Why not let kids be kids?

[Peter Campbell <campbellp@mail.montclair.edu>]

I'm worried that kids are not allowed to be kids any more. I'm  
worried their lives are either too scheduled and overly structured,  
or they are left on their own to vegetate in front of the TV set or  
their video game consoles. We have an achievement gap, yes. But  
what's the best way for schools to participate in bridging that gap?

I keep coming back to the issue of harm, i.e., the evidence that an  
emphasis on academic instruction in pre-K and K (esp. an emphasis on  
phonics and decoding at the expense of socio-dramatic play and hands- 
on, experiential activities like art and music) causes both short- 
term and long-term harm. The Alliance for Childhood makes a strong  
case for a correlation between the lack of play and aggressive  
behavior, as well a possible connection between the absence of play  
and mental illness in children. (http://www.allianceforchildhood.net/ 
pdf_files/background_paper.pdf) Of course, play is getting a lot of  
attention due to an increase in childhood obesity. But it seems that  
folks like Vivian Paley are being completely ignored. I think this is  
largely due to NCLB and the recognition that low-income kids need  
help to close the gap. But the Alliance for Childhood handles this  
really nicely, arguing, "While low-income, at-risk children need and  
deserve special attention to close the gap, there is no evidence that  
current methods will do that."

As the Alliance for Childhood finds, most disturbing are the reports  
from teachers that if they give five-year-olds time to play, the  
children literally do not know what to do. “They have no ideas of  
their own,” reported experienced kindergarten teachers in an Alliance  
for Childhood pilot study in Atlanta.

Note - the list of people who signed the Alliance for Childhood's  
call to action include such heavy-hitters as Howard Gardner, Linda  
Darling-Hammond, Jonathan Kozol, Mel Levine, Deb Meier, Sam Meisels,  
Vivian Paley, and George Wood. Pretty powerful group!

The National Association for the Education of Young Children has a  
strong position statement on school readiness. It's really quite  
good. Very concise.

http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/PSREDY98.asp

Here's a particularly good/relevant excerpt:

"A prevalent, fundamental misconception is that children's learning  
occurs in a rigid sequence and that certain basic skills must exist  
before later learning can occur. In fact, much of children's learning  
is from whole to part. Children's acquisition of higher order  
thinking processes and problem- solving abilities occurs in tandem  
with and may outpace acquisition of "basic" skills. For example,  
children are able to comprehend far more complex stories than they  
can produce. While the beginning acquisition of basic literacy and  
numeracy skills is important, these abilities are unlikely to  
flourish when presented out of context as isolated skills. To focus  
only on sounding out letters or forming letters properly on the lines  
ignores children's complex language capabilities, often squelches  
their burgeoning interest in reading and writing, and deprives  
children of the meaningful context that promotes effective learning."

Consider also what's happening to recess in public schools. A survey  
by the American Association for the Child's Right to Play shows that  
about 40% of public schools have already cut, or are planning to cut,  
at least one recess period from the school day. As Time.com put it:  
"Multiple studies show that, when recess time is delayed, elementary- 
school kids grow increasingly inattentive. Goodbye recess, hello  
Ritalin."

New elementary schools in Atlanta have been built without  
playgrounds, and recess has been curtailed in other Georgia school  
districts as well. Schools in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Texas, New  
Jersey, Florida, and California have all jumped on the eliminate- 
recess bandwagon. "This is an example of good intentions gone awry,"  
Paul Houston, executive director of the American Association of  
School Administrators, told the Chicago Tribune (9-27-01). "There's  
huge pressure these days on superintendents and boards to show that  
they're serious about achievement, so they do something symbolic -  
they get rid of recess."

So what does this mean? We honestly don't know what the long-term  
effects and the possible harm that an over-emphasis on  
developmentally inappropriate activities can cause. Some kids -- my  
pre-K daughter included -- might even appear to have fun doing  
worksheets and seem like they are learning something. Maybe. But my  
daughter, in her free time, has never asked me to create a worksheet  
for her. She has, however, asked me to bark at her toy dog, pretend  
I'm Miss Piggy, dance, sing, and look for buried treasure. If she  
wasn't doing these things with me, and if she's being given fewer and  
fewer opportunities to do this at school, and since she doesn't live  
near any of her classmates, what would happen to her imagination,  
that one thing that childhood is supposed to be synonymous with?

We look at the huge percentage of children that drop out of school  
each year and we wonder why they drop out. So policy makers decide to  
make school more about school and less about fun. And they're  
starting in the year BEFORE Kindergarten. I don't know about you, but  
I suspect this will create more drop-outs, not fewer. School is  
clearly not working for these kids. It is clearly irrelevant. It  
clearly has nothing to do with them. The way to keep kids active and  
engaged in school is to make school a place where kids want to be and  
want to stay. School should be fun. Kids should be allowed to be kids.

If you don't buy this argument, then consider this: in the absence of  
open, unstructured play, when will children learn to share? When will  
they learn to cooperate? When will they learn how to make friends?  
When will they learn how to resolve conflicts? When will they be able  
to develop their own interests in things that stimulate their  
curiosity? When will they develop their own identities? It's these  
very things that form the core of childhood. And it's these very  
things that are slowly disappearing from our classrooms.

Peter Campbell
posted at http://transformeducation.blogspot.com/2007/11/why-not-let- 
kids-be-kids.html