Should Students Be Graded on Their Weight?

Here in the States, we're pretty content to just use teaching gardens and Beyonce to try to encourage kids to live a healthier lifestyle.

But French diet guru Pierre Dukan thinks students need something a little more than an R&B diva and some fresh salad greens to motivate them to stay fit.

Dukan—whose protein-packed diet has been embraced by celebs like Kate Middleton and J.Lo—says the only way to really get kids serious about staving off childhood obesity is to hit them where it counts: their report cards.

In his new book, An Open Letter to the Future Presdient, Dukan says that French high schoolers who maintain a healthy Body Mass Index should be given bonus points on the all-important "Bac" exam that all students take to get their diploma. 

 Photo: Getty Images

The extra credit for skinny kids is a way to "educate teens about a balanced diet," Dukan says in an interview with newspaper Le Parisien [sorry folks, the link's in French].

And he denied that grading kids on their weight would encourage them to develop an unhealthy relationship with food. 

"This wouldn't change anything for those who don't need to lose weight," Dukan told Le Parisien. "And for the others, it will motivate them."

France has one of the lowest rates of adult obesity in the European Union, but politicians and policy makers are concerned about growing waistlines. Among the fat-fighting measures: a new "fat tax" on sugary drinks that took effect in the new year.