Stephanie, a reader, sent this short video.
Please stop and watch it.
The point is about how important play is.
It happens that play matters for little children, but it matters for adolescents and for adults.
When we rob our children of play, we rob them of their childhood.
When we rob adolescents and adults of play time, we rob them of time for laughter, time for creativity, and time to have fun.
When we subtract creativity, laughter, and fun from our society, we get a drab world.
We get a world where no one is silly, no one has a new idea, no one jumps for joy.
When we lose those qualities, we become grad grinds, churning out grades and scores to please the computer.
That’s not a healthy world, or a world that brings out our best, or a world where humans can thrive and grown. Not little ones, and not big ones either.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thank you for this posting.
I teach pre-k and every year more and more play time is removed for more “academics”. And every year I have more behavior issues in my class. At the end of the year our cots were removed because the “suits” determined that resting was a waste of time and we were losing valuable teaching time. We no longer go to the playground because “the teachers just sit around and get a break”.
Kindergarten is even worse.
I worked on Saturdays in a charter school several years ago where the students were expected to work through lunch. Their only escape was to ask to use the bathroom. Then the “suits” denied bathroom time because they were losing instructional time.
What we are doing to our children amounts to child abuse.
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Play?
For children?
Then how could you possibly expect these future units of human capital to tolerate the tedious, powerless, authoritarian, constantly-surveilled workplace corporate education reform is preparing them for?
Diane, I bet the next thing you’ll be asking for is a varied curriculum that includes art, music and critical thinking skills that enable civic participation!
I bet you’d even go so far as to demand resources for the parents and communities in which these future units of human capital live!
C’mon, that’s so mid-twentieth century!
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My daughter was the first to notice that there are no toys in her classroom. And they won’t have recess in kindergarten.
Instead they will collect data on how many site words a kid knows even when one learns site words best in the context of actual reading. . .
They will collect data on how fast a child can read words. . . doesn’t mean they understand what the words are saying.
We are striving to collect data like the corporate reformers want us to do even when we know that play is one of the best ways to help a child grow in all areas.
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Your comments made me cry. Can you get parents together and cause a ruckus over this? This is the kind of situation that is part and parcel of what Chicago teachers are fighting for, but if the teachers can’t do it, then you–the parents–must. Get your retired teachers to help, as well! And–never forget–YOU are the people who pay the salaries of the administrators who are forcing the program changes. Perhaps you will find a Carol Burris among them?
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Reblogged this on Therapy with Kiersten Marek, LICSW and commented:
Author and Education Historian Diane Ravitch posts an excellent video on the importance of play.
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As a retired Kindergarten teacher, I feel so sad for these Kindergartens of today and the future. No toys…..no learning how to share and play with others. No dress-up corner….no learning how to role-model acceptable grown-up behavior. No recess…..no gross motor movement and no learning acceptable social behavior and teamwork. Will there be music and dance to stimulate the brain and body movement? Will there be art for creative expression and to develop thinking patterns and processes? Will there be puzzles for spatial recognition and improving math cognizance? Will there be free choice to wander and wonder into the ‘magic’ of science centers, math centers, word centers, listening centers, etc. I could go on and on but I am getting depressed. I LOVED my days in Kindergarten and knowing that I was giving my children the gift of loving school and learning. Today’s teachers will have their hands tied to ‘testing’ and ‘results’ and ‘academics’ (whatever that is!). I mentor student educators now and I ask them to please speak up for what is right in their classroom…..be an activist and stand tall for your children and their learning environment! I hope we can turn this around soon!!
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Play also teaches very important social skills. Children learn about working together, the idiosyncrasies of fitting in with a group, and the reading of body language and facial expressions. In fact, I read an article a while back which suggested that many of students do not have empathy for others because of their lack of ability to interpret facial expressions (not recognizing that they have hurt someone’s feelings, for instance). All of these are very important skills that people should have to be able to work with others and function in a society.
And don’t get me started on the obesity debate……
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Karin Lifter, researcher in early childhood special education who specializes in researching the effects of play on development said “Play is the work of childhood”.
