Is school recess a right?

Elementary schools in our Beijing neighborhood reopen next Monday, and the new school year has me thinking about U.S. and Chinese attitudes toward education.

Here’s one huge difference: No daily recess.

Chinese do not believe that children have an inalienable right to take several breaks during the school day to run outside, fool around on monkey bars, or get one’s tongue frozen to a metal swing set, as one of my childhood friends did on a frigid morning at Glendale Elementary School in Madison, Wis. But I digress.

Our 10-year-old daughter goes to Fragrant Grass Elementary School, which is run by the Chinese government. She’ll be going into fourth grade. So far, she’s had the same teacher for first, second and third grade, which I think is rather unusual. Our daughter is very fond of Teacher Song, so she’s hoping that the administration will allow her to follow the class to a higher grade.

The Chinese school day is a little longer than in the United States. She leaves on the school bus at 7:15 a.m. and usually returns a little before 4 p.m.

Kids in her school eat lunch in their classrooms. They don’t go to a cafeteria. Those who buy a school lunch get it from a cart, and eat at their desks. After lunch, there is a quiet period. A few chosen kids are allowed to help clean up. This is a coveted assignment, connoting special status. Kids can read at their desks or play by themselves.

But there is no period where kids can go outside to yelp and scream and engage in the kind of recess mayhem that is common in the United States. Indeed, I don’t even think there is a playground at the school.

My elder brother is an elementary school teacher in Napa, California. He couldn’t believe his ears when I told him this in July. Recess is so ingrained as a right in the U.S. that it seems almost unimaginable not to have one. In fact, he said, his class gets a short morning recess, a break after lunch and a short afternoon recess. Basically, it is three breaks in one day. From his comments, I figure it is the teachers who most like recess. It gives them a break from the kids.

So I asked our daughter: Do you miss recess? She knows what recess is from kindergarten at a Virginia public school. This was her answer:

Nope.

Curious, huh?

Comments

[Kevin Miller]

The Chinese elementary schools I'm familiar with have a 10-minute recess every hour, between classes. I've always been amazed at how much playing kids can get done in that time (ping pong games, for example) and how much noise they can make.

Getting rid of recess is a trend in urban school districts in the U.S.

[Tuur]

As far as I know, in the Netherlands too children traditionally have the same teacher for all of their six years in primary school. They do get recess though.

In Belgium teachers generally teach another class every year. A recent trend is to split a class among two teachers (who then work halftime or have more than one class).

[Kristie]

Thank you for this article. My daughter is adopted from China and I had to print this out for her. She read it and said that this was just wrong. I had to laugh. I can't wait to hear what her class says.

[Lisa]

Your story is either a single case or simply not true. I grew up in China until I was 16, and I went to 4 different elementary schools in 2 different cities in China. And all of them (and every other elementary I knew) had recess. It's just a different system. Each class was 45 mins long and then followed by 15 mins break. We had approximately 2 hours of break for lunch--kids could either go home or stay at school.
Believe me, every elementary school I knew had a play yard, small or large. And they were always filled with kids playing in breaking and lunch time.
My little sister is still in elementary school now in China and I believe the system has not changed.
I do not know: maybe your kid goes to a private or special school, but this article makes me doubt your intension.

[cc]

If Tim's definition of recess is a period more than 15 minutes, then he has a point. However, what is a "recess" of less than 15 minutes called? A break, I guess? So, schools in China have no recess, but breaks.

I reckon either Tim was misled or he intended to do something else as suggested above.

For the second cause, mission accomplished!

"Thank you for this article. My daughter is adopted from China and I had to print this out for her. She read it and said that this was just wrong. I had to laugh. I can't wait to hear what her class says."

[Todd L. Platek]

Recess is key for children, as it is for working adults. A short time "in between" to blow off steam, to socialize, and seek a mental and physical balance during their working/studying day. If you were to ask Chinese parents in the USA who attended Chinese elementary schools whether they would want their ABC children to undergo such rigors, the responses would be very mixed, with those who abhored that straight-jacket style of education saying NO.
For the mere investment of 15 minutes of recess, the return is very worthwhile.

