Aha(:
Anyways, today, after reading something, I could not hold off any longer. I read a blog article that informed me that many elementary schools in the U.S. do not have recess anymore.
What?! No recess?? That's just...just...stupid!
After reading that, I just got so angry and sad. How could you take away recess from kids? They're kids! I loved recess. Those were the key points of my school day. It's necessary for kids to get moving after sitting for hours working on seemingly endless spelling lists, letter printing, and math page after math page. Kids shouldn't be forced to have to sit that long of a time like that without a run-around break. And what really doesn't make sense to me is that now more then ever, America is suffering an obesity epidemic and trying to control it, especially in children. So why in the world would we take away the time when they actually get good exercise in, like playing tag or tether ball or dodge ball, swinging on the playground, playing hopscotch or with jump ropes? We know that when most kids get home, what do they do? Go straight to the couch and flip on the T.V. Or maybe grab their gameboys or x-boxes and mindlessly sit around staring at that for hours. That's what my eight-year-old brother does everyday. He's pretty chunky for a third grader too.
It isn't healthy. And it just isn't smart. But not only is recess important for the physical health attributes, but the metal and emotional ones as well. Recess is where I made my best friends. Where I bonded with others playing make-believe ship wreck games on the play set. Where I learned teamwork while playing dodgeball. I learned sharing, honesty, compassion. Life lessons, though I didn't know it then. It might sound silly, but it's true. How we act as young adults and adults depends on how we learn to act as we're younger, correct? Interaction with others happened on the black top and in the grassfield at recess everyday. We learned how to act with others, speak with others, be with other people. If you take such key opportunities away at such a impressible age, how will these act as they grow up?
Not all kids have good home lives to influence them either. Sure, in the classroom you meet and become friends with others as you sit in your little table groups or work on a group assignment of have the occasional legal holiday party. But it's not the same as playing and truly interacting with them like you would at recess. It's not nearly the same.
Sigh. Yes, I'm probably rambling. But for some reason, this just got me so upset and completely outraged. It's ridiculous. And it it needs to change.
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