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Author Topic:   Skittles Are Out at School, Now, Tag is Too
jwhop
Knowflake

Posts: 2787
From: Madeira Beach, FL USA
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 15, 2008 12:04 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for jwhop     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Socialist stupidity knows no bounds. Now, tag, a game played at recess for generations of Americans has been thrown out..along with Skittles.

Tag is too aggressive you see. Boys might actually grow up to be men..if tag and other competitive games and sports aren't curtailed. Attempting to make wusses out of boys is simply disgusting.

So, tag has gotten out of hand. Some students play too rough. Well, what the hell, grab them off the playground and punish them. But wait, oh no, can't do that. It might scar their little psyches. I know, let's turn them all into girls.

These teachers, Principals, Administrators, School Boards and School Superintendents should be thrown out of their positions on their as@es. Not only have they failed to education our children, they've substituted indoctrination and propaganda for education.

Time to roll up public education and turn the education of our children over to private schools where high standards of conduct and learning are required. Where American history is taught not the revisionist history now being taught. Where math and science are important parts of the curriculum and where no one gets a free pass to the next grade level until they've mastered the required work at their present grade level.

Parents who sends their kids to a public school are borderline child abusers.

At McLean School, Playing Tag Turns Into Hot Potato

By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

A playground pastime is getting a timeout this spring at a McLean elementary school.

Robyn Hooker, principal of Kent Gardens Elementary School, has told students they may no longer play tag during recess after determining that the game of chasing, dodging and yelling "You're it!" had gotten out of hand. Hooker explained to parents in a letter this month that tag had become a game "of intense aggression."

The principal said that her goal is to keep students safe and that she hopes to restore tag (as well as touch football, also now on hold) after teachers and administrators review recess policies.

The decision has touched off a debate among parents. Some call the restriction an example of overzealous rulemaking that fails to address root problems and undermines children's development; others say it's best to err on the side of caution.

"We are regulating the fun out of normal childhood activity," said Jan van Tol, father of a Kent Gardens sixth-grader. "In our effort to be so overprotective, we are not letting children be children."

Gerri Swarm, secretary of the school's Parent-Teacher Association, said she was glad the principal was taking seriously student concerns about being pushed or shoved. "In this day and age, you can't dismiss this as something not to worry about," she said.

Many schools nationwide have whittled down playground activities in response to concerns about injuries, bullying or litigation. Dodge ball is a thing of the past in many places, and contact sports are often limited at recess.

The Fairfax County schools' office of risk management maintains a list of activities that are prohibited at any school-sponsored events. In addition to bungee-jumping and scuba diving, students are not permitted to break dance or play dodge ball or tug-of-war.

Restrictions on tag are less common. Officials at several suburban Washington school systems said they were not aware of any schools that had banned the game outright.

In most places, principals have considerable leeway to decide what is appropriate or safe recess behavior as they sometimes manage large numbers of students in small spaces. Kent Gardens, with more than 900 students, is over capacity. Hooker said the playground can get crowded when there are four or five classes there at one time.

Over the past couple of months, she had noticed that tag was taking up too much space and sending too many students to the nurse's office.

"This is not the old-fashioned tag, where you could use two fingers and you would be it and move on to someone else," Hooker said. The game, she said, has become much more aggressive. "I call it the nouveau tag."

This tag involves grabbing people who do not necessarily know they are playing and possibly bumping them to the ground. "Then the kids do 'pyramiding' or 'towering.' They pile on each other. [Sometimes] they call it 'jailhouse' or 'jailbreak,' " because the child has to break out, she said.

Since the prohibition began early this month, physical education teachers have begun a "chasing, fleeing and dodging" unit in first through fifth grades. Students essentially play variations of tag, and the teachers remind them about safety rules and point out the athletic skills they can transfer to other sports, said Sue Straits, a PE teacher.

Stephanie Sullenger, president of the Kent Gardens PTA, said she supports the principal. Sullenger said she suspects that children are acting out because of "spring fever," and that as their behavior improves, tag will be restored.

In the meantime, she said, "children are very resilient and creative, and I'm sure have moved on to find wonderful things to do on the playground."

Other parents said that slips and falls are part of growing up and that restricting games is not the right solution.

Chris Delta, a Kent Gardens mother, said she knows "life's not going to breeze" for her children. She wants them to learn how to cope with difficulty.

Her own daughter has been injured on the playground, she said. Once she was pushed off a jungle gym and had the wind knocked out of her, and another time she got a goose egg when a student threw a rock in the air and it landed on her head.

"I didn't expect because of these two instances that the equipment would be banned or all the rocks or pebbles or stones would be taken away," Delta said.

Michael Haaren, a father, said that if some children are being too aggressive, they should be disciplined. Limiting the activity is a "draconian" measure, he said.

He is concerned that schools are on a bad trajectory. "Where are we headed here? The elimination of recess altogether? It has happened in other schools. Will we eliminate 'duck duck goose' because kids are being touched?" he asked.

Dozens of parents turned out for a PTA meeting to hear the principal explain the decision. Many opposed the plan.

Hooker said the resistance surprised her. "I did not know that tag was so sacred," she said.

But many talk about the game in a tone tinged with nostalgia.

"When you think about elementary school, you do think about recess and tag. Boys chase girls and girls chase boys," Heidi Schwarztrauber said. "There is a lot of growing up in that."

She opposes restricting the game. "I think it robs the children of something very special . . . a universal experience," she said.

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Eleanore
Moderator

Posts: 112
From: Okinawa, Japan
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 15, 2008 12:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Eleanore     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Oh, my goodness.

Boys and girls played tag ... and dodgeball and tag football ... at my grade school. Sure, some of us really sucked but it was still fun (I speak as a nonathlete myself). And at home? Who wants to talk about Burnball (played with a raquetball) or Blind Man's Bluff or "Streetball"?

Ban sweets for health and ban physical activity (instead of punishing the naughty kids, heaven forbid you traumatize them, after all) for safety. Ban hugs on account of sexual harassment. Ban holidays to increase diversity and tolerance. In other words, ban being a child altogether. Create perfect mindless, homogenous little robots who only know how to take tests and follow directions without asking questions ... all for our perfect little future gulag.

<insert barfing noises ... and the "Fear of God" for our kids' futures>

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Xodian
Moderator

Posts: 275
From: Canada
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 15, 2008 12:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Xodian     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
And thus it begins... Reminicient of the whole "Holiday Tree" fiasco within Toronto itself. Its the more the individual here is question then a group. Its safe to say that the Principle in question has suffocated and abused her inner child Lol! The poor thing is probably sitting in the confines of her cranium, shiving... hungry... Sad...

Obviously, this is way too ridiculous.

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Mannu
Knowflake

Posts: 45
From: always here and no where
Registered: Apr 2009

posted April 16, 2008 08:56 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mannu     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Welcome to ugly capitalism in America.

The principal did a commendable job to prevent unneccessary lawsuits against the school.

Go to your homes, YMCAs, your local parks etc for your aggressive sports

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