By Karen Armsby

May 17, 2006 11:24 AM | Link to this

All elementary and middle schoolers should have recess or free time after lunch. High Schoolers should have free time at lunch, to eat and socialize, and they need more P.E., Ballroom Dancing, and other physical interaction classes.

By SNY

May 17, 2006 11:37 AM | Link to this

I personally think that the schools with the disciplinary problems should let the kids out more. They are suffocating these kids. If they don’t learn at an early age how to handle their differences with their peers, where are they going to be when they grow up. You can’t keep children inside all day. Structured activities in a childs’ eye is still the same as no activity. If they can’t choose the relaxing activity then how does the teacher know if the child is relaxing? They need to exert physical energy.

By T

May 17, 2006 11:48 AM | Link to this

We came from an open high school campus in a major metro area (much more diversity). The kids where able to walk around the campus at lunch, go to the library, eat outside, socialize etc. Gwinnett school is run like a prison. You need a pass to go to the library at lunch and they have teachers and admins doing “lunch duty” like my kids had in elementary school. I just notice a lack of respect for students and parents in this area maybe because there are so many low performers.

By SET

May 17, 2006 12:56 PM | Link to this

T’s comments about schools being run like prisons hits a nerve.

Prisons should be run like prisons. Schoolchildren who are violent and uncontrollable should be put in prisons. Schools should have recess and not have battlefield injuries on the playground.

Is this a reasonable expectation or wishful thinking?

I went to grade school in the 1960’s in a largely blue collar Irish dominated catholic school - during the civil rights movement. There were families who didn’t want black students (or hispanic, italian, or any other ethnic) around. Some of those kids may have felt they were expected (by dear old Dad) to attack us. At least there were some verbal come-ons. The black students weren’t impressed by the Irish kids anyway. We were their academic & physical equals and more. (But they were far more risk-taking.)

All this lasted no longer than it took the Irish Nuns to publicly slap the s* out of a few people. And the Nuns made it clear that anyone who accepted an offer to fight on “their” playgrounds or anywhere after school could expect the same treatment and worse.

So there were no problems. Some of us didn’t get along for awhile until mutual enemies presented themselves (like Nuns). It’s possible in hindsight that the Nuns (who I now realize were 100lbs) made us get along by making us miserable together. They stayed on the playground with the students and as the prison lingo goes we were all under “direct observation”. They’d also stomp loudly into the boy’s room if they suspected any trouble there.

Recess was important. I can’t imagine growing up with just classroom hours and no structured time to get physical and get into and out of trouble. And Pack sociology is learned on the playground and not in class. Recess should have direct observation supervision by staff with eyes in the back of their heads.

As I got older I transferred to an integrated Catholic grade school - they had Italian Nuns and Irish Nuns. There I experienced (drill sargent) verbal discipline from the Italian Nuns as well as well as the up close and personal Irish style. We lived for recess.

Our parents loved the way the Nuns ran the schools. They didn’t worry about anything.

I can’t imagine a successful academic program that doesn’t include scheduled play and socialization time. There would be no carrot for the stick. After the physical correction, troublemakers had to stay in and write sentences.

By anonteacher

May 17, 2006 01:48 PM | Link to this

Patti Ghezzi hit the nail on the head: It has EVERYTHING to do with “test scores” and NOTHING to do with what’s best for the children. An educrats who don’t support recess are simply too myopic to realize that recess=less discipline problems=a better learning/teaching environment.

And speaking of such, I would request the AJC hold the DeKalb Supt. “accountable” for COMPLETELY and TOTALLY insulting the staff at McNair by proclaiming “there are no discipline problems at McNair.”

It’s bad enough to “spin” to the public…to spin to your own staff in morally reprehensible. What do you think happens to the morale of that staff to have to sit there and listen to such blatant falsehoods? How can you have any REAL reform, when you don’t respect your staff enough to have any REAL honesty?

Ms. Ghezzi (and the AJC) do a great service with this blog…but these issues need to be put in print AND dealt with by the editorial board. (I have written several members of the editorial board and asked point blank: Why has the editorial board, not ONCE…EVER written an editorial in advocating more accountability for administrators in supporting the consequences teachers impose in order to have the best environment conducive to learning?)

I have received some responses…but TO THIS DAY, I have yet to see the first editorial advocating better administrative support for teachers. (How many more teachers have to be PHYSICALLY assaulted, with no consequeces to the students, before the editorial board takes action?)

I’m curious as to how the education reporters feel when the bring discipline issues to light (the underreporting of THOUSANDS of discipline reports for example) yet the editorial board steadfastly refuses to advocate better administrative support of the consequences teachers enforce? (If there is an editorial out there…I’ll be happy to be proven wrong).

