All work and no play

All Work and No Play

Ten years ago if a child was asked about their favorite part of school, the response would be the same across the board: recess. Recess can be remembered as time spent playing tag, climbing monkey bars, or seeing who could get the highest on the swing set. If a child was asked the same question today, his or her response would most likely be something along the lines of lunch or physical education. Unfortunately, recess has taken the backseat in many schools across the country. Recess has become more of a luxury than a daily routine. According to Amanda Paulson, a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor, “Studies have found that up to 40 percent of US school districts have reduced or eliminated recess” (Paulson). How would the employees’ in the work force feel if labor laws permitted employers’ to take away 40 percent of their daily breaks? Children see recess as a time to play with their friends and play kickball, but researchers and professionals in the field understand that recess plays a much bigger role. The reason that recess has become a thing of the past remains debatable and varies from a need for increased academic instruction to fear about playground safety. Some school districts and policymakers have begun to fight back and have tried to implement policies to protect recess. The fact that the number of schools going without remains so high continues to be a cause for concern. Despite the attempt school districts have made to protect recess, the issue of children being deprived of the crucial free play that provides social, physical, and cognitive development still affects America's children every day. The issue of recess disappearing in schools will potentially be traumatizing to this countri...

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...nded periods of time will not allow them to absorb the material schools so desperately try to teach them. Sedentary behavior will not, in the slightest way, step this country in the right direction toward healthy children with decreased chances of facing the life threatening side effects of obesity. Allowing a child to exercise their right to explore a playground and to learn from their environment and peers will prove to provide more cognitive, physical, and social growth than any amount of reading, writing, or arithmetic can possibly furnish. The pressure needs to be removed from teachers’ backs and be replaced with the knowledge and training to effectively oversee a safe and secure playground environment. Recess plays an imperative role in development and desperately needs to be returned to schools across the country before the damage done becomes irreversible.