Forcing the Unnatural
I am an elementary school teacher and over the last two decades I have reflected on the school system and what I observe happening before my eyes. Now that I am a parent as well many of these observations increasingly scare me as my child nears the age to enter the school system. The one that bothers me the most is the unnatural setting we force these children into for 1, 274 hours per school year. That totals 17, 836 hours by the time they graduate high school. I call the setting unnatural because our children are sitting indoors all day. The key words being sitting and indoors.
Children are active little creatures, meant to be running and moving all day. Yet from a very young age, most begin well before five years old, we are asking them to sit very still for almost seven hours. The only time they are moving is recess, PE and during quick transitions. We will revisit that word recess again shortly.
Sit Still!
Not only are they made to sit, for the most part at desks by themselves, but we also require them to sit still. As a teacher I can tell you that it is highly irritating to try to teach as kids rock back on their chairs, endlessly drum their fingers or pencils, and do all other forms of scooching around. Now, I don’t believe these conditions are natural for children however, it doesn’t make me immune to the frustration of dealing with the consequence of forcing it upon them.
The reality is none of them should sit still but in many kids their drive to please overrides their physical need to move. I have to remind myself of these points when those who can’t conform are getting on my nerves. The truth is I’m an adult and don’t need to expend the amount of energy they do and they are in a system where they are treated like adults and expected to act as such. It is unfair I know, but as someone who has been a part of this system for literally my whole life sometimes the unnatural becomes normal. You have to raise your awareness periodically to how wrong this all is.
Recess
Heading back to that other key word, indoors, and relating it to that recess I mentioned. The average amount of recess in the USA for elementary aged children, even the littlest ones, is 20 minutes per day. There are six states that do not make it law to give recess. It is also very rare that children past elementary school get outdoors at all.
As a parent how do you feel about that? When you really think about it… your child goes to school and remains indoors for 6 hours and 40 minutes and gets outside for 20. Even on the nicest days and if your child is over the age of 10 they probably don’t get outside once. Prisoners in this country get two hours of outdoor time every day. Many say they couldn’t live without it. Our children however get less than 20% of that. How do you feel when you leave work and realize that you didn’t get any fresh air and missed a beautiful day? How about in the winter months when the sunsets around the same time our kids get home from school? They are getting little to no sunlight. For many children, they don’t get outdoors before or after school hours either. Many attend before and or after care or go to a babysitters. I have students often tell me they are not allowed to play in their yards because their parents can’t watch them and won’t let them out alone.
Again, these are unnatural conditions that greatly affect our children. It affects their ability to learn, their mood, their fitness level, and their social skills. It probably affects them in thousands of ways if we really thought about the many disadvantages that come with not getting outside or moving for many hours of childhood. I am very sad that this is the state of the school system and for these two reasons and many others I am strongly considering opting my child out of ever beginning this journey.
As a teacher in the system although I have been conditioned to view this as normal and the kids who can’t sit still as a disruption I am becoming burnt out. I’m fed up of trying to force compliance especially when I’m realizing those disruptors are absolutely right to do so. I am sad, tired, frustrated and feel powerless in making great change. Yes, I take my kids out for an extra twenty minutes. Yes, I do yoga in the classroom and try to get them out of their seats more but it is still not enough.
Advocate for a Free Childhood!
The level of micromanaging that comes from above the teachers, the physical structure of our indoor and outdoor space makes it very difficult to really shake up this system. I hope more parents and educators begin to reflect on these practices and speak up about the injustice. These unnatural conditions are not aiding our children in learning more. It is not true that giving them more time to move and get fresh air will translate to them learning less. It has actually been well documented in books like Spark that the opposite is true. As most rational humans know, our mind and body are connected and if we do not take care of our physical needs our mental condition will suffer which of course does not only mean our emotional well -being but also our cognitive abilities.