PS If you want collaboration on the McNair story, contact the Metro Association of Classroom Educators…they have PLENTY of “war stories” to confirm it…

PS II: The term “PHYSICALLY assaulted” is NOT hyperbole. MACE can give you plenty on that too…

By MMM

May 17, 2006 02:12 PM | Link to this

Patti, I think that you are right to see a dicipline/no recess corrilation. The question is did recess disappear because the dicipline problems became unmanagable or the other way around?

Learning to get along is immensely important and if the adults aren’t all committed to getting along themselves—kid will never learn those skills. Recess is a hot button issue because it points out how far we have backslid on our standards for childraising and ADULT behavior. It’s loss is a consequence of community decline.

By oldteacher

May 17, 2006 02:36 PM | Link to this

Kids need a break. Adults need a break. Thank goodness we still have break here at our middle school.

By decaturparent

May 17, 2006 02:36 PM | Link to this

SET - Ugh, the word “nun” stikes fear into my heart! I will never in my entire life forget the nun that taught my 4th grade class who took it upon herself to pick up my container of sea monkeys and shatter it on front of the floor in front of the whole class because she decided that they were distracting. I had brought them in for show and tell.

I just bought my kids some sea monkeys this week… it’s part of the healing process. ;)

Anyway, recess is one of the more important “subjects” in school. To list all of its benefits would take pages and pages and make all of your eyes glaze over. Just Google it, and you will see the reams of research. Unfortunately, it seems like there is pressure to do away with recess just like many worthwile things in school, because of a small population that can’t handle it.

It’s sad, but other than tracking kids… I don’t know of a solution to that problem. We all know that tracking is hugely frowned on these days. I agree, tracking can be unjust, but it’s also unjust for kids who are well behaved, high achieving students to have to be treated like criminals because of the ridiculous behavior of a few.

If someone has a solution - I’d like to hear it.

I would move my kids out of a school that cancelled recess immediately - not at the end of the school year - but immediately… I’d just homeschool until I could figure out a plan B.

By a high school mom

May 17, 2006 03:47 PM | Link to this

Really, if a lunch period is 45 minutes, I’m sure most elementary school age children could eat within the first fifteen in order to get 30 minutes outside running around, or 20/25. Even a twenty minute game of kickball can use up a lot of energy. I think a recess benefits all children, and the teachers, too.

I, too, attended a high school with open campus. It was a large high school, my graduating class was over 600. When open campus was first introduced, it was a senior privilege. As the school population grew, and by the time I hit high school, the entire student body had the privilege of open campus. The driving age was 17, so underclassmen were limited in their choices. We all survived.

However, the junior high school was like a prison. The entire lunch period was spent indoors in the overcrowded cafeteria. Free periods were spent in study hall, but that was like a classroom setting, everyone contained. Not sure if it was the age of the students with raging hormones or the lack of activity that led to behavioral problems. The behavioral problems of yesteryear in no way compare to what we read in the papers these days, though.

I hear so many parents complaining about the lack of physical activity their children get. However, I see these same parents driving their kids to school. If they’re not driving their kids to school, they’re driving them to the bus stop. Get out and walk with the kids if you don’t want them walking alone. In my son’s high school, the PE requirement is only one semester over the entire four years. If the students are not participating in sports, either competitive or recreational, that is certainly not enough physical activity, especially since they don’t use their legs to walk or ride bicycles to reach their destinations.

By SNY

May 17, 2006 04:00 PM | Link to this

highschoolmom,

My daughters lunch period (elementary school) is only 35 minutes and the whole class has to sit in the cafeteria. They don’t go outside after eating. They sit there and wait until the end of the period.

By SET

May 17, 2006 04:14 PM | Link to this

I’m still remembering recess. Our yards weren’t like a prison yard. They had things for us to climb on. There were teatherballs also. The yards were not rectangular - there were places to go to try to evade the Nunwatch. The Nuns were roving around though, and they snuck up on you. Part of the main yard was uphill from the lower end. There was actually a tree to climb into on one yard.

At the end of recess we had to line up single file and march back into class. No talking - or else.

Nobody ever told us we were “privileged”, we assumned all schools were like this.

The Public High School was a far larger campus and sometimes you barely had time to go from one classroom to your locker and then to the next room across campus. During lunch breaks we’d roam all over - it wasn’t a closed campus. PE was mandatory with forced showers and forced marches (running laps) and basketball or wrestling or whatever month’s activity it was (this was in 1970).

