Big Fight on the Playground (Parents Protest as Schools Take the Play Out of Recess)

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ^ | Friday, October 10, 2003 | LAUREN LIPTON

[presidio9]

Callaghan Elementary's fourth-graders returned to school this fall to an unusual new recess activity. Worried the nine-year-olds have too much independent playground time, the Virginia school decided to have them walk the track.

"The teachers will make it fun," Principal Nancy Moga says. One possibility: Kids may plot how many miles they've logged for math class.

[agooga]

Here's another angle: Rough play and competition makes for good soldiers. In WWII, the guys that were handpicked for special outfits like scout-sniper platoons were those who had an upbringing rife with hunting, hard play and vigorous physical activity. This kind of upbringing is all but extinct in today's pussified America.

[blackdog]

"Red Rover, Red Rover, let.......Bubba come over"

One can still have childhood dreams as an adult right?

[dead]

Rough play and competition makes for good soldiers.

That’s exactly what these “education experts” fear.

Good soldiers are often violent and don’t surrender well.

[presidio9]

Here's another angle: Rough play and competition makes for good soldiers. In WWII, the guys that were handpicked for special outfits like scout-sniper platoons were those who had an upbringing rife with hunting, hard play and vigorous physical activity. This kind of upbringing is all but extinct in today's pussified America.

In the weeks leading up to the war there was a front page Wall St Journal story about how the US soldiers were holding full-on Fight Club style matches, complete with lost teeth and broken noses to keep the edge on.

[JoeSixPack1]

"Our rule is very simple: If there's a game going on, anyone can play," Principal Ken Williams says.

Back in the 50's this guy would never have kept his lunch money. (And not many teeth either)

And acording to this report, there are NO GAMES so who's he kidding?

[xzins]

Yep, some baseball kids were lousy at football and vice versa. Some were good at both. Some were good at neither.

The same with academics. We gotta teach our kids to live with it.

I'm always amazed, though, at some of the 'average' joes who go out and get filthy rich. Couldn't throw a ball; couldn't make a tackle....but WOW could they make money.

Life is one strange ride. Only God knows how all the strands come together.

[2right]

"I'm guessing no one plays Smear the Queer with the Football anymore."

You would probably be suspended and sent to sensitivity training if you suggested playing Smeer the Queer today.

[G L Tirebiter]

Brings back memories of "Kill the Carrier".

We didn't have such a colorful name - it was simply "Tackle the Man With the Ball". And yes, girls weren't invited.

[blackdog]

An intercepting angle was learned by "creaming" the kid with the ball at a full run. Evasive action was learned by the kid who had been "creamed" too many times. Covert operations are mastered with strategic snowball caches and blinding sun angles leaving your opponent sightless in the glare.

Secret Op's was done by the kid who took the dead squirrel to show the playground monitor staff in order to distract them so that highly effective but banned retaliations could go unnoticed.

Psy Op's was done by wedgie teams.

[doodad]

bump for wallball! I was gonna post it. And we used a volleyball for maximum hurtage.

[DeFault User]

"Our job is to teach them how to compete properly," says headmaster Olen Kalkus.

At least somebody gets it. In my elementary school the playground was setup for a number of games that the kids could choose from: baseball, basketball, four square, etc. You could play on teams or just practice shooting hoops. Not a lot of direction or supervision--so the kids had to determine their own rules and settle disputes themselves. A teacher would be available to step in if it got rodwy or too rough, but otherwise, it was open. If you weren't skilled at baseball, you could play soccer or shoot hoops. About the only drawback was the asphalt on which you couldn't play football, but you could at least learn to pass.

[cwb]

This is exactly why the grief couselor charade bothers me. These "government" couselors come in and take the place of a natural grieving process, leaving the impression that someone (the government) will always be here to take care of you. We've replaced parents, church and friends with the state as the caretaker for everyone's ills. It is intentionally creating dependency on an external authority that will later in their lives become government.

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

Slaughter - Smearum - Smear the Queer

Every once in a while we would get one of those touchy feely teachers. After watching or trying to stop the melee, she would go stand with the girls.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

homerun. outstanding assessment.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

Smear the Queer is now considered a hatecrime.

[jim35]

When I was little, we played cowboys and Indians (no-one ever wanted to be an Indian... very un-p.c.), cops and robbers, and "war." In "war," we were fighting either the "Japs," or the Nazis. OMG, if this happened today, we'd probably be jailed, then sent for mental health screening! Then we'd be sued by the ACLU for discrimination. We even got into fights! We were actually allowed to take toy guns to school. I expect to spontaneously turn into a serial killer any minute now...

[Maceman]

My five-year-old goes to a unique private school where 200 kids aged 4-18 have the complete and virtually unspervised run of a beautiful 10-acre campus and a 22-room coverted mansion.

Kids can be outside all day if they want to. Everyone is riding bikes (even unicycles) skate boards and scooters -- sometimes without helmets -- just like we kids used to do in the 1950s.

Kids can even get certified to carry pocket knives on campus. Imagine THAT!

It was scary at first to trust my young daughter to handle so much freedom. I had a lot of initial safety concerns (there are places where kids can climb rocks and also a large pond on the property) but I have to say that so far she is doing great. She's experienced some skinned knees and scraped toes, but she also has gotten important lessons about responsibility and common sense learned from activities that used to be considered typical childhood experiences.

I have learned that five-year olds are capable of much more judgement and responsibility than they are given credit for.

Even though the school does not segregate kids by age, she has her own little circle of 5-year old peers. They spend the whole day playing and learning from each other -- which is exactly what five-year-olds should be doing IMHO.

I recognize that there are a lot of people who will disagree with the approach of this school -- and I am not necessarily sold on it myself as an educational model for older kids.

But I figure I can always give my daughter the academic stuff through home schooling if I feel it necesary. At this point, it is more important that she learn through experience and follow her own interests.

One thing is sure. After reading this and other articles about the appalling lack of judgment demonstrated by the so-called professional public education establishment, my daughter will never, EVER step inside a public school.

No recess. WHAT are these people thinking? How much functional learning can go on in such an environment?

[blackdog]

Principal Ken Williams is the kid who got his ass beat every day. He's also the kid who "told" on others. He's the kid who never got kissed by a girl, or laid in High School or college. He never changed his own oil. His first car was given to him by his family. It was an AMC Pacer. He never drank beers from the back of a pickup in the woods. He waited until college and became a binge drinker who has no self control. He's lousy at sex and his wife is seeing a lesbian lover. He drives two counties away on thursday nights to get lap danced and dumps quaters in peep show boothes for his outlet.

He blames all this on red meat eating uneducated parents who want their kids to play dodgeball. So he's getting even now......

[Sam Cree]

The school system is just breaking the kids in for living in a totalitarian society. Getting 'em used to how things are.

[LakerCJL]

Smear the Queer Oh man, memories....