Our Children Are Not Products
My child’s job is to be a kid, not to produce tangible evidence of his learning
Dear fellow parents
I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but you should be…
Teachers are still making students stay in during recess to catch up on “missed work”.
This will never be okay with me.
Why does academic work and learning (usually “seat work”, ie. boring paperwork, sometimes even busy work) still get prioritized over the important learning that happens through play, and the importance of being active?
What message does it send to children when we show them with our actions that we value compliance and completion over social, mental, and physical health?
I know, teachers are under a lot of pressure to meet certain curricular requirements. They can’t “sign off” on a skill, nor can they assess it, if a student is not completing their work.
Administrators and parents may also challenge or criticize teachers if a student’s work is not done. This is certainly not a simple problem to be blamed on teachers.
Play is learning
This is a problem that begins with how, as a society, we view the importance of academic performance. We’re socialized to believe these backwards priorities, then they are perpetuated in Teacher’s College and in educator training.
Our senior administrators and politicians want tangible “evidence” to demonstrate to the public that their policies are “improving” academic performance, so the teachers must produce, therefore the students must produce.
Instead of the top priority being the social, mental, and physical health of our children, the priority is for teachers and students to make the policy-makers look good.
We forget that play is a form of learning — arguably the most important way children grow and develop.
Owing time at recess
Keeping a student in over recess is counter-productive. It’s inappropriate and unfair to deny a child access to fresh air, outdoor play, and unstructured time with friends.
There are important developmental, social, and academic benefits to children playing outdoors, in particular from unstructured play. Extensive studies have shown recess improves academic performance, enhances creativity, improves executive functioning and focus, as well as classroom behaviour.
This is true for all children, and will be particularly important for neurodivergent children, especially those with ADHD.
My son absolutely needs to move, as do most children. If he were denied opportunities to be active during the day, such as recess and phys ed., his classroom behaviour and academic performance would certainly decline.
Not only is denying a child recess developmentally inappropriate, it also sets them up to fail. When prevented from going outside to play, students will have an even more difficult time following the teacher’s expectations, and are more likely to receive further consequences — essentially punished for being a kid.
So what else can we do, then?
If a student is behind in their work, taking away recess only catches them up for that day. It doesn’t help the adults figure out why the student is falling behind, nor how to help prevent this from happening again.
That’s the first step. Why isn’t the student completing the work? Is it too easy, too hard, too much? If this is a recurring issue, what is underlying their difficulty completing the work? “Refusal” and avoidance are only surface behaviours, we need to look deeper.
If this is a recurring issue, the parents should be informed.
Personally, I would rather my son have unfinished work sent home. I’m not a proponent of homework for middle-schoolers, but then I can see what it is he’s struggling with (or not wanting to do), and I might be able to identify the culprit.
I know not everyone has the time and resources to be helping their child complete schoolwork at home in the evenings, and this is not a long-term solution.
That’s why the adults need to get onside with the child, offering support and understanding so they can get to the root of the issue, rather than punishing the child for struggling. We can’t come up with effective solutions unless we know what the actual problem is (not what we assume it is).
We need to get our priorities straight
Our children are not products to be turned into statistics which help politicians keep their jobs. The job of childhood is to be a kid.
The current model is unfair to students and disrespectful to teachers.
If we expect teachers to become educated, trained professionals then we need to treat them as such; recognizing and respecting their expertise, rather than requiring constant “proof” of their labour.
Sure, I want my child to learn important skills in the classroom, but not at the expense of the more important aspects of his life.
Above all, I want him to be happy.
The rest will come later.
© Jillian Enright, Neurodiversity MB
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References
Brussoni, M., Gibbons, R., Gray, C., Ishikawa, T., Sandseter, E., Bienenstock, A., Chabot, G., et al. (2015). What is the Relationship between Risky Outdoor Play and Health in Children? A Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(6), 6423–6454. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120606423
Ginsburg, K. R. (2007). American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Communications, & American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bonds. Pediatrics, 119(1), 182–191. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2006-2697
Greene, Ross, W. (2021). Lost & Found: Unlocking collaboration and compassion to help our most vulnerable, misunderstood students, and all the rest. (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
McLachlan, Bruce. (2014). Project Play at Swanson School. Play and Folklore 61, 4–8.
Sahlberg, P., & Doyle, W. (2019). Let the Children Play: how more play will save our schools and help children thrive. Oxford Press.
Sorin, R., & Torzillo, M. (2018). Play and constructs of childhood. Journal of Playwork Practice, 4(2), 97–116. https://doi.org/10.1332/205316218X15230891064148