In elementary school, I and other students were often denied recess as punishment for misbehavior. Extraneous things like talking in class, bursts of energy fueled by my ever growing urge to run across the play equipment, would sometimes result in the privilege of recess being taken away for the day. As a student who grew up with ADHD, sometimes nothing felt more freeing than finally running around outside after hours spent sitting at a desk. Is that privilege necessary for elementary school students? Is it okay to take away recess as punishment? Let’s find out.
Logically speaking, my immediate conclusion would be that it isn’t okay. If a student is misbehaving, specifically disrupting class by talking or hyperactively, it's probably not because of malicious intent. When kids disrupt, it's most likely their urge to escape the joylessness of the classroom environment. For instance, if a child struggles to sit quietly in their seat, the least logical thing to do is take away their recess. The entire reason students have recess is to release their energy before they continue learning. Playing, running around, and feeling free to talk to each other without consequence is essential to a smooth learning experience at school. With the release of energy that comes with recess, students will find it much easier to sit still and quietly the rest of the day.
Undoubtedly, students who struggle less with sitting quietly will have an easier and more successful learning experience. With the exclusion of recess from a child’s daily schedule, it's much more difficult for students to tolerate learning time. In a 2022 article, Kate Rix mentions “one study of fourth graders in Fort Worth, Texas, found that children who had just come back to school after the COVID-19 lockdown and had 45 minutes of daily recess had significantly less of the stress hormone cortisol after a three-month period than students who had 30 minutes of recess” (Article). Not only does this study support the fact, but logically speaking, the essentiality of recess is eminent in a kid’s learning process.
Recess should be understood as an essential to a kid’s day. After a long few hours spent in the classroom, recess is there to allow students the freedom to be energetic. Therefore, students shouldn’t be punished with recess exclusion in any case. Generally speaking, school is difficult, even when you're only learning the alphabet, and especially for those with ADHD and learning disorders alike. Taking away recess from them in particular is an inefficient way to control their behavior, and could cause more problems than it means to solve.
Kate Rix, How Much Recess Should Kids Get?, Oct 14 2022, US News, https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/articles/how-much-recess-should-kids-get#:~:text=But%20studies%20show%20that%20at,for%20kids%20emotionally%20and%20cognitively.
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I agree that recess is an integral part of a kid's education, especially after sitting in a classroom for hours. Luckily, my school never took away my recess for misbehaving but used clip charts to discipline us. I think the two are both damaging in their own ways, especially since the humiliation can come from both.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Recess was never something that was threatened for me but I do remember how relaxed I felt after. To take that away for misbehaving, I could easily see how that could develop into more misbehavior.
ReplyDeleteGood Work Finn! I totally agree! I loved recess and I agree that it is a time for kids to get out their energy.
ReplyDeleteGreat Blog post, Finn! I like how you highlight (and back up with facts) how important recess can be to a child's education and mental health. In my elementary school, we only had 15 minute recesses, and I was always very distraught when our grade was punished for misbehaviour by having our 15 minutes taken away from us. What do you think would be the ideal amount of time for recess in elementary school?
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