could be appealing to the emotions of the audience. At the end of her essay, she speaks about childhood obesity rates and the possible future that could follow for these children. For parents, this could be eye opening and concerning to parents.

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