Whenever I see this intellectual debris being touted in the media and the self-declared childhood consulting community, I am reminded that America is becoming a wasteland of mind-numbing idiocy where the masses of mini-authoritarians are hell-bent on managing, planning, and dominating every aspect of human living. Children are usually the target of the totalitarians-at-large, and as usual, no stone is left unturned, including recess. School recess has long been on the radar map of the lifestyle bureaucrats, and a couple of recent online pieces are rather revealing. Here, a blogger points to a study that reveals the “benefits” of organizing child recess. The reason given for organizing, structuring, planning, and controlling every aspect of your child’s playtime is the following:
It turns out, through study by researchers at Stanford University and Mathematica Policy Research, that organized recess improves transition times back to classroom learning and reduces bullying.
…Teachers at schools with the [organized recess] program found that there was significantly less bullying and exclusionary behavior during recess than teachers at schools without it, but not a reduction in more general aggressive behavior.
The helicopter mindset justifies recess control as a tool for eliminating bullying, and, according to this article, reducing exclusionary behavior. Be mindful of the fact that the modern victimology-psychology establishment considers exclusionary behavior (not including a child in a particular activity) to be a form of “bullying,” and thus a social menace.
