Long Island School Bans Balls at Recess:

All schools want to keep their kids safe, especially during recess, but exactly where the line is drawn could be too far.  Webber Middle School in Long Island New York is choosing to ban balls during recess.  Things like footballs, basketballs, baseballs, soccer balls, tennis balls, and anything else that could put a child in danger are being banned from the school.  The school is also choosing to ban games of ‘tag’ and even doing cartwheels because of the possible danger they may have to children.  The only exception is if a coach is peasant, otherwise everything is off limits.  Also, if a coach is peasant, students can’t use anything besides a ‘nerf’ ball.

Although there are benefits to this, there are several negatives to it just as well.  First off, kids aren’t having enough time to just play and be with their friends and do what they want to do.  Isn’t the point of recess to have fun and take a break from school anyways?  Also, there has been several groups and organizations that try and get kids active every day.  An example of this that is seen very often is “Play 60”, which encourages kids to get outside and play for an hour a day.  Although it won’t have much of an effect but child obesity is a problem in the United States and if kids cannot play, they’re not getting the exercise they need.  Now some kids are out for sports so that’s not a problem but that is not the case for them all.

Although there are many negatives to this, there are some positives as well.  Even though it is not common, kids usually do not get serious injuries during recess.  In the schools defense, if a child gets hurt there could be some liabilities to the school.  Ultimately, not letting these kids do these things without regulations is best for the school so it is in their best interest to put regulations on them.

Another thing that this new rule is affecting is the kid’s abilities to learn from their experiences.  Recess is a lot more than just playing around, kids learn life lessons and encounter things that happen in the real world which they will have to learn to deal with and learn from.  Things like kids being unfair, mean, and playing rough is not always fair, but then again life is not fair.  The sooner kids get to realize this is the better.  If the school won’t let kids have a normal recess they’re not just missing out on play time and having fun, they are missing out on learning things that they could never learn in a classroom.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/08/long-island-ball-ban_n_4065353.html

Klein, Rebecca. "Long Island Middle School Bans Balls To Protect From Injuries." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.