Massachusetts recently joined the ranks of U.S. states where schoolchildren receive more than course grades on report cards: Progress reports for kids in 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th grades now indicate their BMI (body mass index) stats as well. Arkansas, under then Gov. Mike Huckabee—who has, notably, lost more than 100 pounds—led the charge many years ago, enlisting the tool to educate students, and their parents, on healthy weight. In the past few years, a school in Wyoming sent out BMI reports to parents (and offered a free exercise program to kids who “failed”), and Denver city schools sent “health reports” home in kids’ backpacks. About 30 states now require weight-related testing for kids, but amid claims that BMI numbers can be misleading, wide reports of parent outrage and claims the reports are as damaging to kids as their excess weight, one is left to wonder if perhaps the “F” really stands for “futility.”