Thanks for this article. I had to BATTLE my son’s elementary school when they canceled recess and PE — in order to raise test scores. Imagine keeping 3rd and 4th graders, especially boys, locked up in a room all day. The teacher and aide were extremely overweight (great example, right?) — and told me that “literacy” was more important than PE or recess. I told them with as much calm as I could, that PE and recess were as important as anything they were doing in that room at any time. They then pulled out the stats for the state or district required minutes — something like 30 minutes PER WEEK for PE and that was it.

Luckily, my son was able to get a lot of play, biking and running time in after school but it was sheer torture (and madness and insanity) to demand that kids sit ALL day every day.

And they wonder why kids are obese, have type II diabetes and clogged arteries?

I remember playing dodge ball, kick ball, throwing hard and softballs back and forth — jumping rope as fast as kids could turn it, chasing each other across the field, falling off of rings and monkey bars — the highlight of elementary school, AFAIC! I too have scars from being pulled on a skateboard behind my brother’s bike — my brother peddling as fast as he could.

As the Ray Bradbury story goes: “The Fun They Had!”

And we did.

Bon

We give trophies to every chubby little body and near math is ok…..your answer looks close….

Dump the sports!

I suppose you’d rather drug the high-energy little boys and girls rather than encourage them to exercise and find healthy outlets for their energy?