(First Published March 6th 2016)
Picture from TV series
"Recess" - Season 4, Episode 7 entitled "Recess is
canceled"
I have repeatedly here praised some American
traits or the way of life in the US but it is not a total and naive admiration.
There are especially two areas (in addition to the issue of firearms in the
United States that still terrifies me so much) in which France has, in my
opinion, some qualitative lead over the USA. One issue is about the system of car
insurance and the resulting driver behavior in case of accident, and the other one
is about the organization of school time.
I have already referred to the organization
of school time in several of my articles. The school, especially for small
children is incredibly too serious in the United States. Children are expected
to massively learn academics (core subjects such as English language and
mathematics) at the expense of any socializing time or even performing sport. I
remember for example having heard the professor of my then 5 year old son (in Kindergarten
in Baltimore during our stay in 2014) complain that when they were all sitting
on the ground he was lying on the floor ... When I asked for what purpose they
were sitting down she said with amazement "to do math of course". I
didn’t want to argue with her but it seemed to me unusual - although
interesting - to sit down for doing math. And basically I was thinking that there
was no drama if some students took this opportunity to get comfortable
(especially because my son at that time hardly spoke a word of English and
probably didn’t understand her instructions), but apparently this teacher had considered
my son’s attitude as really inappropriate.
This obsession for core subjects is
rooted in two issues, one old and one quite recent. Indeed Americans, unlike
French, think that the most stimulated small children, the better the results.
In other words they think referent adults mission (and in the first place his
parents mission) is to (over)stimulate the child to let him learn as many
things as possible, and as soon as possible, while in France we think we should
give same some time, i.e. allow the child to reach his educational maturity at
every stage of his development. This is why preschool and even kindergarten are
considered in France mainly as socialization time, much more than places of
academic learning. This difference in educational approach is old (dating from
the 20th century, including the teachings of Dolto in France, different from
the father of American educational science, Dr. B. Spock). I remember for
example the pediatrician asking me on each consultation if my 2 year old son could
read and write the alphabet and prime numbers, suggesting gently that we should
start as soon as possible, while my husband and I thought we had plenty of time
and we would consider it in Pre-K or Kindergarten, at age 4 or 5...
The other and more recent reason of this
craze for core subjects is the educational reform of the Obama Administration
(which I know very little) which includes national tests by grade level, and
conditions a part of the school subsidies to the results of the students. Schools
therefore have no time to devote to the "unnecessary" and recess is
often reduced to a minimum or is absent.
In a previous article, I did already
focus on this issue, and especially the fact that in the school of my children
in Baltimore there was no recess at all! (The school day was fortunately quite
short from 7:45 am to 2:30 pm). Even during lunch time students used to eat in
a very noisy dining hall, in front of a cartoon (for small students), without
ever leaving the building. In 2014 some parents of students of this school tried
to introduce a 15 minute recess, 2 times A WEEK, offering voluntary assistance
in organizing these recess times. There were lots of hesitation among school
staff and some other parents first because it would shorten learning time but
also because, playtime scared some of them since it is by definition a time
where children run, can fall and get hurt or bicker. This is also why volunteering
parents brought an incredible amount of games with them (jump ropes, hula hoop,
balls, etc.) and took care of games
ORGANIZATION: no free games and especially no running was allowed! Beside,
volunteers were told not to touch students in any circumstances (for example to
separate students in case of dispute). Instead in case of
"inappropriate" behavior volunteers were told to call some staff
members (for insurance issues, but also because other picky parents could
accuse them of harassment!) Finally recess so timidly introduced occurred only
on sunny days (no question of letting students get outside for recess when it was
rainy or windy, on the contrary of France). Moreover recess was considered as a
"privilege" and especially if a student didn’t work enough in
classroom or didn’t do his homework, he was not allowed to participate to the
recess L
Since this experience, I have realized
that even if recess is not always absent in all US schools, its duration and
frequency is everywhere much lower than in France. Some detailed explanations
can be found in the article below.
In this article, the author talks about
the lack of recess issue: she explains that a school in Texas set up some small
size exercise bikes in Kindergarten, instead of allowing students to leave on
break! If you take a look at the comments, you will see the hostility of some
parents to recess (they blame the author of the article to confuse with
children who have concentration and hyperactivity problems) while other parents
recognize that the lack of recess is a real issue.
This other article exposes the benefit of
recess according to its defenders:
Finally here is a website that summarizes
the laws and recommendations for recess State by State in the US. Note that in
many States, not only recess is not mandatory, but also it is not even
necessarily recommended.
Personally, I really don’t understand
this reluctance to organize recess and I am more than happy that my children
have again the "privilege" of systematic recess in their French
schools.
Libellés : English
