Finally, Recess!!

Thirty-five years ago I embarked on a teaching career. Being the product of a middle class family, and one that was not extremely well educated, this was a leap ahead. My parents weren't ignorant people. Dad was well-read and mom was a wizard with numbers, rising to the level of a head cashier who was responsible for the daily financial records of a rather large grocery store.







Still, I had managed to reach the professional world. Yet, I carried with me a work-ethic that came right out of the world of the blue collar worker. And, over the course of 35 years I accumulated 406 sick days. Missing work was not part of my routine. It was something that I hated. More than once I went to work when I certainly should not have done so. But, I was certain nobody could do my job like I did my job.







So yesterday, the first day of school for kids, was something that was going to be painful for me. I wasn't going to be in front of a group of students on the first day of school for the first time in 35 years. My friends were concerned about my mental well-being. Several called to see how I was doing (including one who was vacationing in Birmingham, Al.).







Fortunately for me, I survived the day. In fact, I had a good day. My "job" of announcing football games brought me in contact with a gentleman who told me of an "oldies" group of men who went on four-wheeling excursions every other Monday. Yesterday was that Monday and there I was on the first day of school, sitting in a field with 42 other ATV'ers and preparing for my first recess (as I now refer to it) since I was in 6th grade.







The trip began on Issac Run Road in Wood County and traveled to Belmont and Willow Island in Pleasants County. We covered over 30 miles, saw some sites not readily available to the passer- by in an automobile, got hot and sweaty (not to mention dusty), and had a great day of fellowship. Thanks to my "recess," school was not a prevailing thought in my mind.







I have used the preceding story to talk about a topic that concerns me--that being recess. It seems that recess is rapidly disappearing from the school curriculum. Going to school in the 50s and 60s meant that you had recess for 10-15 minutes each morning and afternoon, along with the remainder of you lunch break. Boys and girls were outside in the sun. They were running and playing, laughing and yelling, and generally having a good time.







My how times have changed. Case in Point. It seems from my gathering of information, recess is a nearly bygone idea in the educational system. Educationally we have become a complete and total "reading, writing and arithmetic" institution. And I for one disagree with that philosophy. Recess is an important part of the educational process. It teaches students how to work together, how to play together, and how to have fun.







Perhaps our world could use a little more "social" education that recess provides.