Too poor to play
RECESS | Breaks common at affluent schools are rare in impoverished areas -- 'It's a big problem'
Recess is an age-old tradition. You can still find kids enjoying the midday break from class at the Chicago area's most-affluent schools. But good luck finding it in schools that serve Chicago's poorest and most violence-ridden communities.
And it's not just recess. Other breaks from formal academics -- like physical education or fine arts -- are also scarce commodities during the regular school day in some of Chicago's toughest neighborhoods, a Chicago Sun-Times survey found.
(Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
The survey follows a three-day Sun-Times series earlier this month, "Schooled in Fear," that chronicled how this year's spate of urban violence has left many Chicago's public school children afraid even to play outside their own homes, leave their block or go to a local park.
Experts say kids touched by violence need to play freely. Recess, physical activity and art can help them process stress and trauma. And play breaks, researchers say, help the brain absorb new material.
Still, given the test pressure caused by the federal No Child Left Behind law, "It's not a good time for kids and play," said Olga Jarrett, a Georgia State University associate professor who's president of the American Association for the Child's Right to Play. "It's a big problem.''
Jarrett recommends daily recess up to eighth grade. One of her studies found that fourth-graders were less fidgety and more focused after recess than their recess-starved peers.
At Chicago's Tonti Elementary, Principal Maria Vallejos-Howell agrees. She instituted a 10-minute recess at her Gage Park school and saw a difference in her students, 95 percent of whom come from low-income homes.
"I believe it's time very well spent,'' Vallejos-Howell said. "We are working with children, not machines.''
The Sun-Times contacted the 10 grammar schools in the six-county area serving the fewest low-income kids, and also 10 serving not only the area's most impoverished children -- at least 99.5 percent from low-income homes -- but also the 25 most-violent communities, based on Chicago Police Department data.
All 10 affluent schools offered at least 20 minutes of daily recess, usually tacked on to a lunch period of at least 20 minutes. Most of the impoverished schools offered no regular recess and a 20-minute lunch, though two of the schools did squeeze in 10 minutes of recess daily.
The typical affluent school featured far more phys ed than the one period a week usually found at the impoverished schools. And both art and music were common at advantaged schools, while impoverished ones mostly offered art and no music, though one had both and two had neither.
At far north suburban Oak Grove School -- serving Green Oaks and Libertyville and with virtually no low-income kids -- "recess is important to my parents,'' said Oak Grove District Supt. Janice Matthews. It not only gives kids a crack at much-needed "free play," Matthews said, but also at making and socializing with friends.
Oak Grove students spread over two playgrounds for daily recess. A "Peaceful Playground'' program offers organized games, using patterns painted on a blacktop. Phys ed is held daily in three gyms.
At the other end of the survey spectrum, kids at Randolph School in West Englewood get no recess and have no playground. Gym is once a week.
Twelve-year-old Fantasy Dunlap arrives 1½ hours early so she can play football with friends on the grass around the South Side school. She said she loves the chance to run because gunfire and gangs keep her out of her local park, and she can't venture more than two doors down from her own house for fear of violence.
At Randolph, by the time Fantasy winds through the cafeteria line, her 20-minute lunch is a rushed event.
"A break would be good,'' Fantasy said. "We need recess. We need time to walk around. We need more exercise.''
Like many principals, Randolph's Michelle Smith says testing demands, Chicago's 308-minute instructional day in grammar schools -- the state's 12th-shortest -- budget cuts and the cost of playground attendants conspire against recess and other extras
"I wholeheartedly believe [kids] are overloaded,'' Smith said.
"We all know what the research says. We all want to do what's right for kids. But the reality of the situation is there's a lack of time.''
Contributing: Art Golab