Our mom told being embarrassed at having been put into the "Fresh air class" when she was at school. In going through things at home, I came across these two "report cards" on her weight at school.
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| When she was 9, her card was red, indicating 7% or more below the average weight that is recorded as 74 pounds. |
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| By the time she was 10, she made it onto the blue card, which is "less than 7% below average" where the average weight was 76 -- she made it up to 74 pounds during this year! |
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| Guidelines were given for underweight children (this is the back of her 9 year old card). |
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| The "less than 7%" folks were also given guidelines. |
This would have been in 1930-1932, in the depths of the Great Depression. I think Mom's embarrassment was at least partially because she associated this with being poor. I honestly don't think that Mom was skinny due to being poor, but rather just the body style she was born with!
Mom told us that the "Fresh air class" was located on the roof of the school building, I guess so they would get lots of "fresh air". She said that the students would be allowed to go into the stairwell and sit when it was bitterly cold outside. Can you imagine?
I guess obesity wasn't a problem with schoolchildren in the early 1930s...
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