From what I hear nowadays the kids lounge around and drink Soda from vending machines while texting on cellphones. I’m not sure you can “make” them do any physical activity or shower.

By a high school mom

May 17, 2006 04:26 PM | Link to this

SNY…

That’s really lousy. My son’s elementary school was like that, too. The entire lunch period was spent in the cafeteria, but they did get recess for 15 minutes at some time during the day. And, at one point, during 5 minutes of their lunch period, they had to sit in silence while classical music played. I think the wrong message was being sent…instead of growing to appreciate the music, the kids wound up associating it with forced silence, sort of like a punishment.

By Prootwadl

May 17, 2006 04:38 PM | Link to this

I grew up in a school system in the Twin Cities, and we had recess in grade school (K-6) but not beyond that.

I think it provided a good release for us kids, since we could run around on the ballfields in back, either playing formal games like kickball or informal ones like “Kill The Guy” where everyone ran after the one who had the football, or use the swings/climb bars, or slide down the hill (in the wintertime), or even go for a walk in the small woods which existed on both ends of the schoolgrounds.

I ended up collecting a lot of rocks in tnhe woods during recess and making a lot of friends.

By msb

May 17, 2006 04:43 PM | Link to this

Kids definitely need recess. I am an elementary PE teacher and we just finished the president’s physical fitness challenge. Only about 15% of the kids in the school passed! It is so sad to see some of these kids who are at the school when we open the doors at 7:00 and they stay until after school ends at 6:30. We expect so much from these KIDS. They are just kids, we need to let them be. Let them run around and have some fun. My son will be starting kindergarten at my school next year and while I think all our teachers are just awesome, there are some that I would rather him not have because their classes never go out for recess. We’re making the children take too much responsibility and grow up too fast then we complain when they reach high school and look and act like they’re in the mid-20’s. Where is the happy medium?

By MrLiberty

May 17, 2006 04:51 PM | Link to this

Ritalin is not a substitute for recess.

One can only wonder how many wonderful children are being drugged into uselessness by a school system that is too incompetent to handle creativity and individual expression and TOO stupid to allow real breaks and recess for their students.

These kids are growing. They are little energy dynamos. Restricting them to a seat in a boring classroom for the entire day is not only stupid but cruel.

By HenryTeacher

May 17, 2006 06:22 PM | Link to this

I taught in DeKalb for 7 years, and this year I started in Henry where recess is “mandatory” at my school…It’s amazing how much of a difference that I see in my student’s behavior at this school in comparison to my students in DeKalb….It’s hilarious to walk out of the building and the first thing that the kids do is SCREAM and just RUN!! They act like they were in prison! I’m a true advocate of recess now that I see its true benefits!

By M Benson

May 18, 2006 09:46 AM | Link to this

Prootwadl… I can’t imagine what would happen if a kid played “kill the guy” on the play ground now. In today’s society, that would mean those kids “have problems” lol I can remember my brother playing like that on the playground and he is a responsible adult now, has a nice family, a full time job.

I also grew up having recess up until high school, then it was open campus. We walked to and from school every day or rode our bikes. But 20 odd yrs ago, parents could allow their children to do that In todays society it isn’t as easy as that. Its not PC to leave your kids at home for that 30 min to an hr, or to have them walk or ride their bikes to school. Our school doesn’t even have a bike rack.

My boys only have 1 semester of P.E and the other half of the yr they are stuck inside all yr, unless they have a class in a trailer, then they get to walk outside. This is why our homework time is now when after supper instead of as soon as they get home.

Somewhere along the line, we have lost sight of what kids need. My husband reminds me all the time, that times have changed, and he’s right, but that doesn’t mean it’s for the better.

By Frank

May 18, 2006 10:38 AM | Link to this

If the kids are having PE, what is the big deal about recess??? Instead of just standing around talking and/or eating, the PE teacher can have them doing focused exercises and introducing them to new sports (ie fat burn opportunities). The kids have lots of projects and lunch time in school where they can socialize and learn to work together. It is better for them to learn to work together on a project than just having unstructured free time which recess is.

By Dekalb Educator

May 18, 2006 10:55 AM | Link to this

Recess is not something we do at my school. However, I make it my business to try and get my class outside a few days out of the week in the afternoon. Children need time when they are not being told what to do by adults. Everything seems to be too structured/teacher iniated..EVEN P.E.

If we as adults are given 15 mins of “break” time when in long meetings, etc..what is the problem with giving children that same BREAK? Give them the opportunity to get some fresh air, sunshine, socialize, scream, run, jump, play, etc. Trust me..there is a BIG difference for those that are able to get in this time and those that are not. A teacher will spend more time trying to get the class to settle down when all of that pent up energy has not been released.

call me a MAJOR advocate for RECESS!

