Not It
Generations of Americans learned the three R’s in the classroom, while the fourth R—recess—was a stage for life lessons and conflict resolution.
But traditional recess—where kids run around and play kickball, soccer, tag and other games of physical contact—is increasingly being banned across the country by school officials, and not for reasons of injury or litigation. The period of child’s play, they say, has become too competitive and too ego-bruising.
A school in Santa Monica, CA, is among those that now ban tag, with this explanation: “In this game, there is a ‘victim’ or ‘it’, which creates a self-esteem issue.”
A Connecticut principal has gone even further, banning any activity where feelings might get bruised along with knees, claiming recess is out of sync with the “educational and moral instruction” provided by the rest of the school day.
Critics of the crackdown—noting that even squirrels play chase—say turning recess into a conflict-free zone is irresponsible and will produce a generation of kids lacking critical skills, ultimately affecting global security. “How can America expect to compete in a global economy,” asked one critic, “when the future of America doesn’t know what competition is?”
Tell us what you think. By mandating that recess be a kinder and gentler place, are we overprotecting kids and depriving them of vital skills best honed on the playground? How did recess become so irresponsible?
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shakes head
You gotta be kidding me right? This has to be a hoax. Oh wait, maybe these principals were the kids who had this happen to them when they were little and now their evil plans to exact revenge on the world are in motion. Yes…that must be it.
These kids NEED, and I mean DESPERATELY NEED, recess and gym. Physically, as a country we are over-weight and its starting with the kids. Mentally, they need this time to develop valuable pragmatic skills, play skills, competitive skills, etc needed in the world for survival. Emotionally they need that time to be mini-adults lol.
I always got picked last for everything from kickball, to red rover, to mother may I, to red light green light, to dodgeball, and even 7up. I didn’t go home crying and whining about it. Frankly speaking, the ego-bruising and competition I witnessed in school was INSIDE the classroom, i.e. who gets the highest grade, teacher’s pets, who’s the fastest reader, who’s the first to finish a test, or who can cheat the best.
The govt. can’t stop competition because it’s human nature. As a student, I would imagine the main thing I really need protection is from the government.
Mia | 1 year, 10 months ago
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Mia has a good point/Asperger's and Autism
Mia, you made a good point about teasing in the classroom. I was made fun of for picking my nose, my thick hair, my messy eating habits, my speech, my name, my teeth and for the fact I didn’t do well in groups when we did group work in class. A lot of kids said I was retarded. That isn’t true at all. People with Autism and Asperger’s are not retarded. The other kids treated me terribly because I have Asperger’s Syndrome. They and all my teachers seemed to be unaware of what Asperger’s and Autism are. The girls in particular gave me a hard time about my problems. Nobody ever wanted me in their groups for projects. The teachers never wanted to action against these kids for what they did to me. My first grade teacher was always making excuses for these kids. Only two children from my first grade class took the liberty to realize what they did was wrong and apologize to me. I want to thank those kids for the apology. It is great when a kid realizes her wrongdoings. As I got older the girls would tell each other rumors about me that weren’t true whatsoever. When I was in the 8th grade I was walking home from school and as I walked by Publix, a group of girls ran up to me saying that I was trash talking about one of them and one of their boyfriends. I never knew the girl who thought I was saying stuff about her and her boyfriend, even had a boyfriend. How I can I talk about her and her boyfriend if I didn’t know she had one to begin with. Answer me that.
Most of these problems stem from the girls. I think the boys go along with it to get the girls to go out with them. Boys don’t do that stuff unless they are trying to score a hot date. Girls[ not all girls, just girls in general] are like dogs. They compete with each other and back stab to see who the toughest dog is. Why this is? I don’t know.
Middle school sucked for me. I had hardly any friends. The kids were plain out horrible to me. They spread rumors about me constantly. The rumors were brought to my attention towards the end of 8th grade. I was hurt by the rumors.
You’d be surprised by how many American people are unaware of Asperger’s and Autism. Barely anyone is aware of these. None of the kids that know of my Asperger’s knew what Asberger’s was until I told them. The reason Autistic people get made fun of is because of the lack of Autism awareness in Today’s society. Teachers should learn about Autism and Asperger’s while they are in training so that they can be better prepared to handle students with Autism and Asberger’s. If the teachers know about it then they can talk about with their students to make school a more pleasant place for those with Autism or Asperger’s.
People with Asperger’s and Autism view the world differently and learn differently. We as a society can help people like me by treating us like normal people and accepting us the way we are and not trying to change us. There is nothing wrong with having Asperger’s or Autism. We are not dangerous, we are just having a hard time surviving with people who don’t respect our differences.
valentina | 1 year, 10 months ago
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Insurance Premiums Help Ban Tag
It’s great that people are talking about this more and more.
However, what you don’t mention is that these schools have limited budgets and spend 20 to 30 percent of those budgets on high insurance premiums set by companies just like Liberty Mutual.
In order to reduce the liabilities on the playgrounds across the country, school administrators are quick to bend to the will of over-protective parents who make these kinds of reactionary decisions in order to save themselves some money. Banning Tag serves two purposes for them: gets high-maintenance parents off their backs and gives them peace of mind that they’re doing everything they can to minimize opportunities for injuries.
Arguably, they’re doing more harm than good, even as they are doing so with the best of intentions.
These kinds of choices may be short-term solutions, however, the long-term implications of limiting unstructured play for children through activities such as Tag, and its countless versions, may be more costly than any of us realize.
chuck | 1 year, 10 months ago
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behavior problems more likely to emerge
Behavior problems are more likely to happen in the classroom if the students aren’t given a chance run around outside for awhile. The insurance people don’t need get involved with children and their playtime.
valentina | 1 year, 10 months ago
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Ridiculous man...
The playground should technically be the LAST of the worries as far as insurance goes. How many cases do we know about where a kid snaps from something IN the CLASSROOM and shot up the place? Now, add in the ones that don’t even get national attention. And schools are actually worried about scraped knees and elbows on a playground? They need to be worried about inside the classrooms more than play outside. What good is it going to do to protect them outside if being inside is the REAL scare?
Mia | 1 year, 10 months ago
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Again I agree with Mia
Mia,
I agree with you 100%. What happens in the classroom is way more important than what happens on the playground. We need to let kids have recess and stop taking it away from them. It like some adults don’t even care about kids. Let children have 30 minutes of recess and they will be fine.
valentina | 1 year, 10 months ago
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Overboard on PC
A character in an sitcom put it best, “Life is tough, get a helmet”. When we deny children the opportunity to learn how to resolve problems, learn how to be good losers and learn that life is not fair: we deny them a proper education.
Abram Gomez | 1 year, 9 months ago
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Good point
Abram, I agree with you. Recess does help kids learn about real life.
valentina | 1 year, 9 months ago
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Not It
The trend toward more rigid requirements for students accompanied with the lack of any free time has caused students to find other ways to act out their frustrations at school. Doing away with recess only makes matters worse. Kids are kids. They need time to run, play, and even disagree without someone stepping in and solving their problems for them to keep them from getting their feelings hurt. It’s called growing up. It’s called learning how to deal with life when it doesn’t go your way. When are they going to learn to cope with the unexpected or with disappointments. When they move out and are on their own, it is too late. I’m not saying that recess should be a free-for-all where anything can happen. But supervised free time is essential for children.
Libby | 1 year, 8 months ago
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I agree with Libby
That goes along with what I said about hyper kids and other kids. Kids need a time to burn off their steam and learn how to solve their own problems like big kids.
valentina | 1 year, 8 months ago
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