Mises Wire

Talk about a pig in a python

The Teachers College of Columbia University publishes TCRecord, the online version of the Teachers College Record. For those who do not know, the Teachers College is one of the nerve centers of Progressive education. All the evil -isms of the day have a home there.

TCRecord sent out a recent email that included an article lamenting the supposed youth obesity crisis.

Of course, no crisis can exist without associated hyperbole. This, for example:

Today fully one-third of children and adolescents are obese (having a weight to height ratio at or above the 95th percentile for age and gender) or overweight (85th percentile).

When one-third of a group is at or above the group’s 85th percentile, you have a real pig in a python. And catchy hyperbole as well.

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