Posted on 04/02/2002 6:01:49 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
Would someone please force my jaw shut? After hearing the news of this and other children's games being banned in our public schools nationwide, my mouth fell wide open in disbelief.
Oh, I was so good at "musical chairs" … that was MY game. When the music started, I could get around those chairs and focus intently on listening for the music to stop; that was my cue to sit down in an empty chair quickly. When it did stop, there was a "mad" scramble. Sometimes I would make it and sometimes I wouldn't. There were times when I was laughing so hard I could barely drag myself to a chair. So, I had to sit out the remainder of the game until a winner was declared. Then we started another "round" of it, and that's how it was.
It was especially tricky around the corners where you could get caught without a chair, so you really had to surge forward, almost like a breakaway, and get around those corners fast and establish your position.
"Musical Chairs" … why that was the last bastion of childhood innocence. Yes, someone always got left out; another chair was removed, and you went from there. What a wonderful memory!…until now.
It never bothered me to beat someone to the chair — I was very competitive. But now that I hear it encourages exclusion, I am saddened that we are teaching children it is bad. To be told this now at my age is heart wrenching. I am so ashamed. Why couldn't I have known this sooner. I needed to feel the pain of all the other children that were excluded. And to think I was excited about winning. Nowadays, I would be labeled a bully. Someone help me with this anguish.
Since the Washington Times [Friday, March 29, 2002] announced, "Schools don't play cops and robbers," it also listed the other games that would be banned. Musical chairs; Duck, Duck, Goose; Steal the Bacon; and Tag have all been suspended because they encourage exclusion, theft, bullying, aggression and competition.
What if we put helmets on everyone and let them wear some protective gear, just like football? I am sure that if these games are determined violent, then it is inevitable we'll have to say good-bye to football, hockey, and soccer; all of which (even on the grade school level) could fall into any one of these categories.
I've also noticed that some players on the baseball team remain on the bench the entire game and never get to play. EXCLUSION? Shucks, this could be the end of American sports as we know it.
These "schoolground" games might be the only physical competition some children could ever be a part of, because not every one makes the official school team. Exclusion again?
It seems like a perfect opportunity for a teacher to offer a great lesson in winning and losing. Maybe these games have been banned because teachers don't want to teach this lesson — it's just easier not to let them play such games at all.
It was through the lessons of musical chairs, red rover, and tag that I gained a spirit of determination and competitiveness. It seems that we're trying to "over-correct" to save our children from … WHAT? Being ostracized?
I can only imagine that someone who has never experienced any rejection, exclusion, or competition could probably "go ballistic" at his first job interview when told someone else got the position.
After these past few months of kids being kidnapped and killed; accosted by Catholic priests; or drowned by a mother, and set on fire by a father; concerning ourselves with musical chairs is the least of our problems.
Yes, I may not have been able to get an empty chair every time, but I learned a valuable lesson that would galvanize me to keep on trying. I may have felt "left out" when I had to stand to the side and wait, but only for a moment. I learned that it was not personal — a lot of it had to do with timing; being in the right place at the right time — all of those things. And that's exactly what life presents to all of us.
It reminds me of the little boy who was observing the cocoon on the fireplace mantel. What was once a caterpillar was exerting a great effort to come out of its cocoon. The little boy asked his father if they could help by opening it up. The father replied, "We can't do that. The caterpillar must go through the changes and the struggle of breaking free on its own so that it will be strong enough to fly away as a beautiful butterfly."
There's a message in this for all of us.
On second thought, maybe it is good training. It teaches you that you'll have to kick some people to the curb in order to receive recognition. In a company like Intel with its 'normed' system of evaluation, you had better be able shove aside the lower 20%.
I am sincerely at a loss of words...Un-Phuqing-Believable!
Yes I have many fond memories of institutionalized education. The green two tone, insane asylum like color scheme, the prison like architecture. All fond memories.
What we did have as kids was tons and tons of kids to play with. Dozens. That was when there were a lot of families with 5+ kids. We had kick ball and dodge ball and kick-the-can and Red Rover. We had freedom to wander (as long as we were home for dinner) without our parents having to worry about us.We had penny candy!
I would not trade my childhood for all the trappings of today's adult-run, ultra-PC society.
Simon says, "Let kids be kids!"
In all of these activities, noone is "made" to be a loser, except by himself. Competition determines who, on any given day, is best at the competed activity. Repeated competition encourages losers to hone their skills, so that next time they might be winners.
--Boris
Again these are artifical competitions. Sports does not equal life and its not really good training for life except perhaps for a corporation where workers must prance like trained dogs which comptete for the approval of the master.
It never bothered me to beat someone to the chair — I was very competitive. But now that I hear it encourages exclusion, I am saddened that we are teaching children it is bad.
My husband comes home from work and actually MAKES the kids or the dog get out of his chair. I wonder if CPS or PETA should be called?
Who among you were in line, ready to jump into the swinging rope, when that bell rang? Who among you were just about to tag that last kid when you had to stop because of the bell?
Oh ---the despondency of it all! The crestfallen little kiddies. Their little psychies ruined forever because of unfullfillment. And all because of recess. Recess should join the ranks of Musical Chairs and remove that building block of childhood incompleteness.
How different than when most of US were young and our parents kept reminding us of how much better we had it than they did.
I understand.
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