Some thoughts on the “safety”-driven (in fact, lawsuit-driven) repression of schoolyard play: “I feel very sorry for elementary school teachers if the kids don’t run around the playground chasing one another. All that energy is going to come out one way or the other – better outside than in.” (Dean P. Johnson, “Schools are banning tag. What’s next: musical chairs?”, Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 3).
“Next to go: duck-duck-goose”
Some thoughts on the “safety”-driven (in fact, lawsuit-driven) repression of schoolyard play: “I feel very sorry for elementary school teachers if the kids don’t run around the playground chasing one another. All that energy is going to come out one way or the other – better outside than in.” (Dean P. Johnson, “Schools are banning […]
3 Comments
I believe the banning of tag and other children’s playground games is silly, but I also think that such proposals should discouraged with a sense of perspective.
Banning tag will not give kids the message that “we live in fear”. More likely kids will get the message that they’ve been receiving for generations: grown-ups are jerks.
Teacher bans on playground games will not end them anymore than they will end children’s spirit of life and adventure – something that I, at least, believe has always proven sturdier than the paddle or playground rules.
“More likely kids will get the message that they’ve been receiving for generations: grown-ups are jerks.”
Sad, but true.
But SOME kids will get the “we live in fear” message – I’ve already had to deal with some, for whom every little thing is SCARY! It’s very, very sad.
Didn’t we already ban “musical chairs”? On the premise that any game declaring a winner makes victims of everyone else? (Also: discriminatory toward the hearing impaired.) (Ok, “hearing impaired is offensive. What’s today’s PC euphemism?)