Why Bother With Recess?

By Cynthia A. Elder and Michael C. Obel-Omia

One of Aesop's fables, "The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs," is the story of a couple whose desire for instant gratification deprived them of sustained riches. A husband and wife were so fixated on the golden eggs their goose laid every day that they decided to kill the bird. Anticipating great wealth, they cut it open, only to find flesh instead of gold. The moral of this story, of course, is that sometimes we make decisions that are shortsighted and result in intense losses.

Today's schools and educators are facing enormous pressures to achieve. The stakes are high. Many of the jobs current elementary students will fill as adults do not yet exist or will be completely re-envisioned by the time they enter the workforce.

Ironically, in an effort to prepare our students for these future challenges, schools have made decisions that may weaken our children's social, emotional, intellectual, and physical health, while crippling their ability to think creatively, gain...