When I was young my mother told me that as children, our minds were like sponges and that we could absorb much knowledge that our teachers gave over to us. An important thing that I would like to add to that, however, is that the transfer of information from teacher to student cannot be the only thing that happens from the time the student arrives in school until they go home for the day. Recess, it turns out, is an extremely important part of the children’s day.

What is happening is that teachers face great pressure, in part thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (which has essentially now seen over a decade of failure accumulate behind its name) there are teachers and administrators that feel that they need to cut out recess in order to increase the amount of time that is spent teaching. I feel that this is counterproductive.

Going from class to class without any time to stop and think about what has been learned makes it considerably more difficult to retain the information that was taught. Moreover, recess teaches things to children that cannot be learned elsewhere — important lessons in socialization and creative expression.

In some ways you could almost think about recess as a sort of nap — we know that naps are good for us and yet so few of us are able to take them during the day at our offices. If I were in charge of an office I would have a dedicated room meant only for allowing people to take a good solid nap at some point during the afternoon.

In short, it is incumbent upon us to support recess in whatever ways we can. Fortunately, there is an organization called Playworks that is chock full of advice for people who are looking to get involved in supporting recess and making sure that it does not fully leave our schools. If you do not have children it is of course considerably more difficult to approach school administrators and plea for something like recess for other people’s children. You can, on the other hand, discuss it with your local media. One can never tell the efficacy of a well written local newspaper article.

6 Comments

  1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Getting the mind connected to the body is certainly an important part of learning. Some schools are even removing the physical education course requirement for high school graduation.

      1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
        David W. Boles says:

        Right! I definitely think that, at the high school level, if you’re removing physical education courses, you need to give students recess breaks. I realize most of them will use the time to smoke or run to the store, but it could be managed as a relaxation and mindfulness tool.

        1. Gordon Davidescu – Born in Perth Amboy, Gordon Davidescu lives in Queens with his wife, children, cat, and plush bears. He loves reading a good book whether it is cloth and paper or digitally.
          Gordon Davidescu says:

          Now all I can think of is a five year old taking a smoke break. Still beats all day learning — and having your mind shut down by the end!

    1. Gordon Davidescu – Born in Perth Amboy, Gordon Davidescu lives in Queens with his wife, children, cat, and plush bears. He loves reading a good book whether it is cloth and paper or digitally.
      Gordon Davidescu says:

      You’re quite welcome! Thank you for your great program!

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