Soooo…What Happened To Recess?
The Shift Within: How We End Oppression and Divisiveness to Create Liberation and Indivisibility for All
I’m blogging a book! Click here to start at page one or jump right in below.
Soooo…What Happened To Recess?
When I completed the cluster map below examining the system of public school education in the USA, I began to see how every element is interconnected either directly (a direct line connects students to writing) or indirectly (writing is indirectly connected to funding because a direct line connects students to funding). These interconnections lead to interdependencies. Several scenarios can be thought of where each direct or indirect connection is dependent on other elements within the system of education to achieve an outcome.
An example cluster map of interconnected relationships within the social system of public school education in the USA.
For example, let’s take a closer look at the element of recess. Recess is dependent on several elements within the system of education cluster map and the variables within them. Since the “2001 No Child Left Behind Act” was implemented as a solution for improving outcomes for students in low-income communities the influence of standardized testing in schools increased and recess time decreased. What was once a daily activity twice a day when I was growing up became something that only happened once or twice a week when I was teaching in elementary school from 2007-2012 due to the pressure from our principal to be in testing preparation mode daily for as much time as possible. The principal was under pressure from the area superintendent and the area superintendent was under pressure from the district superintendent.
This feedback loop of pressure continued up the education hierarchy all the way to politicians who were pressuring superintendents so that they could make good on their campaign trail promises to improve education. Ultimately, the test score improvement goals proved to be too lofty and the pressure proved to be too much. Cheating scandals emerged, schools weren’t meeting their goals, and fun and creative classes like art, music, and physical fitness were taken away from many young people in low-income communities in addition to recess.
The common systems archetypes “fixes that fail” and “shifting the burden” are also evident in this situation. The No Child Left Behind Act was a quick-fix solution created by the Bush administration that was designed to address the symptoms of poor educational outcomes while neglecting root causes and the complexities of the various social and economic realities of low-income children and families. Ultimately the negative impacts and burdens of this policy and the lack of systems thinking awareness used to create it was felt by the principals, teachers, and students the most.
In the next post I’m going to discuss the impact of the interconnections and interdependencies in this scenario on social systems outside of education.
Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll join me for my next post!
Click here to view previous posts.