Opinion

Schools weigh in on abolishing recess

Children's break a necessary part of growing up

By Derek McKinley

Posted on Feb. 05, 2007, at 12:00 a.m.

Reports have surfaced recently about several schools weighing the decision to cancel recess. The idea has been suggested by schools fearing lawsuits from parents whose children suffer injuries during their playtime. This is easily the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard of.

When I was a child, we had recess and we absolutely loved it. The only thing that kept me sane was knowing that I’d have a half-hour to eat lunch and play outside at some point in the day. Recess builds several essential skills that can’t be taught half as well in the classroom. Psychologists and sociologists since time immemorial have touted recess as an integral part of children’s education. It teaches them the building blocks of social interaction, the benefits of physical activity and it keeps them from burning out during the school day.

Let’s face it, six hours a day is too long for a child to sit still in a classroom. They need a little bit of freedom. We’re in college and we go to school for probably four hours a day on average, then after that we’re free to do just about anything we want. Is it really fair to expect a child to go for six hours and not give them any way to unwind? If I didn’t get a break between classes every so often, I’d go absolutely nuts.

I completely understand the argument. We live in an age where people will do anything to get money, so parents will go so far as to sue a school for their child’s injury just to collect a little something extra. The fact of the matter is that children are injury prone and they’re going to get hurt somewhere; whether it’s the jungle gym or the backseat of the car, they’re just going to get hurt. It is the duty of the school to educate the children, nothing else. A teacher should not be expected to be a babysitter. If a kid wants to screw around on the monkey bars, he probably deserves to fall and hurt himself. It’ll teach him better than any educator ever could.

If schools are going to put a ban on recess, they better prepare for a pint-sized backlash. No child will agree to such Draconian measures. They won’t learn well because the tediousness of a school day will catch up to them at around noon.

A loss of recess could contribute significantly to an overall decline in academic productivity from kindergarten through sixth-grade. Think of school as a job for children. If you were working a job for six straight hours, don’t you think a 30-minute break would be in order? Were you denied that break, your performance would suffer as a result due to either fatigue or frustration with your employer for not having a brief reprieve. Do children not deserve the same courtesy?

What schools need to do is put the power into the hands of the parents. It is ultimately a parent’s choice, so why not allow them to make it rather than making it for them? Schools hesitant to ban recess should send waivers to all parents and tell them flat out that if they don’t sign it, the school is not letting their child go to recess. If they do sign it, the school is not responsible for any potential injuries the child might – and probably will – suffer. It’s the only fair thing to do. This way, if a child can’t go to recess with all his friends, he only has Mommy and Daddy to blame.

Derek McKinley is a first-year journalism major.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 5th, 2007, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.