Fixing education, pt. 10: The vital importance of play

The Puritans were really not into play. As early ancestors, they were kinda culty, and yet many of their rigid dogmas have percolated down through the years into American culture. We value work over play. We see idle time as wasted. We speak endlessly of striving, achieving, of excelling. In many western cultures, the play of the rich has been accepted, but the play of the poor is seen as degenerate. We rarely place worth on resting, goofing off, silliness, day dreaming. Yet play is so central to joy, peace, love and a good life. Furthermore, play is how humans evolved to learn all the skills of life. Through play, children learn, develop, gain confidence and courage, practice kindness and empathy, perseverance and patience. All the skills of life bloom in childhood play. Thus, childhood used to be a time when all forms of play were allowed and expected. Many forces have come to limit childhood play, but one of the most damaging has been our current school structure. It is based on a fundamental idea that we must mold a child into a good adult, and that if we do not force learning upon them, that they will not learn. At its core, this idea is profoundly disrespectful of the individual child and their inborn capacity to grow into themselves. It does offer the adult a feeling of supremacy and belief in the power to control outcomes. Unfortunately, the common result is a child who attempts to please their adults and in so doing is forced to crush their own instinctive love of learning and motivation to explore their world. Their curiosity becomes repressed by adult insistence that they learn skills on an adult timetable and of an adult's choosing. We often speak of the importance of a child's internal motivation, but in education, we do not create environments that allow them the freedom and time to pursue their own curiosity. The result is teens who jump through all the hoops they are told to jump through, but once freed to seek their own life have no motivation to seek out and learn on their own. Often, they are so out of touch with their own self they do not even know what interests them. Nor do they have a sense of their reason for being. It's important to understand that play based education is not just about early childhood development. Certainly it is critical in the very young. Many studies have shown academic pre-schools and kindergartens often shut down a child's love of learning early. However, play-based, child and teen-initiated learning with teacher support is equally vital to the growth and development of a modern child. Today's world requires adults capable of frequent retraining, reinvention and flexibility as our society develops at an accelerated pace. Allowing significant time in every day for a child to follow their self-initiated exploration inherently lets them learn how to learn. It allows their innate drive to learn and grow to develop into a lifelong skill. "Children are biologically predisposed to take charge of their own education. When they are provided with the freedom and means to pursue their own interests, in safe settings, they bloom and develop along diverse and unpredictable paths, and they acquire the skills and confidence required to meet life's challenges.," – From "Free to Learn" by Peter Gray. If you have concerns about a child's ability to learn all they need through play, then please follow one of the leading authorities on play and education: Peter Gray for "Play Makes Us Human," on Substacks. I'm working on a book about public education reform and special education issues. If you are a parent, teacher or school professional, I'd like to tell your story. Everything will, of course, be confidential. You can reach me at 241kcawley@gmail.com.