Mar. 19, 2006 - 19:54 MST

THINGS VANISHING

On the editorial pages of the Sunday JOA newspaper The Denver Post is a short one, that got me to thinking and trying to remember. In full then it is quoted:

LET KIDS HAVE THEIR RECESS

"Has it all come to this ?"

"Nearly 40 percent of U.S. schools have either canceled recess, or are considering it, because of budget cuts and standardized testing, according to the National Parent Teacher Association."

"We understand concern about testing. It can take days to administer the tests, and so much can be tied to the results that it often makes for antsy administrators, frazzled teachers and nervous students."

"But cancelling recess ? Do we really want a nation full of chubby, overanxious children who score well on tests ?"

Kidding aside, research suggests that recess is an integral part of a child's day. Not only is the social interaction positive, the exercise allows students to better concentrate on latger academic tasks."

"Of course there's also the health component. More than 30 percent of kids ages t6 to 19 are considered obese, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

"It's bad enough that so many kids are sedentary at home, playing video games or watching TV, but compound that with disappearing physical education classes and it's easy to see how child obesity has become an epidemic. PE classes have been on the chopping block for years as schools struggled with budgets and now class-time pressures. But recess shouldn't tax a school budget too heavily. A whistle, an open space and a couple of teachers (or even volunteer parents) as monitors ought to do the trick."

Recess doesn't have to be scripted, just a few mionutes for kids to be kids. Hopefully they burn off some pent-up energy and maybe a few calories."

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Recess disappeared for me when I started Junior High in 1927. In exchange I was given along with all the other boys a martinet physical education teacher who managed to spoil any fun we might have had by his dictatorial mannerisms. As a sop, I guess, we were allowed to have what is called, I think, nowadays a "sock hop" Fridays after school in the gym. We went in, stood around, once in a while attempting to dance with a girl but I don't think we were really interested.

Seems to me that things have become too organized over the years, getting worse as time goes on.

Then looking at the workaday world, most folks get a ten or fifteen minute break every two hours. Not because companies and corporations are generous to a fault. Nuh huh, it's because they found out over the years that more actual productive work was accomplished each day when the employees got a periodic wind down coffee break. I and my workmate on the assembly line worked across from two men doing the same thing we did. They worked through breaks, we took ours. We always out produced them and had a heck of a lot better time doing it.

No monitors there, nor people trying to organize play, we were free to do as we wished (within common sense limits).

Seems to me that perhaps kids would progress in their education much more quickly and proficiently if they had free recesses, with only a monitor to keep order. I remember how recess used to set me up to go for more, wake me up and ignite my curiosity.

And it also seems to me that FIRST YOU MUST TEACH THE KIDS SOMETHING CONCRETE BEFORE YOU PUT THEM THROUGH THOSE ENDLESS SYSTEMS OF TESTS. ! ! ! !

Has the concept of "free time" disappeared in a flurry of super organization ? ? ? ? Just another one of those good THINGS VANISHING . . . . . . . . . .

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