Tag, you’re not it
by Lori Barrett | April 15, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Posted in education
In one of the more ridiculous attempts to keep schools under control, a Northern Virginia elementary school has banned students from playing tag at recess.
The McLean school’s principal said that the game has gotten out of hand. Please. Tag is not the problem here.
We played it at recess when I was a kid and we all came out alive. Same with our parents. The problem is the students, who apparently are so uncivilized that they’ve turned a classic childhood game into something violent.
Maybe we should take a step back and try some discipline. When we misbehaved in elementary school (a public school), one of several things happened:
- We were paddled in front of the class. (This practice ended rather early in my education.)
- We were taken out in the hallway and paddled. (Didn’t last much longer than #1.)
- We spent the entire recess lined up against the brick wall, not allowed to move or speak.
- We spent the entire recess inside, copying the dictionary.
Needless to say, we avoided these things at all costs. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how many of these are acceptable disciplinary methods anymore.
So what about you? Anyone have an old-school method they’d like to reintroduce for 2008?
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 15th, 2008 at 5:05 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
I'm not ready to bring back corporal punishment (leaving that to the parents to decide), but items 3 and 4 were certainly adequate enforcement measures in the past.
The problem is that schools are so completely terrified of getting sued by overprotective parents that they continually err on the side of banning any and everything that could result in injury. Hence no more dodgeball or tug of war.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:17 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
I think its really unfortunate that it has come to this. Early games you play in elementary school do teach you a lot about life and how to interact with others. Its a shame because it only takes a small percentage of unruly kids, and just as unruly parents who ruin it for everyone by not disciplining at home and teaching their children that they can always get their own way.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:59 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Several things at issue here:
Corporal punishment is a deterrent, but the primary reason is not because of the pain, but rather the humiliation.
Signaling children out for their behavior is more than sufficiently humiliating. I can remember a time in kindergarten where I was punished by being forced to sit in a corner for saying a bad word. I never said a bad word where a teacher could hear me again.
But another problem exists here, parents are unwilling to spend the time monitoring their children and disciplining them at home. This doesn't mean spanking or beating, just spending time, talking about right and wrong. And with two working parents in this horrible economy, who has the time to do this? The responsibility of discipline and raising children should not fall solely on the schools and it is unfortunate that it has come to this.
April 15th, 2008 at 11:50 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
I'm not sure that signaling children out for their behavior is an effective method these days. It may work at a younger age, but I have several friends who teach middle-school kids, and their students seem to bask in the attention more than anything else. It may also work when the classroom has only one or two problem children, but not when the room is full of them.
April 16th, 2008 at 6:08 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Well my assumption is that tag in elementary school is younger children. But again, if they have gotten to the point where they view the teacher as an equal, the damage is already done.
We need to treat the disease of our society, not bandaid the symptoms.
April 16th, 2008 at 2:07 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
How about simply sending the trouble-making kid home? The parent(s) will have to leave work early, which will annoy them, and maybe in turn they will pay more attention to the proper discipline to their children. School is for education. It isn't daycare. Teachers aren't babysitters.