recess!

What do you think of this?

The cynical black helicopter paranoid in me says this is just one more example of the social engineering of the sort Dewey imagined for the education system. Build the herd mentality, develop the notion where we are all the same, everyone does the same thing. THEY know best. THEY will tell you what to eat, when to play, what to play, where to work, what you will be paid. In other words, 1984 writ large. This policy squashes individualism, prepares young minds for group think.

I suspect the same mindset that envisions this is a good policy are also dead set against keeping score in the mandatory games, less someone think they win or lose. They forget that the competitive kids, even at 6 years old, know who wins, who loses, who is good at the sport and who is not. There are some non-athletic kids who struggle to make it through PE class in elementary school once a week. Imagine their reaction to organized sports every single day.

I think the education experts forget that these are kids. They need time to depressurize. There is nothing wrong with walking around the playground, looking at clouds. Imaginations are fostered in youth. Forcing everyone to do the same thing every minute of every day is the antithesis of imagination.  As Einstein quipped:

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Heck, this might be a good idea. I was wrong once before.