Sedentary lifestyles and the poor quality of school cafeteria food are more likely culprits, he said.
At the same time the chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, was bewailing the poor quality of schools in Liverpool and Manchester.
"If you buy a counterfeit anything, a watch, a CD, you can't complain about the taxes in New York City going up, about increases in the subway fare, the poor quality of schools or the cutting back of social services.
The school came about through the determination of a prickly but experienced principal, Celenia Chévere, who has started five other competitive schools, including a girls' school in East Harlem and the Lower Lab School on the Upper East Side, and a mother, Emily Armstrong, who was angry over the poor quality of schools in her neighborhood.
This follows huge demonstrations by schoolchildren last year against the poor quality of state schooling.
But such global monitoring by Unesco has revealed the desperately poor quality of some schooling, with children spending years in classrooms but still remaining illiterate.
Then there is the poor quality of our schools.
A housewife in full black niqab spoke of her two daughters and the cost of extra tuition — a common expense, because of the poor quality of public schools.
"The poor quality of the schools was evident to us" — to her and her older brother — "and we argued strenuously that we should be allowed to leave.
Citizens vented frustration about the woeful state of public services in the country, and many linked the siphoning off of their tax dollars via corruption to the poor quality of hospitals, schools, transportation and public security.