By jim d

May 18, 2006 11:00 AM | Link to this

Dear Frank,

Are your coffee breaks structured or are you allowed to just kill a few minutes?

By SNY

May 18, 2006 11:14 AM | Link to this

jim d,

Good one.

Frank,

Another problem is that kids know other kids in other classes. If they don’t mingle with other classes when do they see their other friends?

By Nel

May 18, 2006 12:43 PM | Link to this

HenryTeacher, my children attend Elementary school in Dekalb County and have always had outside time, so it’s not an across the board thing in Dekalb County, just whomever the school administraion is and their thinking on the subject. Shame really. These people don’t may have negative memories of their childhoods, or don’t remember what it was to be a child, which if that’s the case, they need to do something else for a living.

By Dekalb Educator

May 18, 2006 01:10 PM | Link to this

I am under my 3rd adminstrative team…and the views have been very different regarding recess. Under my 1st principal…NO! NO RECESS! NO OUTSIDE TIME! NO NOTHING! TIME ON TASK! blah blah blah Under the 2nd principal..well, she didnt care what was going on..we barely saw her Under the current principal, things were so so..UNTIL we had the injuries (broken legs) due to lack of supervision. This was last yr. The outside thing is an unspoken subject in our building. Some of us take our chances and go..the others keep their kids locked down.

It is just MY experience..when we have had those that weren’t bothered by recess..there were always problems due to the teachers and the lack of supervision..which meant things were shut down.

By Nel

May 18, 2006 01:15 PM | Link to this

I think that adults have taken more and more of the childhood out of children. They birth them, sign them up for the rigorous preschool activities, schedule them to death once they do begin school, not forgetting the extracurricular activities that take up all their spare time. Good heavens, the poor kids can’t even have fun learning t-ball and having fun running the wrong way, with the entire team running after the ball while everyone on base for the opposing team scores, without some crazed coach or parent screaming at them or wanting to bench them. Let kids be kids and you’d most likely have a better end result. Is there any wonder that kids act up so much in class these days?

By jim d

May 18, 2006 01:19 PM | Link to this

Dekalb,

Anyone thought of inviting a few parents to help cover the bases?

By Dekalb Educator

May 18, 2006 02:18 PM | Link to this

@Jim D…sad but true, I am at a school where we can BARELY get 25 parents to show for a PTA meeting. Conference nights will bring about 2 or 3 for me. (the most being 6).

It would be lovely if we did have the man power for such. Since it isnt mandatory…you will have a teachers “complaining” about having to watch their students outside. You will have every excuse under the sun as to why it wouldn’t work to schedule times for everyone so that there would not be too many students outside at one time.

Ive been here since ‘97..the list goes on and on. I just say..as for as ME and MY students, we are going to get outside for a few mins..get some air, exercise, and just release some energy.

By V for Vendetta

May 18, 2006 02:53 PM | Link to this

Allow me to take this idea and spin it in a new direction…

First off, let me say that I totally agree that recess is a vital and important part of any kids day (especially at a younger age). However, what is the point when you cant do anything?

A friend close to me who is an Elem. PE teacher tell me that the kids are allowed to play no competitive sports. Not in her class, and not on the playground. They don’t get balls, they don’t get bats, they don’t get anything that could become a competitive game. Why? Is it because of danger or the possibility of injury? Of course not. It’s because in any competitive game, there has to be a winner and a loser.

Why is this happening in schools across the state? I find this to be a pathetic and impossibly idiotic trend. It is a sad fact of life that competition is vital for survival in school, college, the business world, and life in general. We are breeding a generation of wimps, pansies, and complainers who feel that everything in life should be handed to them. Wow, that first job interview is going to be a real shock.

This same person tells me that their Elem. School field day consists of games that have no winner, games where every kid gets a ribbon. How far does it have to go? In every game there are winners and losers, how long will it be before these kids realize that that same fact applies to the game of life as well?

By Dekalb Educator

May 18, 2006 03:25 PM | Link to this

@V…thats sad and hilarious at the same time. (makes me think of Neal Boortz..”it may hurt his feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelings”)

We just had our field day and you are correct. No winner..No loser…just ribbons everywhere and that glorious FIELD DAY participant ribbon.

We have a playground..and if those of us did not take their students outside at some given point of time, it would just sit outside and look pretty.

I ask, why take the kindergarten class to the gym..keep them stuffed inside w/ basketball hoops they can NOT reach..a few jump ropes, and some hula hoops? Let them get outside…run around and use some imgination on that playground!