According to a Chicago Sports Blog writer:

I always figured watching cartoons was one reason kids didn’t get enough exercise (you should have seen me as a 9-year-old), so kudos to the Cartoon Network, which has announced a partnership with NBA Cares to help “rescue recess.”

Former Richards High School star Dwyane Wade, now with the Miami Heat, will be national spokesman for Rescuing Recess, which is currently celebrating National Recess Week.

The network says recess is in decline, thanks to budget cuts and pressure on schools to boost their students’ academic performance. Given the troubling number of kids who are overweight and out of shape, we clearly need more recess, not less, not to mention a return of daily physical education classes in schools that no longer have it.

Being physically fit will help a kid’s academic performance, not hurt it, but that point is being lost in the education world’s growing obsession with test scores.

Of course, exercise is only one part of the fitness equation, so I hope the Cartoon Network is being similarly aggressive in monitoring the kinds of food ads it runs on its shows.

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