A friend of mine recently told me she was growing concerned because her son, an elementary-school student, started saying he "hates school." It’s troubling, and by the time students reach high school, most feel the same way.

What shocks me is not that students say they hate school–that’s nothing new–but that the adult world doesn’t seem to care or to understand why kids feel this way.

The "why" behind the hatred isn’t hard to figure out. Ask them, and students will tell you: they hate school because it sucks, it’s boring, and it’s a waste of time. At least, that’s how it seems to them.Again, this is nothing new. People of all ages, in all time periods, and in all cultures dislike things that are of poor quality ("sucks"), that are not mentally engaging, challenging, or stimulating ("boring"), and that have no readily perceived value or application to survival, personal growth, or enjoyment ("waste of time"). This is common sense. So why do we get angry at kids when they express the same sentiments?

Scientists who study the brain and how it learns have been telling us for a long time that the brain is hard-wired to attend only to those things which seem necessary for survival and/or bring pleasure. So why are we shocked when students are turned off by schools or teachers that don’t provide high-quality, challenging, and immediately applicable instruction? And I’m not talking about "edutainment" here.

However, what’s wrong with having some fun? What’s wrong with play or with laughter? Play, fun, laughter, enjoyment are integral components in learning, and things adults not only seek out but are willing to pay huge sums of money to get. Certainly not all things worth learning are fun, but shouldn’t we want students to associate learning with enjoyment? Don’t we say we want them to become "life-long learners," and to "enjoy learning"? Then why are we so often set on removing the enjoyment from the school day?

Unfortunately, that is exactly what’s happening as a result of high-stakes testing. I’m not anti-testing, and I’m certainly not against high standards. Nevertheless, the approach the world of education is taking towards standardized testing is choking the enjoyment out of the classroom.

For example, some elementary schools in the DC area are limiting or removing recess from the school day.

First of all, health experts are warning us that the youth of the nation are suffering a crisis of obesity and poor health. So in response we … limit recess?Second, this is a direct response to the high-stakes testing and number-crunching of the current educational mindset. In the words of one of the elementary school principals:

My goal as a principal is to make sure our children have uninterrupted lesson time.

"Uninterrupted lesson time"!? Have you ever spent any time with six-year-olds? Nothing with them is uninterrupted. Young children are not wired to sit for extended periods of time without involving their bodies in their learning. Even as adults, we get restless after about thirty minutes.

What about healthy development–is that not a better goal? Study after study has linked physical health and development to mental health and development.

And what about enjoyment? Does the school have no responsibility to ensure that students not only learn, but also "learn to enjoy learning"?

From the same article:

Pressure to raise test scores and adhere to state-mandated academic requirements is squeezing recess out of the school day. In many schools, it’s just 10 or 15 minutes, if at all. In some cases, recess has become structured with organized games — yes, recess is being taught.

How can this not make us angry? How much further does the stupidity have to go before the adults of the world stop letting politicians make decisions about education (rather than educators, psychologists, neurologists, and others who study child and adolescent development and work with young people daily)?

Instead of demanding lots of tests, easily-plotted numbers, and "time on task," we should be demanding instruction that’s engaging, challenging, and stimulating from teachers who can help students see how the learning is relevant. And if we have some fun along the way, even better.

Related posts (auto-generated):

1. 60-30-10 The end of the year can be a trying time for teachers, particularly teachers of seniors. The concept of "one more month" translates roughly into...
2. Well, I Guess It’s Progress Most Boston high schools start at 7:20 a.m. The 10 schools, which have not yet been chosen, will be able to choose starting times ranging...
3. Freakonomics Quorum on Testing The Freakonomics Blog (hosted by the New York Times) held a quorum on standardized testing and posted the contributions yesterday. The questions were: Should there...
4. The Problem is Gaining National Recognition I first heard about The New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce on Will Richardson's blog. He tells us that the full 200+...
5. Fourteen Percent Mike Petrilli, in a recent post on the Flypaper blog, comments on a study in Philadelphia that measured the impact of a "healthy-eating" initiative in...

| Print This