A Kid's Favorite Part of School (Entry #2)

When I was in elementary school, every kid had a favorite part of the day. Some of the kids loved playing with toys at the end of the day. Others loved being read to. But the vast majority of kids, myself included, loved hearing that siren call for recess. Both of the elementary schools I attended were blessed with large playgrounds and abundant ways to play. Of course, this was back in the 90's. When I went to a local elementary school near Fort Myers as part of an assignment for another class, I saw what passes for recess in the 21st century. The kid in me was not impressed. The kids had not even half the space I did, despite my schools being much smaller and less-endowed in terms of money. A good part of that space was taken up by blacktop and fencing. The kids were restricted to a small area, and only allowed to play in certain situations under direct supervision. It made no sense to me. And this position is mirrored by Richard Louv in his article "Nature-Deficit Disorder and the Restorative Environment." He too notes how recess has been reduced down to a quick run from the class to a fence and back, and how some schools have actually done away with recess entirely. He argues that while test scores are important, the lack of recess, and nature in general, has caused an increase in symptoms associated with ADHD, or Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

According to Louv, the increase in ADHD is due to a deficit in exposure to nature in children. He backs this up by detailing a number of accounts of children who have been diagnosed with ADHD, who showed inattentiveness, had trouble listening to directions, and had anti-social tendencies, being exposed to natural settings and having an easier time of overcoming their disability. He offers having ADHD kids taken to parks, beaches, and generally being encouraged to go outside as an alternative to drugs. I think that his suggestion makes sense. The kids at the local elementary that I mentioned earlier? They didn't look half as lively in class until they went outside and played for a bit. For me, one of the worst experiences in school was when my 2nd grade teacher refused to let my class go to recess because a kid was causing some shenanigans in class. If I were in a position to do so, I would advocate that schools should, instead of trying to increase test scores by placing kids in classrooms buried deep in the center of the school, with no windows or natural sights, that they instead allow kids the time outside that they need in order to succeed.

The second article that I was assigned was a chapter from Tim Flannery's book The Weather Makers. The chapter was called "2050: The Great Stumpy Reef?" The chapter described how certain industrial processes were destroying the coral reefs which, besides being natural beauties in their own right, were also the main suppliers of food for millions of people. In particular, he talks about industry putting iron into the air, which caused massive blooms of plankton that fed on the iron, while killing the reefs at the same time. And while I'm not disputing that, I would also like to note that you could get the same problem from a volcanic eruption in certain areas of the world. A volcanic eruption would probably cause more damage and throw up more ash and harmful particles than industry would, especially here in the US where we take precautions in order to drastically reduce harmful emissions.