Editorial: Bring back traditional recess time

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 | 8:53 a.m.

The national trend toward eliminating recess in elementary schools in favor of more instructional time began in the early 1990s. We are dismayed that it has been embraced by the Clark County School District. Under pressure to meet the standardized test scores demanded by the federal "No Child Left Behind Act," the district has canceled recess. As impossible as this sounds, Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Agustin Orci says, "It's become a luxury we can't afford."

How could we have arrived at this conclusion? Recess has been a treasured image by generations of Americans whenever they thought back to their early school days. Whether it was hopscotch or kickball, soccer or dodgeball, calisthenics or playing tag, recess has been a part of public schooling since at least the late 1800s. Recess has been such an essential part of elementary school for so long that some educators refer to it as the "Fourth R."

Children who enjoyed recess belonged to the same generations that won two world wars, invented automobiles and airplanes, engineered the Panama Canal, built Hoover Dam, cured polio, put a man on the moon and invented personal computers. And we're to say that the current generation of youngsters won't reach the same heights unless we cancel their playtime?

Recess does more than give kids a chance to burn off some physical energy, which is important enough in itself to continue the tradition. Recess is a time for children to learn how to socialize with each other. Friendships are built and playground decisions (who goes first, who gets to be captain) are made that develop character and leadership qualities. Values such as sharing and sportsmanship are learned during properly supervised recesses. Teachers, observing recesses, can pick out the children who may be too aggressive or bullying, and help them develop better personalities. Plenty of research has been done that shows regularly scheduled recess improves attentiveness during instructional periods.

We cannot accept the district's view that elementary education is under so much pressure that lunch and trips to the bathroom are the only breaks that we can provide for these children. Somewhere within the elementary student's school day of six hours and 21 minutes there must be time for at least a half-hour of fun and learning at recess. If there isn't, then what are we doing?