Well, when I was in school many many years ago, we had a scheduled weekly class called "Health". We learned all sorts of things, including a general overview of how our bodies work, and a heavy emphasis on Nutrition. This was also tied in with PE, where everybody played some sort of sports. Strangely, everybody participated and there were a minumum of injuries, unlike what we seem to see now. My thought on that is that kids are generally in such poor shape, both because of poor general nutrition and insufficient physical activity, that any physical challenge is too much for what their bodies can handle.
I have the feeling, talking to students today, that they simply don't know much of anything about nutrition, and budget cutbacks have eliminated many PE classes, to the detriment of the kids. At the same time, HS sports often (here, anyway) are even televised and get top billing in the local newspaper! That speaks to me of screwed up priorities!
