Recess: a controversial issue in the USA!
(First Published March 6th 2016)
Picture from TV series “Recess” – Season 4, Episode 7 entitled “Recess is canceled”
I have repeatedly here praised some American traits or the way of life in the US but it is not a total and naive admiration. There are especially two areas (in addition to the issue of firearms in the United States that still terrifies me so much) in which France has, in my opinion, some qualitative lead over the USA. One issue is about the system of car insurance and the resulting driver behavior in case of accident, and the other one is about the organization of school time.
I have already referred to the organization of school time in several of my articles. The school, especially for small children is incredibly too serious in the United States. Children are expected to massively learn academics (core subjects such as English language and mathematics) at the expense of any socializing time or even performing sport. I remember for example having heard the professor of my then 5 year old son (in Kindergarten in Baltimore during our stay in 2014) complain that when they were all sitting on the ground he was lying on the floor … When I asked for what purpose they were sitting down she said with amazement “to do math of course”. I didn’t want to argue with her but it seemed to me unusual – although interesting – to sit down for doing math. And basically I was thinking that there was no drama if some students took this opportunity to get comfortable (especially because my son at that time hardly spoke a word of English and probably didn’t understand her instructions), but apparently this teacher had considered my son’s attitude as really inappropriate.
This obsession for core subjects is rooted in two issues, one old and one quite recent. Indeed Americans, unlike French, think that the most stimulated small children, the better the results. In other words they think referent adults mission (and in the first place his parents mission) is to (over)stimulate the child to let him learn as many things as possible, and as soon as possible, while in France we think we should give same some time, i.e. allow the child to reach his educational maturity at every stage of his development. This is why preschool and even kindergarten are considered in France mainly as socialization time, much more than places of academic learning. This difference in educational approach is old (dating from the 20th century, including the teachings of Dolto in France, different from the father of American educational science, Dr. B. Spock). I remember for example the pediatrician asking me on each consultation if my 2 year old son could read and write the alphabet and prime numbers, suggesting gently that we should start as soon as possible, while my husband and I thought we had plenty of time and we would consider it in Pre-K or Kindergarten, at age 4 or 5…
The other and more recent reason of this craze for core subjects is the educational reform of the Obama Administration (which I know very little) which includes national tests by grade level, and conditions a part of the school subsidies to the results of the students. Schools therefore have no time to devote to the “unnecessary” and recess is often reduced to a minimum or is absent.
In a previous article, I did already focus on this issue, and especially the fact that in the school of my children in Baltimore there was no recess at all! (The school day was fortunately quite short from 7:45 am to 2:30 pm). Even during lunch time students used to eat in a very noisy dining hall, in front of a cartoon (for small students), without ever leaving the building. In 2014 some parents of students of this school tried to introduce a 15 minute recess, 2 times A WEEK, offering voluntary assistance in organizing these recess times. There were lots of hesitation among school staff and some other parents first because it would shorten learning time but also because, playtime scared some of them since it is by definition a time where children run, can fall and get hurt or bicker. This is also why volunteering parents brought an incredible amount of games with them (jump ropes, hula hoop, balls, etc.) and took care of gamesORGANIZATION: no free games and especially no running was allowed! Beside, volunteers were told not to touch students in any circumstances (for example to separate students in case of dispute). Instead in case of “inappropriate” behavior volunteers were told to call some staff members (for insurance issues, but also because other picky parents could accuse them of harassment!) Finally recess so timidly introduced occurred only on sunny days (no question of letting students get outside for recess when it was rainy or windy, on the contrary of France). Moreover recess was considered as a “privilege” and especially if a student didn’t work enough in classroom or didn’t do his homework, he was not allowed to participate to the recess L
Since this experience, I have realized that even if recess is not always absent in all US schools, its duration and frequency is everywhere much lower than in France. Some detailed explanations can be found in the article below.
In this article, the author talks about the lack of recess issue: she explains that a school in Texas set up some small size exercise bikes in Kindergarten, instead of allowing students to leave on break! If you take a look at the comments, you will see the hostility of some parents to recess (they blame the author of the article to confuse with children who have concentration and hyperactivity problems) while other parents recognize that the lack of recess is a real issue.
This other article exposes the benefit of recess according to its defenders:
Finally here is a website that summarizes the laws and recommendations for recess State by State in the US. Note that in many States, not only recess is not mandatory, but also it is not even necessarily recommended.
Personally, I really don’t understand this reluctance to organize recess and I am more than happy that my children have again the “privilege” of systematic recess in their French schools.
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