Recess 'Crucial' for Kids, Pediatricians' Group Says
Source: ABC News
Kids aren't getting enough recess at school, the country's top pediatricians' group said in a new policy statement released Monday.
The statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics is the latest salvo in the long-running debate over how much of a young child's time at school should be devoted to academics -- and how much should go to free, unstructured playtime.
The authors of the policy statement write that the AAP "believes that recess is a crucial and necessary component of a child's development and, as such, it should not be withheld for punitive or academic reasons."
"The AAP has, in recent years, tried to focus the attention of parents, school officials and policymakers on the fact that kids are losing their free play," said the AAP's Dr. Robert Murray, one of the lead authors of the statement. "We are overstructuring their day. ... They lose that creative free play, which we think is so important."
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/recess-crucial-kids-aap-policy-statement/story?id=18083935#.UOHvcPJIAbY
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featured recess and unstructured playtime as crucial to the maintaining of an optimal educational atmosphere. One Finnish teacher (all of whom are educated to at least the Master's level before being hired) said simply: "We value play."
The worshippers of American exceptionalism will keep us mired in provincial backwardness as long as they are able to convince others that if another country does something different from us, it is naturally the wrong way to do it... 
