Students Need Recess and Exercise

Jun 6th 2006

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by: BruceDPrice
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Word Count: 463

Children Need Vigorous Physical Activity. Some Principals Haven't Gotten The Message.

A teacher recently posted comments (on an ed blog) lamenting the shortening of recess times in American schools. “How can this not make us angry?” the teacher asked.

I wrote back to say, "Yes, it’s wrong. So why do you think this is happening? What is the motive?" The teacher said he wasn’t sure. What, dear reader, do you think?...

I believe understanding motive is crucial. Surely, everyone knows that children are like puppies. They’re inclined to play and frolic. They NEED to play and frolic. So, let’s get down into this. How many motives can you come up with for a foolish new development (i.e., shortening recess) that contradicts traditional practice and common sense?

Motive 1, Principals and such aren’t very bright; they actually don’t realize that if you let kids burn off steam, they’ll settle down and be better students....Do you find this explanation believable? Forgive me for being suspicious but I don’t, not at all. (My study of American education suggests that there are always darker layers to contemplate.)

Motive 2, The American education establishment is in full attack mode against testing, standards, SOL’s, and such. (Don’t you hear endless moaning about “teaching to the test,” declining spontaneity, and how classrooms were so much more productive when teachers didn’t have to worry about whether children learned anything in particular?) Seems to me this lament--”We are so busy we don’t even have time for recess!!!”-- might be just another prong in this attack. It’s sophistry, but the educrats may hope they can upset parents enough so they’ll rise up and demand, FORGET STANDARDS! WE WANT RECESS! Probably this is the correct answer....The only other alternative is dark indeed to contemplate.

Motive 3, Many people have noted the appalling amount of drugs given to American students. Every kid, it seems, has ADD, etc.; and the answer to every problem is ritalin, etc. (A director of a summer camp told me, “You wouldn’t believe it. Kids come up here with SUITCASES full of pills!”) Common sense tells me that before you bring psychiatry and drugs into the picture, you ought to give physical activity a chance. Burn up that youthful energy! To me, it’s a disturbing picture, children kept pent up without exercise and then when they show normal signs of restlessness, you diagnose them with mental illness and tranquilize them. Not good for the kids, but probably good for the therapeutic professions and the drug companies. Could this be a factor in cutting back recess times?...Yes, very dark indeed, as I warned you. But we can’t know if there’s anything to this analysis UNTIL we first ensure that every child has adequate exercise!

If you can think of another motive for shortening recesses, please tell me. 

About the Author

Bruce Price is an author, artist and education activist. His main site is Improve-Education.org.  This site now features 33 lively essays on art, robots, Latin, sophistry, English usage, etc. (If you are interested in reform, please start with Essay 6.)

The above article about recess is a first pass at a larger project that is tentatively titled "Big Ed Meets Big Pharma."  

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