Playborhood Berkeley - Recess, The Final Frontier

Berkeley General

Recess, The Final Frontier

Posted: 05/28/08 10:38 AM

[This post is the third and last in a series by Mark Powell. In the first two posts Mark described the incredible fort play phenomenon he observed while working at Lexington Montessori School in Massachusetts. Read them here and here. All three posts are edited extracts from Mark Powell’s thesis “The Hidden Curriculum of Recess”.]

photo credit: sitemaker.umich.edu

Recess beckons well before it actually arrives. Its allure can be heard in children’s lunchtime conversations as they discuss imaginary roles, plans, alliances and teams with an appetite as hungry for play and its unbounded possibility as for food. For some children, recess provides the most important reason to come to school.

Although watched over by the protective, though generally unobtrusive, gaze of supervising teachers, children at recess interact with their environments and with each other almost completely as they choose—a freedom denied them at all other times while at school—and increasingly also in their homes and neighborhoods.

The adult preference for more organized and purposeful activity has always been at odds with children’s greater tolerance for chaos and flexibility and their need to exercise their own decision-making powers. The rise of institutionalized, adult-dominated after-school programs, the over-scheduling of children’s free time and the increasing pressure on children to adopt the work ethic as (or even before) they begin elementary school have emerged as major social problems.

Free play and “doing well at school” have somehow become mutually exclusive in the minds of many adults, and this perception has now begun to transform one of the last vestiges of free choice in every child’s day—recess.

Once accepted universally as a vital diversion from the adult-directed rhythms of the classroom, recess has come under increasing scrutiny over the past couple of decades. In its traditional form, recess is now seen by many educators as either leaving children vulnerable to aggression and anti-social behavior, or as an inconvenient interruption to the academics on which students will be tested and their teachers judged.

In response, many districts across the United States have reduced or eliminated recess, or replaced it with more structured activities. For many children, recess is no longer the festive occasion, with its multiplicity of elements, ages, sexes, and forms of play that it has traditionally been.

One recent popular guide for schools which “despite their best efforts, continue to be plagued by fights, arguments, and unmotivated students on their playground”, declared that “recess should be a productive learning time where everyone has a purpose and works to fulfill that purpose. In essence it’s still free time, but free time that must be used to accomplish specific outcomes”.
“Children on the playground who perceive that recess is their free time often push the same limits of irresponsible behavior, acting as though recess is a time for them to do what they want. Unfortunately, this type of ‘ego-centric’ attitude causes problems for teachers and playground supervisors….When students perceive recess as little more than a free-for-all, it’s very difficult to get them to act responsibly,” stated the guide.

While the impulse to prepare the recess environment in some way is positive, this concept of play leaves no room for self-discovery and free play because [it takes the view that] children cannot be trusted with free choice.

by Mark Powell

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1 comment
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Well at least it gives us another option if/when United fold.

I fly a lot, with a lot of different airlines and United give you less for your money than any of them and still they can’t make money.
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Muthu

Houses for sale in Berkeley, CA

by muthu on 10/13/08 11:43 AM

Berkeley General

Recess, The Final Frontier

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