Did you catch the recent article in the Times about a “forest kindergarten” outside of New York City?
Schools around the country have been planting gardens and planning ever more elaborate field trips in hopes of reconnecting children with nature. The forest kindergarten at the Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs is one of a handful in the United States that are taking that concept to another level: its 23 pupils, ages 3 ½ to 6, spend three hours each day outside regardless of the weather. This in a place where winter is marked by snowdrifts and temperatures that regularly dip below freezing.
The new forest kindergarten, which opened here in September, is an extreme version of the outdoor learning taught at more than 100 Waldorf schools, all but a handful of them private, scattered throughout the United States. They are based on the teachings of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner and emphasize the arts and the natural world, with no formal academic curriculum until first grade.
Read the article. Sounds lovely, no? Many years ago, when I was looking at preschools for C., I took a look at the local Waldorf preschool, Acorn Hill. It too is set in the woods, and I totally fell in love with the soft pink classrooms, the little clay mugs set on the little wooden tables with bunches of flowers picked by the kids, no plastic in sight anywhere. Unfortunately, it was pricier than we could afford at the time. Still, I have a soft spot in my heart for many aspects of Waldorf education, not least the embrace of kids spending time in nature engaged in unhurried imaginative play.
Now contrast that with this description of Oakland Terrace Elementary School, a mere three miles away, that appeared in the Post over the weekend:
one of the most overcrowded schools in an crowded district, has 800 students, 10 kindergarten classes, 11 portable classrooms and only four and a half restrooms. But the numbers are an abstraction until lunchtime….
But when the classrooms are emptied for lunch and recess, carefully controlled chaos ensues….
The kindergartners walked outside to recess, passing a long incoming line of first-graders getting squirts of hand sanitizer. Once outside, they exploded in a burst of pent-up energy. Some of them ran in circles around the playground. Others clambered on the slides and toys in the yard. There was a lot of excited screaming. The adults kept a vigilant eye on the tumultuous scene, making sure no one got hurt or ran into the residential area next door.
When the allotted 25 minutes were up, the supervisors blew whistles and corralled the students into groups on the blacktop, where they marched back to class.
Parents can wax as poetic as they want about how great MCPS schools are, about “learning communities,” etc. etc. etc. But let’s be clear-eyed about it. School are institutions in every sense of the word, and all the more so in a school system as large as MCPS.
A new documentary takes this observation and runs with it. “The War on Kids” is, according to the New York Times review, “a shocking chronicle of institutional dysfunction.”
Arranged in sections that range from merely interesting to downright horrifying, this provocative documentary suggests a system regulated by fear and motivated by the desire to control. Tracing the evolution and application of zero-tolerance policies on drugs and violence, the director, Cevin Soling, amasses overwhelming evidence of institutional overreaction. When an 8-year-old can be suspended for pointing a chicken finger and saying “Pow,” we know that common sense has officially left the building.
You can check the trailer here:
P.S. This post on GeekDads.com seems like the perfect accompaniment to this post: How to Get Your Kids out Drawing from Nature.
P.P.S. In case people were thinking this “school as prison” idea is a bit far-fetched, or doesn’t apply to our benevolent leafy suburb, Silver Chips, the Blair High School newspaper, has broken a story about bathrooms being locked during lunch that has been picked up by the media. Here’s the Post’s Answer Sheet take on it: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/high-school/school-closes-bathrooms-becaus.html
Gosh, switched on mom, you are a gem. You are that rare breed of gifted advocate who artfully combines the need for gifted children to soar and grow coupled with play, nature and wonder. We think alike! I couldn’t find this in gifted classrooms so as you know, I pulled my PG kid out and homeschooled her for a year. My biggest regret is that I did not do it sooner, much sooner. Where I live, gifted is not how these kids think but how much they achieve.
I’ll flesh this out better tomorrow. Stressful week. My brain’s fried.
Gosh J. You’re making me blush. We should arrange a MoreChild meet up sometime, what do you think? Could be fun for readers to meet.
It is so funny that they are concerned about when the weather dips below freezing. At our school they now have an official policy. It has to be 15-below Zero before they will cancel outdoor recess.
Ocassionally they do cancel school up here in northern MN when it is really, really cold (usually 40-below or lower). And what do our kids want to do…play outside (see the picture in the link below)
Funny indeed. Here in Maryland, the school policy is if the temp is below 32 degrees the kids have indoor recess. 32 degrees!!
Sigh.
My homeschooled son gets to spend at least one day each week in a wilderness program, and we have the freedom to craft a schedule that suits us. My daughter is happy in a small, alternative private school that values creativity and child-led learning.
But, Teen Daughter is heading off to public high school next year, and I’m already jumping hoops to make sure she has the option of being in the Honors classes. And, I can only hope (as counseled by friends who’ve been there, done that) that placing her in accelerated classes will ensure that she’s in classes with kids who want to learn.
Geez, I’d almost forgotten that she’ll be going to the same school where I boy earned a life sentence for opening fire on his classmates.
Teen daughter is asking how soon she can attend a foreign exchange. I’m thinking sooner rather than later.
Good luck as you embark on the high school journey, Sandra. Foreign exchange asap is what my youngest one is talking about as well. Oldest just wants to get the heck out of Dodge.
My daughter began school this year as an 8th grader, by her choice. She was placed in all honors, plus three high school level classes. Unfortunately she found that her honors and “high school classes” (with one exception) students did not want to learn. In these classes, the students did not complete homework or if they did, many did so with such brevity and quickness that they did not put any thought into it. The “honors” students did not participate in discussion and if they did, there was no thinking or problem solving to their statements / answers. To my daughter, this was such a dissapointment.
The exception to this is a handpicked, four students, all girls Algebra 2/Trig class (typically taken by sophmores, juniors or even seniors). The girls in this class have fun while learning. They are all competitive, yet supporting of one another. All four girls have A averages – working bilaterally together with the instructor to succeed at a high level of mathematics while in 8th grade.
Because of this experience, our daughter, has chosen to apply to a 9th grade – magnet – by admittance only – public school in which she would have to endure an hour plus bus ride to and from school, in addition to 7 + hours in school. She is praying that if she gets in this will help her meet students that actually want to learn. Before this school year, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to apply; however, she quickly realized it was the “right place” for her.
And what can we (the parents and taxpayers) do to make it better. Either soften the edges or make a fundamental change.
Smaller schools would be better.
Why don’t they deal with the overcrowded lunch and recess times by having each grade go at a different time? My son’s elementary school has half the amount of kids and this is what they do.
SwitchOn, YES!!! We should meet. Let’s plan this for after New Years. If not a group, I’m taking you up on that months ago proposal to meet up for coffee. But rounding up a bunch of us who ring Washington, DC is a fabulous idea.
J.