How can I put this? Something is wrong with the world of education when school administrators use that justification ? recess is “a time when accidents can happen” ? to ban ‘Tag,’ touch football and other chase games on school playgrounds. Now they’re doing it in Massachusetts:
Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they’ll get hurt and hold the school liable.
Recess is “a time when accidents can happen,” said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.
While there is no districtwide ban on contact sports during recess, local rules have been cropping up. Several school administrators around Attleboro, a city of about 45,000 residents, took aim at dodgeball a few years ago, saying it was exclusionary and dangerous.
Elementary schools in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Spokane, Washington, also recently banned tag during recess. A suburban Charleston, South Carolina, school outlawed all unsupervised contact sports.
I’ve already written about this topic before. Relive the wussetry.
When I was a kid, I used to complain that my mother would make me wear a coat when she was cold. But this is maternalism on a much greater scale. Kids can’t run and play because administrators fear they’ll get hurt? Get yourself into another profession, candyass. Kids will be kids. It’s good for kids to play. (Where’s the “Well DUH” research into the obvious when you need it?)
