Play Under Siege

08/04/2004

"Reality can destroy the dream, why shouldn’t the dream destroy reality?" - George Moore

Play Under Siege

At the July 31 memorial service for School Age Notes' founder, Rich Scofield, Tracy Ballas reminded us that Rich's most recent passion had been to fight against the diminishment of play in America's preschools and schools. She charged us to carry on this fight on Rich's behalf. In light of this charge, we are printing the excerpt below from the article, "Play Under Siege," by Edward Zigler in the Winter 2004 issue of 21Community News:

"Children's play is under attack. Many preschools and elementary schools have reduced or even eliminated playtime. Play is being replaced by lessons targeting cognitive development and the content of standardized testing, especially in the area of literacy. This change resulted partially from findings showing that American children often lag behind children from other nations in academic performance. The change also reflects an attempt to eliminate the gap in achievement between poor and minority children and those from higher income, non-minority backgrounds. The...No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 focuses on cognitive development, literacy, and 'numeracy' and includes the initiative that all children learn to read by 3rd grade. The reading mandate and accompanying testing resulted in further emphasis on literacy training, particularly in phonics, in the early elementary grades....

"Research offers clear evidence for the critical importance of play for children's development. Play has been found to contribute to several areas of development, including social, emotional, and cognitive development, including literacy. Thus, the current attack on play defies the evidence and appears misguided....

"There should be no need to defend either play or cognitive training, as research and educational practice clearly demonstrates the two-way relationship between the two. To foster learning, educators, parents, and policymakers must focus on the whole child. All systems of development are inter-related and therefore the proper focus of education and child rearing."

To read the entire Zigler article, go to the Free Resources section of the Exchange web site https://secure.ccie.com/resources/free_resources.php. The 21 Community News - Winter 2004 link is at the bottom of the page under Other Resources

What are the Most Serious Challenges to Childhoods

This week, the Exchange Insta-Poll is surveying early childhood professionals around the world on the most serious challenges to the well-being of children of the world today? See what people are saying and express your views at http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0366.

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