Sad

[cjsmith]

Game of tag banned in Santa Monica school

I grew up without seat belts or bike helmets. How rapidly our concerns for safety have multiplied since then!

Comments

From the article:

[the-ogre.livejournal.com]

"SANTA MONICA — A Santa Monica elementary school has banned the game of tag, once synonymous with youth and innocence, because they say it creates self-esteem issues among weaker and slower children."

Not because it's unsafe, but because some kids are stronger and faster than others. The logical next step, obviously, is to abandon all sports for the same reason. And while they're at it, they should probably get rid of anything academic that smacks of competition (like, say, grades).

That's disgusting.

Re: From the article:

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

The article went on to cite safety, and indicated that the school's stated reasons for disallowing the game were safety-related.

Re: From the article:

[the-ogre.livejournal.com]

Yeah - but it did seem as if the actual reasons were the ones stated so clearly in the portion of the article that I cited.

It still seems kind of over the top to me.

Re: From the article:

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

[nods] On second glance, I figure the school was backpedaling when mentioning skinned knees as a reason. And in ANY case, I agree with you completely that it's overboard.

[portia.livejournal.com]

Ugh. That makes me sick. I'm so tired of all this molly-coddling of children, trying to make them feel all warm and fuzzy 100% of the time. Kids aren't all equal and the sooner the little snots realize that the better!

And another thing...

[portia.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming "Smear the Queer" is no longer allowed to be played either. Fuckers.

Re: And another thing...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Showing my ignorance... never heard of that one.

Re: And another thing...

[portia.livejournal.com]

Heh. I never played it but my brother (and all the boys) did. I think it was just a violent version of tag, where you got to pound on the guy who was "it." There were no real queers involved. (At least none who were out of the closet at the age of 10.) ;o)

Seriously, why can't kids just play tag? Who gives a crap? Pretty soon hide-n-seek will be outlawed because fat kids can't find as many places to hide. Argh! I am so sick of all the politically correct BS.

[anisoptera.livejournal.com]

While I agree that children should play games that burn off energy, I think "tag" can be retired along with any game that "chooses up sides" along with dodge ball. Tag is fine in private, with friends, but as part of a public school program, we can do better. For exmaple:
http://web.bham.ac.uk/M.Cox/games/homepage.htm

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I got the impression from the article that tag wasn't necessarily part of a school program, and that playing it at recess was the sort of thing that was banned. That said, I like non-competitive games as a way to teach that fun doesn't have to create winners and losers. Yes competition is a fact of life, but non-zero-sum games are too, and it's useful to teach them (if only so that the kids will look for win-win solutions to things).

Competition

[anisoptera.livejournal.com]

Yes, real life has competition, Until a a few years ago I would have agreed with you. Now I found that people who are emotionally heathlier have been "protected" from competition in early life and are perfectly capable of dealing with competition in later life. Especially if the earlier life had unconditional love as part of it.

With unconditional love, they get all they need to meet life's challanges.

This has been a big life change for me.

Re: Competition

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I'm missing which part of what I said you're disagreeing with. That real life has competition? That it should be okay to play tag at recess? That it is good to teach non-competitive games?

Re: Competition

[anisoptera.livejournal.com]

Kids don't have to learn to play tag so they will be able to deal with competion as adults.

Is this more clear?

Re: Competition

[anisoptera.livejournal.com]

Elaboration: Tag should not be played in school yards, where parents expect school personnel to supervise. Neighborhood games amoung kids is "private space". Kid will sort this out for themselves. Uncontrolled competative games in school yards, smacks of institutional approval.

Sort of like, tell "dirty..sexist...etc"..jokes to friends (who appreciate it) in private, but don't make it part of the overall work/public enviroment.

Re: Competition

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ah ok, thanks. I'm not sure what my position on this is. I would be very surprised if there is any child in America today who grew up without any form of competition. That child would be a good test case for learning competition for the first time as an adult...

[dpaul007.livejournal.com]

I agree with the_ogre - we're going to end up banning all competition because it will invariably end with someone being the loser.

There's no sense in making kids deal with "winners" and "losers" beacuse there's nothing like that in real life, is there?

This makes me want to hurl. It also makes me ashamed to be a native Californian.

You just knew I'd have to kick in an opinion here, didn't ya?

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

OK, yeah, I agree, it seems really stupid to outlaw a game like Tag. Seems, at least on the surface, analagous to the way we're promoting allergies in kids by keeping them in such clean & sterile environtments (not MY house, though, heh heh heh...). Kids, like adults, grow with adversity (though, of course, we should protect them from overwhelming amounts of diversity).

ON THE OTHER HAND.... Hell. I've been up at the school yard. Kids are cruel to each other, they really are. And something which can seem as innocent as a game of tag can become, easily, a lightening rod for problems. And sometimes, harsh as it may seem, a ban on a particular activity -- even for a short period of time -- may be just the redirection the kids need. I mean, can you imagine Tag becoming an excuse for the strong/bullies/whatever to pick on the relentlessly-picked-upon? I sure can. Easily. Look at "Smear the Queer". Look at the way dodge ball was used as an excuse to pound on the weak.

Hell -- just the other day I threw away a pair of perfectly good swimming goggles. Why? Because we only had the one pair left, and it became a battle ground amoung my kids -- "Who gets the goggles" was the most hotly contested pool game -- leading to pouting, crying, name-calling, and near-violence. Mommy solution? Toss the damned things. Immediately puts a stop to the problem. Kids learn the lesson that they'd better play nice or they might not get to play. Was it the fault of the goggles? Of course not. Fault of the kids? Nah -- they're just being kids. It's just one of those things, ya know?

Same thing here -- while I don't know the particular school yard. My guess is it *HAD* gotten out of hand, folks WERE going over the top, using tag as the vehicle for bullying, etc. And the school put a stop to it by putting a stop to the game. Then the newspapers pick it up with a whiney "Oh, gee, I remember that game from when I was a kid, that was fun, what's the world coming to when we steal the fun from our kids?"

Yeah, I grew up in an era of no seat-belts/bike helmets/etc. I also grew up in a household of abuse. Mebbe we go over the top the other way sometimes, but hell, we're just trying to protect kids. It's not easy, but it's worth it, I think. :)

Lisa
da opinionated

Re: You just knew I'd have to kick in an opinion here, didn't ya?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

You may be right that the kids were being really nasty. I don't know either way. You're definitely right that kids can be cruel. I think the underlying problem there isn't a game, but poor supervision.

So maybe the school is banning tag temporarily, and using that as a way of supervising/disciplining the kids: "you better play nice or you can't play at all". That's certainly not the slant given by the article, but hey, shame on me for "believing" the slant given by the press anyhow.