Evidence is increasingly emerging that boys, not girls, are getting the short end of the stick in education. Teachers teach how they themselves learn and since the majority of teachers are females, is this unintentionally causing problems for boys, how they learn and even how their brains work? Newsweek writer Peg Tyre, Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson all agree that boys need more time to play.
How Important Is Recess?
Many books have been written and many studies published about boys and education. One of the highest rated books about the emotional health of boys is Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys (Ballantine Books, 1999). This book by Dan Kindlon, Ph.D. and Michael Thompson, Ph.D. caused quite a stir in the past decade and forced the general population to look at what is happening with boys in school and society, in general.
One controversial question asks if boys are struggling in school because they are expected to behave like girls. Girls find it easier to remain seated for long lengths of time and this is something most boys can not do for very long. The rule of thumb for many boys is: the longer they sit, the less they learn. Another question is, “Are boys being put on Ritalin because of the deprivation of movement in school?”
When boys are asked what their favorite part of the day is, the unanimous response is “recess!” A close second is “lunch!” Both are unstructured times with movement. Boys sense what they need and that is movement. Unfortunately, schools are either shortening recess times or totally eliminating them. Some newly built schools don’t even have playground areas or playground equipment. The focus on test scores has dramatically cut activity in classrooms. It is a “pedal to the metal” philosophy to force feed reading and math skills.
Recess Times Decreasing and Hurting Boys
According to the U.S. Dept. of Education, 39% of all first-graders in the country get twenty minutes a day or less of recess. 7% get none at all. By fourth grade, nearly half of students get less than twenty minutes a day and nine percent get none at all. Physical education, which is usually required by the state, is provided one or two days a week, for less than thirty minutes.
Even when recess is allowed, the restrictions on the activities almost defeat the purpose. Tag and dodge ball are often eliminated because someone could get hurt. Footballs and baseball bats are also often not allowed. Some schools don’t even allow running of any sort. Recess coaches have been hired by some schools to have organized games and to “control” activity at recess.
Peg Tyre has some thoughts as to why society is so against boys and aggression. “But then came a series of tragic school shootings, starting at Columbine High School in 1999 and continuing straight up to Virginia Tech in 2007. Instead of beefing up community mental health resources to get help for kids who need it, schools began to adopt zero-tolerance policies toward any behavior that they could construe as aggressive or potentially aggressive.” [1]
Recess Benefits Academics in the Classroom
Anthony Pellegrini is an educational psychology professor at the University of Minnesota. He has made a career studying the efforts of recess on elementary school children. He has spent two decades performing well-controlled experiments and discovered that there is a direct correlation between recess activity and learning. His data shows that boys pay a high price for being denied activity. When students get activity, they focus better after recess than before. But, Pellegrini also found that successful peer interaction on the playground resulted in better standardized test scores. [1]
Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine, takes the importance of recess a step further. Ginsburg states that movement for boys is a public health issue. He authored a position paper published in the American Academy of Pediatrics urging parents and schools to include more free time and play into the day for children. “On the average, girls can handle a sedentary school day although it is not good for them. But, boys need movement to survive.” [1]
While schools today are “data driven” and focusing on research, this research on the importance of physical activity seems to be mostly ignored.
[1] Tyre, Peg. The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on Our Boys, Their Problems at School, and What Parents and Educators Must Do. Crown Publishers, 2008.
Barbara Pytel - Email me Experience Although I was never particularly fond of going to school as an ELL student, I ironically became a teacher, ...
