Teacher Says Lack Of Adequate Play Is Part Of Why Today's Students Struggle With Basic Skills
"It's almost as if childhood is the foundation for the rest of your life."
Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock Teachers across America have been sounding alarm bells about student illiteracy for some time now. High school history teacher and content creator "Miss Redacted" is among them, and in a recent video, she argued that a lack of play during childhood is partially to blame.
The teacher said a lack of adequate play is part of why today's students are struggling with basic skills like reading and writing.
"My Roman Empire is the connection between physical development through play and academics," she said, before sharing her qualifications to speak on the topic. Miss Redacted currently teaches 11th-grade U.S. history, but previously worked at an early Head Start center, where she worked with one and two-year-olds.
"I feel like because that's been my experience, I really view child development from an interesting perspective," she said. "I'm able to make a lot of connections between younger kids and older kids and why they are the way they are and why they do things that they do."
One such connection she noticed is between a lack of play during early childhood and later academic difficulties. She noted that her current students were all "born after George Bush, no childhood left behind," and she has seen the results.
"They've been very heavily standardized tested from the time that they were in Kindergarten," she emphasized. "And what has been happening in the United States is play is being ripped out of schools. Play is being ripped out of elementary schools, and it is even being ripped out of preschools." Some elementary schools, she added, have even begun treating recess like art or P.E., meaning the students only have it once or twice a week for 20 to 30 minutes.
She has seen the consequences of this lack of play firsthand.
Miss Redacted claimed that many of her high school students don't have the "physical strength and stamina" to hold their pencils long enough to write essays by hand. She even referred to their hand strength as their "biggest hurdle"
"And this is coming from a woman who, the average child at the school that I teach at is at least three grades behind in reading and writing," she added. "And still, even with that literacy gap, holding a pencil for that amount of time is their biggest challenge."
"The way you build fine motor strength is first you have core strength, and then it kind of moves outward," the teacher explained. "If all your time is being spent on technology and not physical play, you're not lifting yourself, you're not pulling things, you're not crawling, you're not building that core strength. So then it's also harder for you to build that fine motor strength."
She recalled playing with Barbie Polly Pocket dolls as a child, which helped build her fine motor skills. By the time she was in high school, she could write essays by hand. "I still remember my hand hurt," she admitted, "but I could do it." Some of her current students cannot.
Physical play is necessary for children to develop their motor skills and cognition.
"People don't realize how much the brain and the body are connected," the teacher insisted.
PrasitRodphan | Shutterstock
According to Commonwealth Pediatrics, play is a vital part of development that influences every aspect of a child's growth and helps them become healthy, well-rounded individuals. When children perform activities such as drawing or building with blocks, they develop strong motor skills as Miss Redacted explained. They go on to develop better hand-eye coordination and dexterity which are crucial to everyday tasks such as writing and reading.
Play has other benefits, too. It aids in physical development, strengthening children's bones and muscles. It fosters social growth and emotional regulation. It boosts creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. It even promotes language development.
Truly, the advantages of childhood play should not be understated, especially if we want to set kids up for success in the future.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.