Cheating Our Children for the Sake of an Education

In our town, elementary school recess, is a whole 15 minutes. That's it! For six hours of education the children get to run around for a whole 15, count them, minutes. What is that... enough time to start a game of tag, swing a few times, or jump a few ropes. That's it. The rest of the time they are glued to chairs, and demanded to pay attention or it's a trip out to the corridor or to the Principal.

And when they are let out at the end of the day, payment for all that paying attention is to be buried in homework. At first it doesn't look like much. The usual 15 minutes of assignment a night. But then it's the 15 minutes of reading a night, and the reading log activity that proves to the teacher, "YES, I read tonight." And then it is: don't forget to study each night for spelling, vocabulary, and your math facts. Again, 15 minutes each... So what are we up to now: an hour and a half of homework, and let's not forget the book reports that are in addition to all this.

Are we cheating our children? I say yes. We are cheating them out of free play. We are cheating them out of knowing the importance of being physically active and fit. We are forcing them to sit for long hours. How can children forced into such physical inactivity know the importance of being active?

It's Saturday and what have we been doing since early this morning: HOMEWORK! That book report: sitting, writing, typing, drawing.

We are raising a population of children that won't know what to do with themselves or their children, or children's children unless they are fully occupied and sitting behind a stupid desk.

Yes, I typed stupid here. As a writer, I spend too much time sitting and typing, but I made that choice as an adult, and I know the value of a good walk. The value of getting out and breathing in the fresh autumnal air. I know the value of using my fingers for more than math, and writing. I learned these values as a child in my parents backyard, and in the backyards of my friends. But will our children? Will they get the opportunity to use their backside of more than a resting spot in front of a computer. Will they learn to sled? Ride a bike? Ride a scooter? Dig holes to China, by going through the center of the earth.

Will they grow up to be caring social individuals by practicing through playing with their friends? Or will they only understand the finer points of their favorite word processing software?

GET THEM OUTSIDE! Get them to be active. STOP THE HOMEWORK MADNESS! Please will some very intelligent teacher assign "play time" as part of social competence. Please.