The Importance Of Recess
Children all over the world attend school daily in hopes to receive a good education, make friends, and explore new opportunities. A typical American school day consists of academic classes, a lunch break, and then more classes. Sometime in between the day, certain schools will choose to add a small period where students can take a break, play outside, relax, etc. , and this period is known as recess. Other schools, on the other hand, do not believe in including recess, and instead, they choose to replace it with more class time. Many studies, however, have shown the advantages of this short break in a student’s day. Schools should include recess for students because of its proven social, physical, and cognitive benefits.
Since students spend most of their day focusing on academics, including recess provides an opportunity for students to build necessary social and emotional skills. During recess, children have the time “to design their own games, to test their abilities, to role-play, and to mediate their own conflicts -- activities that are key to developing social skills and navigating complicated situations” (THE ATLANTIC #1). Although many academic classes offer collaborative projects and group work, they do not build every aspect of a child’s social skill. However, since students spend half of their day in a school environment, it would only make sense that there be an allocated time where students have the opportunity to practice the basic skill of communication. Simply adding a time to play, and work together adds a whole other layer to a child’s abilities to cooperate with others. These ideas have proven to be true; A study conducted by Stanford reported, “The students felt safer. [. . . ] Students frequently encouraged each other with positive language. [. . . ] Less bullying among students was found [. . . ] and student-to-student conflict was lessened” (STANFORD #2). Therefore, including recess as a part of a school day has shown to improve students’ social abilities.
Recess has also shown to play an important role in maintaining students’ physical state as well. Generally, students spend most of their time sitting at a desk, and even if some form of movement is involved, it is usually restricted to walking around the classroom. This is not nearly enough activity for a child. The effects of the lack of activity have shown: “Each day, 55 million US students attend school, which constitutes nearly one-half of their wakeful hours. In light of rising rates of overweight and obesity, schools have come under increased scrutiny” (AAP #12). Schools do include physical education, but it is not enough to fulfill “the recommended 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day” (AAP NEAR #6). Adding at least some time for students to engage in some form of activity can help improve the current health issues many children face today. Children do not have to vigorously exercise throughout the time they are given, but simply including recess provides “the opportunity for children to be active in the mode of their choosing, to practice movement and motor skills, and to engage in interactions with their peers. [. . . ] Even minor movement during recess counterbalances the sedentary life at school and often, at home” (JOURNAL #8). From this evidence, it is clear that recess can help with keeping students, who spend most of their time sitting still, living a healthy and active lifestyle.
Perhaps most importantly, recess has proven to have distinct effects on children's cognitive ability throughout the school day. The Cognitive Immaturity Hypothesis states, “Optimal cognitive processing in a child necessitates a period of interruption following a period of concentrated instruction. [. . . ] These interruptions are best served by unstructured breaks, rather than merely shifting from one cognitive task to another” (JOURNAL #9). Many studies examining this idea have found that it holds true: In a statistical review covering forty four studies related to the correlation between physical activity and cognition, the key finding was that “physical activity was positively correlated to cognitive performance in children, providing evidence for physical activity during the school day for physical and cognitive benefits (JOURNAL TABLE 2); In a survey, approximately ten thousand third-grade teachers reported in that “Even a single 15-minute daily recess was correlated with more positive ratings of classroom behavior” (ATLANTIC NEAR #1). The findings from these studies show that giving students a break actually allows them to perform better on the upcoming task. Rather than constantly feeding information, allowing children to process the content for a short period of time has proven to enhance their cognitive ability, reduce fidgeting, and help maintain focus. By including recess, schools provide the opportunity for children to step away from learning and take a mental break, resulting in a more productive student.
Despite the abounding evidence, some believe that including an extra academic class rather than a small recess period is a better use of a child’s time at school. They argue that recess wastes time would rather have students continue learning instead. However, this idea has been tested and has proven to be false. The American Academy of Pediatrics writes: Even with ample evidence of a whole-child benefit from recess, significant external pressures, such as standardized cognitive testing mandated by educational reforms, have led some to view recess as time that would be better spent on academics. Time previously dedicated to daily activity in school, such as physical education and recess, is being reallocated to make way for additional academic instruction. Ironically, minimizing or eliminating recess may be counterproductive to academic achievement, as a growing body of evidence suggests that recess promotes not only physical health and social development but also cognitive performance. (AAP #6). As academic competition rises, schools feel the need to dedicate the maximum time possible to classes, and often in doing so, neglect the other forms of education, including physical activity. Actually, however, this choice can negatively affect a child’s academic performance. As discussed, from only a short period of recess, students actually end up more focused and ready to learn, and therefore, by eliminating this period, children lose these benefits and may perform lower than expected.
Schools should include recess for children every day as findings from numerous studies and surveys has shown it has definite social, physical, and cognitive advantages associated with it. During recess, kids can build necessary communicative skills, actively exercise, and take a mental break. Many studies have observed these ideas, and evidence suggests their validity. Schools need to consider including recess as a daily period, and as the issue becomes more prominent, government associations like the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Association for Sport and Physical Education, and National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education are all defining recess as an “essential component of education” at least for those in elementary school (JOURNAL #11); Organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics have also written guidelines for a properly structured recess period that schools should follow (AAP). Locally, groups of parents have been pushing for at least twenty minutes of daily activity for children in school (ATLANTIC). Society must ensure kids get the proper physical activity, social environment, and education they need, and working towards adding even just fifteen minutes of recess to a child’s day can help do that.
