The Illinois legislature is considering putting into law that the children of the state must start school at age five. They may have by now. Does such an action improve education? Because it has been proven otherwise. A number of districts in IL and other states have convinced Board Members to vote to levy taxpayers to pay for pre school (that would be before kindergarten, before age five) buildings which all but ensures that the government gets their hands on our precious children at ages three and four. Insanity writ large.
There are times I wonder whether school board members ever really think through the issues upon which they are expected to vote. Other times I wonder why parents are not required to drop off their babies at public nursery school on the way home from the hospital. Maybe that will be next.
No time to play isn’t at all good for children’s learning. We need to stop, look and listen.
A kindergarten teacher friend claims the decline of play is quite true. Teachers are given just the number of minutes that are required to teach each subject area. She is told the designated minutes per day the children are to be instructed in language arts, math, science, social studies, specials (PE, art and music) and this breakdown includes lunch. It totals 380 minutes. The day is 390 minutes long. Aside from the fact that school children at any grade level are simply not given enough time to eat lunch and digest it, this breakdown does not include recess or play. The mantra is fairness among grade levels. Kindergarten is lumped in with 5th grade and has an equal number of language arts (ELA) minutes because ‘that’s fair.’
The fact is, fairness is misused in schools and in this ‘schedule of mandated minutes.’ Fairness is giving kids what they need. It isn’t about equal time spent on ‘subjects.’
In schools we are spending a lot of time trying to help kids who suffer from anxiety and depression by hiring more social workers, adopting social emotional curriculum (SEL) and at the exact same time we demand these be part of our day we unilaterally dismiss the importance of play.
My friend, and I agree, posits that if kids had opportunities for play, we wouldn’t need social emotional learning integrated into lessons. We wouldn’t need an abundance of social workers and psychologists in schools. By the way, when our students at whatever grade level leave the classroom to talk to a social worker, they miss valuable instruction time they cannot get back.
It is a vicious cycle and kids pay the price. Teachers know this, but data collecting curriculum directors disregard everything but test scores.
Her school district has suffered two suicides just this year. No one is certain of the reasons, but it’s almost always assumed to be bullying or home life. Maybe we need to look more closely and carefully. Maybe we’re doing it wrong in our schools is a thought she adds. To my mind clearly our schools are doing it wrong – way wrong.
Likely we have forgotten that play shouldn’t be and isn’t a break from learning, for young children it IS their learning.