Play is vital for human development according to Stuart Brown, who has shown that it is more than something children do to pass time. Play is critical for developing intelligence and without it, children may not develop the cognitive and social- communication skills necessary for developing to their full potential. Watch Brown’s 2008 TED talk on the value of play and its relation to intellectual development:
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From Wikipedia: Education through play: In Finland, high quality daycare and nursery-kindergarten are considered critical for developing the cooperation and communication skills necessary to prepare young children for lifelong education as well as formal learning of reading and mathematics, which in Finland begins at age seven, so as not to disrupt their childhood.
Finnish early childhood education emphasizes respect for each child’s individuality and the chance for each child to develop as a unique person. Finnish early educators also guide children in the development of social and interactive skills, encouraging them to pay attention to other people’s needs and interests, to care about others, and to have a positive attitude toward other people, other cultures, and different environments. The purpose of gradually providing opportunities for increased independence is to enable all children to take care of themselves as “becoming adults,” to be capable of making responsible decisions, to participate productively in society as an active citizen, and to take care of other people who will need his [or her] help.” –Anneli Niikko, “Finnish Daycare: Caring, Education and Instruction”, in Nordic Childhoods and Early Education: Philosophy, Research, Policy and Practice in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, Series: International Perspectives on Educational Policy, Research (Information Age Publishing Inc., 2006), 141[4]
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Cont.: To foster a culture of reading, parents of newborn babies are given three books, one for the mother and father, and a baby book for the child, as part of the “maternity package”.[5] According to Finnish child development specialist Eeva Hujala, “Early education is the first and most critical stage of lifelong learning. Neurological research has shown that 90% of brain growth occurs during the first five years of life, and 85% of the nerve paths develop before starting school (n. b. At the age of seven in Finland).”[6] “Care” in this context is synonymous with upbringing and is seen as a cooperative endeavor between parents and society to prepare children physically (eating properly, keeping clean) and mentally (communication, social awareness, empathy, and self reflection) before beginning more formal learning at age seven. The idea is that before seven they learn best through play, so by the time they finally get to school they are keen to start learning.
Finland has had access to free universal daycare for children age eight months to five years in place since 1990, and a year of “preschool/kindergarten” at age six, since 1996. “Daycare” includes both full-day childcare centers and municipal playgrounds with adult supervision where parents can accompany the child. The municipality will also pay mothers to stay home and provide “home daycare” for the first three years, if she desires, with occasional visits from a careworker to see that the environment is appropriate. The ratio of adults to children in local municipal childcare centers (either private but subsidized by local municipalities or paid for by municipalities with the help of grants from the central government) is, for children three years old and under: three adults (one teacher and two nurses) for every 12 pupils (or one-to-four); and, for children age three to six: three adults (one teacher and two nurses) for every 20 children (or circa one-to-seven). Payment, where applicable, is scaled to family income and ranges from free to about 200 euros a month maximum.[8] According to Pepa Ódena in these centers, “You are not taught, you learn. The children learn through playing. This philosophy is put into practice in all the schools we visited, in what the teachers say, and in all that one sees.”
Early childhood education is not mandatory in Finland, but is used by almost everyone. “We see it as the right of the child to have daycare and pre-school,” explained Eeva Penttilä, of Helsinki’s Education Department. “It’s not a place where you dump your child when you’re working. It’s a place for your child to play and learn and make friends. Good parents put their children in daycare. It’s not related to socio-economic class”.
The focus for kindergarten students is to “learn how to learn”, Ms. Penttilä said. Instead of formal instruction in reading and math there are lessons on nature, animals, and the “circle of life” and a focus on materials- based learning.
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Thank you for this, John. I’m so sad by what my child will experience here in the US. It’s great to be able to share what learning should look like. I’ll be sharing your information.
What I find to be interesting is that this doesn’t alarm people. They don’t see this “data” collecting as test prep and corporate reform. So while they’re busy trying to fix the take over of public schools, they don’t see the immediate problem of actual classroom instruction.
I’m very sad. . .
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Purely disgusting. And while I am biased (I am a PE teacher) play time is not just important for early childhood…know anyone that does not need a little play time in their lives?
FIRE DUNCAN! Hire Ravitch!
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