I heard on the new this morning that St. Paul (along with several other schools across the country) are now hiring "recess coaches." What is a recess coach you ask? Well it is someone the school hires to provide the students with "structured play" during recess time. Oh and the price tag per school; a meager $60,000 - SERIOUSLY?!?! $60K! That is waaay too much for a school to pay to have someone show kids how to play at recess...as if kids need an adult so show them how to play! To top it all off, the St. Paul school district is facing a $25 million...yep
million budget deficit this year! And some politicians in Washington don't think we need education reform...imagine how many other programs are out there that make no sense and yet we are stuck paying for...
Remember when you could actually play at recess? You know...just as kids...without someone telling you what to play and how to play it? I think it is better for children to have unstructured playtime...let them create their own games, form their own teams...too much of kids' lives nowadays is controlled and structured - where is their chance to be creative?
How did we survive as kids growing up without a recess coach? Our recess time must have been hell!
Check out the Star Tribune article here.
