The Importance of School Recess

My kids and I used to watch a children's cartoon called Recess. The plot in many of the episodes involved the children finding a way to protect the threat of losing recess for one reason or another. My guess is the cartoon was born out of the real threat against school recess. This is why the cartoon probably had such great appeal to children and adults.

New schools all over the country are being built without playgrounds. Older schools are leaving the playground abandoned. School administrators feel that time is better spent improving academic performance. What they fail to realize however, is that without taking breaks during the day, children will burn out and academic performance will decrease. Worse than that, by eliminating recess in schools, children are also being set up for a lifetime of obesity. It seems that "No Child Left Behind" is leaving "No Child Healthy".

According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), recess provides children with more than just discretionary time to socialize with their peers. It also allows them to learn conflict resolution, cooperation, and respect for rules, taking turns, sharing, communication, and problem solving in real situation. In addition, recess will allow children to have better concentration at appropriate times. The NASPE insists that recess should not replace or be replaced by physical education. They feel that students need both.