The details of recess and its place in the daily schedule of public Worcester city schools (specifically elementary schools) is the current issue in debate with the city’s school committee (http://www.telegram.com/article/20100902/NEWS/100909906/1116). Currently, students have ten minutes of free time in the morning before school, and fifteen minutes before lunch. The debate is not an argument of whether to reduce it or not, it is simply how to modify the activity. However, the topic of recess in general is important. Some might consider proposals to modify recess a trivial matter, but it has a very influential place in an elementary student’s social development, especially for students enrolled in city public schools. Recess allows students to socialize outside in a safe, supervised setting. Worcester may be a small city of about 182,000 (http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/SUB-EST2009.html) but the problems of inner city children in public schools remain. The safe interaction recess provides is a small luxury to these children.
New types of toys, such as video games, brought by technological advances have proven to show some negative effects. It is no secret that children can spend many hours inside playing these games, which can very well lead to weight gain and on to diabetes. Childhood obesity and video games have shown a strong correlation in some studies. Dr. Nicolas Stettler found in a study of 827 children, grades 1-3, that video games had a significant connection to childhood obesity (http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v12/n6/abs/oby2004109a.html). Recess is an organized, daily activity in which children are involved with outdoor physical activity and social interaction that they might not receive at home. It is an integral part of a child’s development in school and it should remain as such.
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