Time to cooperate and socialize disappear as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 forces schools to forgo play and recess time.
It is unfortunate that Doctor Who is not on the payrolls of most schools these days. It would be wonderful if someone who can manipulate time and space could just pop into a police phone box and magically find some more time during the school day for teachers to be able to do everything they know they should be doing for their children.
The sad reality, however, is that teachers have to dedicate so much of their school days to preparing their children to take the grade-level NCLB skills tests in the name of accountability that the other meaningful kinds of learning are just being skipped. Instead of concentrating on developing well-rounded children, the students are being stuffed into daily time blocks that drill the testable math and language arts skills they will need to perform at a level that will allow their schools to be adequately funded the next year. As a result, many of the classes that would broaden a child’s mind have met with the executioner’s ax, including the arts and physical education. And recess.
Why Recess Is Important
In general, according to the National Association for the Education of Young Children, recess is important for all children, especially gifted kids. Play at recess involves using a number of different learning styles, especially kinesthetic. In this kind of open-ended play, children can blend intellectual activities with physical play making for a well-rounded experience. It is also a perfect opportunity for developing social skills and for working out any conversations that might have started in the class, and it helps children learn how to get along in the real-world without an authority figure directly in charge.
For gifted children, it is also the time of day when they can they can apply their higher-order thinking skills on non-academic topics helping them to become more in touch with the world around them and with other children. For example, they can make some terrific sand castles or find some really interesting bugs that they will just have to share with others. Or, they can just sit back and make mental elephants out of the clouds drifting by.
Recess is a Right
Recess is not just a good idea; it is considered a basic right by the United Nations. Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on Children’s Rights states that, “Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.”
Some schools are blurring the distinction between recess and physical education to try and at least get some time for the students to romp and play games; however, PE is a curriculum-driven class, whereas recess is open-ended, unstructured free play.
Doctor Who might be able to trip the light speed fantastic in his TARDIS as he shifts through space and time; meanwhile, most of our gifted students will be memorizing facts about H. G. Wells from flash cards and getting ready for the big test.
Resources:
Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (2002). A Position Statement on Young Children and Recess.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (1977). Early Years are Learning Years.
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - Geneva, Switzerland (1990).
Rivkin, M.S. (1995). The Great Outdoors: Restoring Children’s Right to Play Outside. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Rogers, C.S. and Sawyers, J.K. (1988). Play in the Lives of Children. Washington, DC. NAEYC.
