Ummm? Childhood obesity?
According to the Associated Press, the Willet Middle School of Attleboro, Massachusetts has
“banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they’ll get hurt and hold the school liable.”
The story also mentioned the school’s older ban on dodgeball because it was
“exclusionary and dangerous.”
As a kid, I had known dodgeball could be dangerous, but the exclusionary tag escapes me.
I found this list of recess games & rules under which a school system is indemnified.
- CRAPS: Players are not allowed to raise dice above shoulder level before rolling. Because of the danger of ricochets off coins, children may only wager folding money. Students may not collect delinquent debts on school property.
- CARDS: Any number of card games are allowable, but the use of chips is not. Errant throws from the Craps games may ricochet off the chips. Again, only paper money is the medium for wagering. During the dealing of hands, each card must be placed before the player. Flicking the cards in a professional manner is unallowed.
- CREATIVE VISUALIZATION: The purpose of school is to teach. Students are encouraged to imagine they are playing “chase games,” “touch football” and “dodgeball.” The school district’s play psychologist will work with students who have difficulties with other students who appear in their visualizations. If the problem persists, the psychologist will tender methods of erasing the offending individual from the student’s visualization. In extreme cases, the imagined student may face suspension and/or expulsion.
- WET WORK: As educators, we realize proscribed activities may cause problems later in life. Why should a twelve-year-old have to worry about lawsuits? We agree. The school system will endeavor to teach students how to sublimate their frustration and channel it into activities which can benefit the nation later.
Please find the article here.