No Recess = Boy Trouble
Here's a terrific article from Georgia about how poor black kids in kindergarten and first grade aren't getting any recess.
www.macon.com/198/story/491586.html
Here's a paragraph:
One of the reasons is that Hartley has no swing sets or slides. There's just an old basketball court that's missing its goals. The terrain is uneven, with a 10-foot embankment behind the building.
But another reason Hartley has no recess is that the elementary school is trying to get students passing grade-level reading and math tests to meet goals under the No Child Left Behind law. The school didn't make it this past school year, and trying to catch up cuts in to play time.
"A lot of times in areas like this, so much emphasis is placed on testing, testing, testing," McKenzie said. "You want your children to be able to compete, and we're a test-driven society."
Check out the story. And note: the parents who are quoted in the story don't have any idea that they are sending their little children into school for six hours and they get no time for free play.
Think this is a good idea for any kids? Think this is a good idea for boys?
www.macon.com/198/story/491586.html
Here's a paragraph:
One of the reasons is that Hartley has no swing sets or slides. There's just an old basketball court that's missing its goals. The terrain is uneven, with a 10-foot embankment behind the building.
But another reason Hartley has no recess is that the elementary school is trying to get students passing grade-level reading and math tests to meet goals under the No Child Left Behind law. The school didn't make it this past school year, and trying to catch up cuts in to play time.
"A lot of times in areas like this, so much emphasis is placed on testing, testing, testing," McKenzie said. "You want your children to be able to compete, and we're a test-driven society."
Check out the story. And note: the parents who are quoted in the story don't have any idea that they are sending their little children into school for six hours and they get no time for free play.
Think this is a good idea for any kids? Think this is a good idea for boys?
posted by Peg at 11:50 AM
1 Comments:
A complaint I have about recess in my town's public school is that recess is combined with lunch so the kids get just one break in the day. That is elementary school grades K-5. It seems common sense to me that a short lunch and then a short recess at another point in the day would result in more productive kids who get to blow off steam and relax twice in one day.
Middle school grades 6-8, in this town, no recess.
When I was in school, we had recess right up to the end of 8th grade and it was separate from lunch.
I homeschool my two boys, since birth. I have wondered how they may be labeled or thought of differently if these same kids were in a school.
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