[Lisa]

Ok, maybe Tim does not consider 15mins breaks in every hour and the 2 hour lunch break to be "recess", but I'm still believe his blog is totally biased. Read the opening, which also seems to be his thesis, "Chinese do not believe that children have an inalienable right to take several breaks during the school day to run outside, fool around on monkey bars, or get one’s tongue frozen to a metal swing set". Notice he clearly writes that there are no breaks and no outside play time—absolutely untrue.
Even if his daughter’s school has absolutely no break and no playground (which I deeply doubt, too), how dare he conclude it on all Chinese and Chinese school? Did he talk to enough Chinese, adults and kids to draw such conclusion? Did he visit enough elementary schools to draw such conclusion? No! At least he did not show such evidence in the article.
From his article, it seems that most of his theory seems to come from his own observation and maybe conversation with his daughter, which again, I doubt, too. Yet he is commenting on the whole people's (Chinese's) belief system and further more suggesting and inferring it to a possible violation of human right!
I'm sorry; I just can't stand it because I know other Americans would believe this article to heart because they know little about China. And as a Chinese that live in the US, I can't tell you how much it hurts for me to see how he writes about not only China but the Chinese, too. Allow me to state it again because I believe I know the system better than he does: common Chinese elementary schools have 15 minutes breaks for every 45 minutes and a 2 hour break for lunch. Kids can play on playground during these breaks and there are all kinds of fun games which I miss till today. And I can also confidently tell you that Chinese people believe kids’ attention can only last so long and breaks and playtime are their right to have.
I do agree that the Chinese education is much more rigorous, often unimaginative and uncreative. And that's one of the reasons why I chose to come to US. But this article poorly represents the real problem and is absolutely misleading. And it's huge, biased and demeaning thesis is drawn on little evidence.
Again, Tim, what is your intension?

[cc]

Brainwash starts from ground zero.

[China Law Blog]

Not enough emphasis on producing the well rounded child, me thinks.

[sue]

Like Lisa, I grew up in China. Before reading this blog, I thought all Chinese schools have 10-15 mins break for every hour.
It would be interesting to find out if this no break/recess thing is a big city thing or north/south thing? My own experience is in Chongqing.

[sue]

I forgot to mention, my school had a large playground and we do go out during the break to play such as rope skipping, basket ball, ping pong, running around and sometimes a bit of fight. Happy days.

[chriswaugh_bj]

If I'm translating the name of the school Tim's daughter goes to back into Chinese correctly (and previous references to the school he has made suggest that I'm getting it right), it clearly is a special case and not at all representative of the Chinese educational system. I've worked in a primary school in Changsha and high schools in Beijing and Tianjin and based on that experience and what I've observed of other primary, middle and high schools in China, what the Chinese commenters describe of their school experiences is a more accurate description of China's schools.

However,to accuse Tim of deliberately writing some kind of propaganda piece aimed at giving Americans a distorted view of life in China is perhaps a bit too much. This is a blog post, not a newspaper report (at least, I hope this post will not be appearing in any of McClatchy's newspapers). A more charitable interpretation would be that Tim was taking his and his daughters' experience of one Chinese school and then extrapolating to the whole education system. This is natural and we all do it to some extent. Unfortunately in this case the extrapolation has led to Tim posting a highly inaccurate description of Chinese skills on a website open to the general public.

I would hope, though, that if Tim were to write a report on China's education systems to be published in his employer's newspapers that he would not rely on his obviously very limited experience of one school that is very much a special case and not in any way representative of China's education system, and instead go out and do the research that, as a journalist, he should be very good at.

[Tim J]

Several points to clear up:
1) This is definitely not a news article. It is a simple musing based on the reflections of a father with a child in a Chinese school.
2) Perhaps I should be faulted for not making a stronger point. The point is this: I'm not convinced recesses are as utterly necessary as many in Western society make them out to be.
3) My daughter goes to Fangcaodi Elementary School in Beijing, which indeed is a unique school. She does get a break between classes. But she says it is not long enough to go outside nor to play. She doesn't think it's even 10 minutes long. She does not have a playground at her school. During the lunch break, students are required to sit at their desks. Again, I'm not convinced play is necessary as part of the school day. Most kids get a lot of play outside of school.
4) I am no expert on Chinese elementary schools but I don't recall seeing a school with the kind of playground and exercise equipment that are common in U.S. schools. There is a reverse example: Neighborhoods all over Beijing have public sidewalk exercise equipment. It is colorful and residents use the equipment a lot. I've never seen this sort of attention to adult recreation quite anywhere in the U.S. I'm simply pointing out differences.

