Ask almost any grade school child what their favorite part of school is and your are almost guaranteed to get an answer of lunch or recess. Lunch and recess offers a youngster a break from sitting in class all day and a way to release energy so they can focus for the rest of the day. Once a child enters middle school or junior high, recess is no longer offered to them. The two major drawbacks to this situation are lack of exercise and socialization.
Children that do not have recess are not guaranteed any form of exercise on a daily basis. Granted, children should by getting outside at home for fresh air and exercise but we all know that in the age of computers and video games that this is not the case in all households. Add to that a lack of healthy meals because of working families relying on prepackaged and fast foods and it is no wonder that there is such a large increase in overweight children and children suffering from diabetes. In the Warren Consolidate School district, an eight grader has the option of not taking gym for the entire year and can take a series of electives instead. If a child is overweight already, why wouldn't he or she opt out of gym class to spare themselves from having to demonstrate how out-of-shape they are or being picked last for teams?
Today kids have the opportunity to go to school with people of various ethnic, religious, social, and economic backgrounds but how can they appreciate all of these walks of life if there is no free time supplied to do it? There is limited talking in class, only four minutes between classes to get from point A to point B (and maybe squeeze in a bathroom break), and lunchtime is the first place administrators take away privileges. Once again, in the Warren Consolidated School district (of which I am so familiar because my son is currently enrolled in one of their middle schools) the kids are currently be subjected to "silent lunch". This silent lunch cane about because students did not quiet down fast enough when called to attention. This punishment is going to be enforced for at least one month. What does this really accomplish? Resentful and hyperactive kids - detention would have been a more reasonable and realistic solution. Maybe in this age of technology, where people would rather text than make a phone call or have a face to face conversation, it just isn't considered important to make socialization part of a child's everyday education.
I agree with you that recess and gym are important parts of going to school. My son is in high school now and so does not have to take gym every year. If I remember correctly he was only required to take a year and a half. In the summer he gets outside with friends and plays. Unfortunatly, being in Michigan, in the winter I notice that he spends more time on his computer or xbox. I do not think the school should punish kids during the little time they do have to socialize in school. After this year my son only has one more year and then goes on to college. I hope your son's high school years are better.
ReplyDeleteRecess isn't a bigger deal because children are relying more on video games for recreational activity. In these situations the parents (adults) have to utilize their authority and make sure that their child gets the proper amount of physical activity.Your blog is very informative and I will continue to follow for further discussions.
ReplyDeleteRecess to me was a large part of growing up. Recess provided a way for me to socialize with my classmates and other students from the school seeing as my teachers disliked students socializing in class. Socializing helps with a lot of steps in the growth of a person and is very much needed. So recess being the only place for young children to do such socializing is also needed. Recess also gives a way for kids to let out the energy the gather from eating and from just sitting in class, if students don’t do this outside at recess they sometimes “misbehave” in class leading to them getting in trouble. Also being in class for hours on end can be unhealthy for many kids if they do not move around or breath fresh air the chances of children getting sick rises.
ReplyDeleteI would tend to Agree with you Amanda. Schools today put alot of emphsis on academics which I understand, but we have young children in these disricts, K-6, for example who need to get out and play and run around to burn off energy that they build up. it is only natural that kids want to talk to other kids during the school day. the only time they have to do this is during recess or gym class. when i was in school at the risk of dating myself, there was emphasis on gym class and recess. To take away the socializing time is actually taking away from the childrens development if you ask me. chances are schools are having much more difficulty with having kids pay attention or getting into trouble because they have all this extra built up energy.
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