Re: [Phys-l] STUDY SUGGESTS NO CHILD LAW MAY BE DUMBING DOWNSTUDENTS

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@mindspring.com>]

At 13:28  -0500 11/3/08, Rick Tarara wrote:

> Simplistic answers
> like too much testing (or too high stakes--although I would prefer higher
> stakes, but with the consequences firmly on the students), lack of recess (a
> pitiful one), or the catch all "it's George Bush's fault" (soon to be
> unavailable), miss the complexity of the interplay of society and technology
> and the effects on individuals.

I agree that stakes for testing need to be mostly on the students, 
but they can also be so high there that either they discourage the 
students or further encourage cheating, or both. I still feel that by 
placing so much emphasis on current learning of factoids we miss the 
most important aspect of education, and that is what remains after 
all the factoids have long since been forgotten. Of course, that is 
difficult to measure, especially in the short term, and we as a 
society seem to be mostly interested in the short term, believing 
(hoping?) that the long term will take care of itself.

But I would like to focus on the issue of recess. Rick denegrates it 
as an issue ("pitiful"), but, at least at the primary and middle 
grades, I think it is terribly important. High school is probably 
different, because they have never, in my memory had recess, as such, 
although I do decry the dramatic decrease in physical education 
requirements. Teenagers, especially, are bursting with energy, and 
they need someplace to burn that off, or they become increasingly 
restive in class. Our kids are far too sedentary now, and the absence 
of recess only makes that situation worse. I think it has been pretty 
well establish that a reasonable degree of exercise is necessary to 
make learning effective. Completely sedentary students tend to have 
short attention spans, either wandering off to mischief, or to sleep. 
All students need some activity, just to keep an adequate supply of 
blood moving through their brains. And as John C. has pointed out, 
much of the students' social education comes from interactions at 
recess. So I see recess as something much more than Rick's "pitiful." 
Without exercise, mental activity suffers. So I would argue to bring 
back recess in primary and middle grades and daily physical education 
classes for high schools.

Hugh
--

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Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

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