[Therese]

Lisa's experience matches my own and my friends' own, based on my informal survey. All are generally from the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai area.

When I went to primary school in the US, we had recess as a part of the lunch period only, but it wasn't as long or exciting as the long break in China. Generally at primary shcool I remember playing for an hour in the nearby urban park before going home with my cousin.

[cc]

"the new school year has me thinking about U.S. and Chinese attitudes toward education.

Here’s one huge difference: No daily recess."

No comment further.

[Kacy]

I disagree about it being "ingrained in the US". The resolution about the inalienable rights of children (which includes recess) was ratified by every civilized country except Somalia and the USA. While recess should definitely be included, and the vast majority agrees that it is an important part of education, many schools under pressure from No Child Left Behind have cut it in favor of test prep. Studies show, however, that kids who get recess have higher test scores than those who don't.

[Lisa]

Tim, thank you for the explanations. I admit that the previous comment was probably too harsh. After veiwing some of your other blog entries, it seems that you are pretty open minded and fair in observations. Part of the reason why I was so mad is probably caused by some previous experiences with American news articles I've read: a few years ago, my high school English teacher in California gave me an article about China and asked if that was true: it reported that a Chinese women had to eat 50 eggs every day in the first month after giving birth to a baby. Yes, "zuo yue zi", the first month after giving birth is considered a special for women and yes there are many tidious traditions associated with it. Yet having to eat 50 eggs is not at all true--yet my teacher was so impressed with it.
I felt at that time: wow, the truth could be so easily slighted, if not lost, in translations, distance, unfimiliarity and other things. Plus I'm in college now and taking many writing classes, so I always look for things like fallacy, logic, credibility and other things in articles and essays.
Anyways, I digressed too far. What I want to get to is, If you stated in your blog, as you later added that, "She does get a break between classes. But she says it is not long enough to go outside nor to play. She doesn't think it's even 10 minutes long. She does not have a playground at her school. During the lunch break, students are required to sit at their desks." I wouldn't have any problem with it because you are talking about your daughter's personal experieence and thoughts. Yet, in the original blog, you infered it to the whole people. That's still wrong in my opinion because like many previous others pointed out, most schools have playgrounds; and breaks and lunch are great times to play outside in the most cases.

[chriswaugh_bj]

Tim, I'm going to join Lisa in thanking you for the clarification. Your daughter is in exactly the school I was thinking of- a former boss' daughter went there for a year and a bit, and I heard a fair bit about the place which your blog posts have confirmed (my wife was my boss' daughter's Chinese tutor, so I heard quite a lot about that school).

Well, I don't know what playground equipment US schools have, but what I've seen in schools I've worked at and lived near to in China does not match what I enjoyed in New Zealand back in the day, but I assure you, Chinese kids make full use of the breaks they get between lessons just as well as everybody else. Kids are good like that, they'll manage to turn anything into great fun.

Well, mate, keep the musings coming, because this is one of the better China-based journalists' blogs.

[Cheery]

I remember we had a long break in between the 2nd and 3rd classes (or after the 3rd) in the afternoons. It was like that in grade school, in middle school and in high school. I don't recall exactly how long the break was, but I am positively sure it's no shorter than an actual class session. It's probably an hour.

The funny thing is, the official name of that period, on any printed school day schedule, would read "Extracurricular Activities", and I kid you not. Of course, there's usually no organizing and little supervision. Mostly the boys play soccer or just run amuck.

For those of you who read Chinese, here's what my school schedule would have looked like back then:
http://www.qfedu.com/Article/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=33
I don't think we had both the morning and afternoon exercises, though.

[Matt]

I work at a private elementary school in Taiwan, I cant say if it compares to China or not, but I suspect it has elements that are similar.

