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.

[blackdog]

I smell an opportunity for a best seller here on this thread......

"Right Wing Recess"- A guide to a normal childhood without liberal social engineering. It could be written in that "when in a foreign land" format. Detailed examples and illustrations of controvercial recess games, their ettiquitte, casualty rates, and regional variations.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

The latest in "Back-To-Socialist-School" Fashions?

Bubble-Wrap and Foam...

[Modernman]

Hmmm... Growing up in Canada, we used to play pick-up games of hockey on the frozen pond behind our elementary school at recess and lunch- grab a stick, put on your skates and grab some gloves. Helmets? For sissies. Non-contact? There's no such thing as non-contact hockey- and I've got the fractured wrist, broken nose and stitches to prove it.

Kids are not made out of crystal- they tend to survive cuts, scrapes, bruises and even breaks pretty well.

I blame soccer moms for this (I blame them for a lot of things)

[newguy357]

"...even in the snow..."

HAHA, even in the snow? Rare was the day that recess was cancelled in MN.

[G L Tirebiter]

LOL Are you kidding me? I would've LOVED the girls to play! The guys just would've took a longer time "tackling" them LOL!

I don't know what your libido looked like when you were 8 years old, but we couldn't have thought of a surer way to get cooties than by tackling a girl.

Fortunately, things change and the survival of the species is ensured.

[onehipdad]

Ain't it the truth! Somewhere between the Rev in "War of the Worlds" and the photographer recently devoured by bears in Alaska - both making nice-nice with beings having no concept of mercy. Or fair play!

[mafree]

Ahh..Acme, Washington...makers of fine anvils and the best dynomite anywhere in the world.

So Wile E. Coyote got his dynamite from a real place eh? Didn't know that.

[onehipdad]

I read once that Boeing had a preference for Kansas farmboys because (a) they were used to working long hours in the fields, and (b) they were used to fixing stuff out in the field with what they had to work with (i.e, resourceful). I think it was D-Day by S. Ambrose.

[onehipdad]

Smear the Queer is now considered a hatecrime.

It's been replaced with Five Queers Smear a Straight Guy, or sumpin like dat...

[cwb]

Not only that, but the only excersize some of these kids probably get, is at recess. At least a bully helps you develop some running skills:) But I just don't see the neighborhood baseball and footballs games we use to play after school. Today, many kids go straight home and sit behind the computer or game-sole sitting on their arse for hours. And now there going to be further restrained from physical activity at recess. It ain't the food they're eating that's causing over-weight children.

[Little Bill]

Sounds like it was modled on Summerhill School in the UK.

[LearnsFromMistakes]

I bet the school in Viginia makes them walk the track to the left!

Of course, to the left. It is in Virginia. Our harmless walks would have soon turned into nascar races - trading paint, even with the girls. Try as they might, no one can suck the fun out of everything. Kids will prevail. ask my wife, or my manager...

[Hammerhead]

Yeh 'King of the Hill'.

every summer the county would dredge the ditches in our back yards creating 15' tall mounds of mud, dirt, and general filth. it was great.

plus the kid across the street had a surplus army parachute hanging upside down from the oak tree. We used to take turns getting inside while another pushed the parachute around and 6 other kids with plastic bats and broom sticks beat the crap out of you while you were swinging around (i.e., a human pinata). If you couldn't stick it out for more than a couple of minutes you were considered a sissy boy. A fate worse than death in those times.

Parents used to look at all the bruises and say, "See you've been over at Tommy's again."

Ha!

[meowmeow]

Meow :(

I virtually smack you with my Terrible Towel.

[E Rocc]

I virtually smack you with my Terrible Towel.

Someone brought one of those to the bar last Sunday night. Let's say it "got wet". :snicker:

-Eric

[E Rocc]

Kids will prevail. ask my wife, or my manager...

An awful lot of the kids of 60s hippies and semi-hippies ended up voting for Reagan and serving in the military that won Gulf War I.

-Eric

[E Rocc]

No recess. WHAT are these people thinking?

The problem is that at recess boys dare to act like :gasp: little boys. So do some little girls (like my niece...LOL). Why should teachers have to put up with such anti-social(ist) behavior, when there are "alternatives":

-Eric

[ConservativeDude]

great post....excellent visual imagery generated

[AngryJawa]

Psy Op's was done by wedgie teams.

You must mean "Wedgies were done by PsyOps teams"...

I guess those wedgies have had some adverse long-term effects on you too! 8^)