This ain't your grandfather's second grade class any more........

   As I walked from the living room to the kitchen the other day I passed  by the television. Much of the time the television is turned on just to provide background noise and sometimes entertain the dog, but this particular report caught my attention.

   The news was reporting on the number of schools that are dropping recess for students during the school day. Favorite time of the  day? As a kid... you bet. As a classroom teacher, it was a good break and a time for  kids to get rid of some of that built up energy after all those math problems. But  eliminate recess? Was it now considered unsafe, unhealthy, discriminatory? I pulled up a chair to listen.

   Schools are beginning to eliminate recess because it takes too much instructional time out of the day for more important subjects. It's a waste of valuable teaching time.

   The  broadcast went on to discuss the impact “The Common Core” is having on what is being taught in the classroom, the new expectations of what students need to learn and know for the remainder of the 21^st century. Teachers and schools are finding there is just not enough time each day to 'get the job done.' The obvious solution, do away with some of the 'time wasters' in the school day, one being recess. Could lunch be next?
   The history and development of “The Common Core” is not something that dates back hundreds of years although I think  deep down inside we all know what we should know, a common core of values that should be learned. This new  "Common Core had it's formal conception a few years ago. But it is an issue with strong political agendas and we know what happens when politicians  gets involved in issues and making decisions. It stirs up the 'pot of emotion.' But that may be a  topic for another day.

   I spent a major part of my working life in the field of education, dedicating my career to insure that the next generation would have the skills, the knowledge and training to take society to the next level, whatever that level was to be. But I must confess there were times that I felt that what we were trying to do or achieve... it was almost like driving a car down a highway, except that we were driving the car in reverse to get ahead, trying to move forward but constantly looking back in the rear view mirror.

   American public education is rich with history and traditions. It's goal has always been to provide some level of learning, open and available to anyone  who wanted to take advantage in order to create a better society. With its beginnings in the tiny one room school houses scattered across the country to where we have evolved today, public education set out on task to make this country a better place and one only needs to look at the famous people, political and business leaders, the doctors. scientists and teachers to measure its success, remembering. too, that success is not always measured by fame. But, one  also needs to look at the  failures and struggles  as well in order to understand the mistakes that were made.

   But American education has also become the  great “gate keeper,'” an institution and structure reluctant to change. Some often describe it as 'not stepping out of the box'. And there in lies a great  irony,  "resistance to change". Isn't that what education is all about, the ability to learn, change and grow?

   For example, most students are requires to attend school each year for 175 day, give or take a few days. But do all students learn the same amount of knowledge in that 175 days. What we do know is that some of us take a bit longer to learn than others, yet the expectation for each student is the same, get it in 175 or else.

   For many, the school day begins around 8 AM and ends shortly after 2:30 PM. Recent research shows that high school students are more successful if the day and classes begin around 9:00 in the morning, a bit more sleep. But that schedule would effect the after school activities, the basketball and soccer practices and all the other things teenagers  do after school.

   Originally, if my memory serves me, the school calendar was based upon an agricultural calendar. After the harvest in the Fall and before the Spring planting seemed like a good time to spend in school. There was nothing else to do in the winter months except annoy parents until Christmas anyhow. Late Spring, Summer and early Fall were busy times on the farm and everyone was needed to pitch in and help. Attending school stopped in the summer. Even to this day, there are school districts that shut down in the Fall for a week or two because of the potato harvest. Yet how many kids today help with the harvest. Is it just the continuation of a time honored tradition?

   What I think and hope people are beginning to realize and discover is that with all this new knowledge  that needs to be learned, schools can not operate as they have in the past. Perhaps for some it is a year around activity, of course with a few vacations included. (That does not  mean making all schools charter schools designed 'for profit' as some are proposing.) The world is demanding new standards, new expectations for what kids need to know and perhaps it is time to 'jump out of the box' and be willing to try some new and innovative approaches.

   But... One more thought here. It takes time for ' meaningful change' to occur. In the past we have been too quick to not give “change” a chance. As an institution, 'public education' is often criticized because we start something new and if we don't see immediate results we quickly give up and move on to the next 'new' thing. How many mathematics and reading programs have your children been exposed to in the last ten years?

   I did not attend a one room school, although there are some who may think I may be that old. My second grade classroom with Mrs Graham, the teacher, was very different from the second grade class my grandchildren attended just several years ago. I can only image what the second grade classrooms will look like twenty years from now.

   I know the political debates will continue as to what should be taught, when it should be taught and who should teach it. I  do believe the discussion is a healthy one though and needs to be ongoing. But to drop recess? Come on! It was my favorite time of the day.


PS. If you doubt the importance of a free and open educational system, one only needs to take a look at countries and areas of the world under siege from radicals and terrorists. The first thing they do? Close down the schools. Sounds a bit like history repeating itself, don't you think?