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Richard Simmons Takes It Up a Notch

vonzastrowc's picture

richardsimmons.jpgIn case you hadn't noticed at first glance, the soberly-dressed person at right is Richard Simmons.  (The hair is admittedly a giveaway.)  He donned the suit and the earnest expression yesterday to testify before the House Education and Labor Committee about the need to increase time for physical education in public schools.  

According to the Washington Post, the affair was less formal than the photograph suggests:  The irrepressible Simmons reportedly kissed onlookers, photographers and even Congressmen as he entered the hearing room, and he lent the hearing the atmosphere of "a support group" where lawmakers traded stories of weight loss.

Yet as Simmons made clear in our interview with him last spring, he's deadly serious about his aims to amend No Child Left Behind to include the amount and quality of P.E. among the "multiple measures" by which schools are judged.  In March, Simmons told Public School Insights that he would like future generations to see his efforts on the Hill--rather than Sweatin' to the Oldies--as his most important legacy.


I agree with that man! P.E.

I agree with that man! P.E. is highly important. Our kids just sit and eat and go to the toilet. That's all they do! They do not run, do not play hide-and-seek. The play computer games day after day.
Forcing them to be more active physically is our chance to have a healthier nation in the future!

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