The kids get 40 min classes and a funny system of breaks. I wont mention any names of the school.
8:20-9:00 class.
10 min break. most (75%) of kids go out and run and generally go amok. generally or 3 to 7 of them will stay in class and either do homework or read a book on their own. These special ones often will refuse to leave- the homework demanded by certain parents precludes any breaktime.
9:10-9:50 class.
5 min break. this usually is a run to the playground and back. The diligent ones will continue the mind numbing crap called homework.
9:55-10:35 class
15 min "break". 4 out of 5 days this is cut short by 'demands' from (certain ill) parents to play militaristic synchronized dance exercises, (2 x a week- a 5 min dance routine that makes me ill to observe the synchronized loss of male-ness, pride or dignity in small children and older children alike) or (2x a week-5 mins) futile theory to have the children all stare out a window at something far away so their eyes 'dont wear out' from staring at books and writing while relaxing music plays. its a very eerie 5 mins. Of course no one thought about the obvious idea of forcing all children outdoors for this period of time, thereby negating the influence of books and writing on their eyes yet....
then another class. from 10:50 to 11:30
5 min break.
11:35 to 12:15 class.
Lunch/sleep 12:15 to 1:30PM
1:35 to 2:15 class.
10 min break.
2:25 to 3:05 class.
20 min organized snack. all must line up and troop to a cafeteria and line up and be fed in semi-silence underground. such joy!
3:25 to 4:05 class. Not much actually gets done in this time I can testify. Generally its games or review/ control games. rather pointless.
15 min break. Amazingly unmarred (yet) by B.S. leftover dictatorial ideas. yet.- certain older children do get tasked to clean at this time. which is actually a good lesson to teach them...
4:20 to 5:00 in theory its class, but generally it is the packing up/homework/ correction time. Some parents/philipino maids pick up their kids around this time. if the kid is lucky. the unlucky ones get to wait around until 9:00 or 10:00PM for mom and dad to get off work. Hence the idiodically high amount of homework demanded by certain parents.
perhaps mandarin writing mastery really does require this amount of effort/ homework but I doubt it helps at all, but rather is a shut-up method to parenting used by lazier parents with deep pockets who dont want to see or hear their offspring inside their home.

Parents look to thyselves and thy demands. It is customer demands that make the industry what it is. Be careful what you wish for and permit. you may just get what you thought you wanted.

So breaks do exist. In theory. Its just for a kid to complete the workload demanded by their parents, that precludes the actual time for blowing off steam. I predict future columbines and higher suicide rates.

[Jay]

On my last stay in Tianjin, I noticed children marching thru the tiny school yard in single file. While at the orphanage I noticed the american play equipment was never used. It still had the sand from a sand storm three weeks earlier on it, undisturbed. And I watched the orphanage's children being lead thru group exercise sessions.

Another observation was that we rarely ever saw school age children out running about at any time in the apartment compound we lived in.

There are definately differences in cultural expectations of what children need.

The recess system has been altered at my daughter's school recently so that they have two meal/fitness breaks per day. The entire school had to vote the change in because it is so against our cultural expectation of having morning, noon and afternoon breaks. Ridiculous!

Thank you for sharing your daughter's experience with us. My dd was adopted from Guangdong and daydreams about living in China. This will give her something to think about ;)

[Conny Jensen]

I'm scouring the Internet for anything on play and also to find out if Chinese kids still get recess. Our schoolboard justified the elimination of morning recess by claiming that kids in China are more focused on academics than they are in the U.S.

Thanks to fears instilled by the business roundtable that the U.S. as a country will lose out to "sleeping giants" like China and India, children now suffer under the demands of NCLB. Recess is becoming a thing of the past. Our public schools only offer 20 minutes of outdoor play when it's lunchtime.

Guess what kids prefer? They choose recess over eating their lunch. Animals in labs make an identical choice according to Marc Bekoff, professor of Biology who is also an advocate for play as are many other national experts.

Of note is especially the research by Dr. Stuart Brown who found that there is a strong undeniable correlation between lack of play in childhood and adult criminal behavior. Go to: http://www.nifplay.org/vision.html to read more!

Research by Bonnie Gordon about "Cultural Comparisons of Schooling" argues that opportunity for socialization of young children, and getting attention from the teacher sets kids up for future learning.
Absence of that could very well be the reason for the achievement gap between American kids and some Asian countries. American kindergarten focuses on academics, now thanks to NCLB, even more than ever before!

Playtime has even been eliminated from our local public kindergartens! And now DIBELS is even administered in preschools. Next, play will be eliminated there as well!