Recess: A Helpful Tool for the Education of Young Males

As time progresses, men are becoming less and less likely to graduate from college. Many researchers attribute this to the slow start that young boys have in the classroom. In a recent article titled, “What Schools Can Do to Help Boys Succeed”, Christina Hoff proposes many ideas concerning reforms that might help young boys excel in the modern classroom. One of the main problems that Hoff attributes to the unfortunate lack of males thriving in school is the limited time that young students spend in recess. Hoff notes how “prolonged confinement in classrooms diminishes children’s concentration and leads to squirming and restlessness…” (Hoff). By not letting children release energy in a constructive manner, they possess and increased risk of discharging themselves by being disruptive in school. Hoff is not alone in this belief. In Pink Brain Blue Brain, Lise Eliot explains how beneficial an active lifestyle can be for the psyche and productivity of children.

Credit: John Spina

Eliot is a strong believer in the significant role that physical exercise plays on the mind. She is quick to provide a scientific explanation for this phenomenon and explains how kids,  “with their immature frontal lobes, can’t sit still for long periods and desperately need physical breaks to recharge their mental batteries” (Eliot, 151). It is likely that any athlete would confirm the many psychological benefits to exercise, but this becomes especially important in young children whose minds are still in the process of developing. While exercise is important to consider for its positive effects on the mental health of all children, it becomes a much larger factor when analyzing the classroom behavior of young boys.

Credit: Justin Tarte

Recess is of so much more importance for a boy’s success in the classroom because his brain typically develops at a later age than a girl’s brain. Eliot ties male fidgeting in the classroom to a deficit of inhibitory control due to under-developed frontal lobes. She also notes the precedence of the frontal lobe and how it is “the most distinctly human but also the slowest region of the cerebral cortex to mature. It is crucial to the child’s ability to sit still, concentrate on the task at hand, and get along with other people” (Eliot, 148). As mentioned earlier, it is the frontal lobes that so greatly benefit from exercise. As schools continue to diminish recess, the young male’s ability to learn and stay focused in school will be debilitated. Hopefully, institutions will learn from the research at hand and develop more methods for boys to express and expel their built up energy.

Works Cited
Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps-and What we Can Do About It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.

Hoff Sommers- Christina. “What Schools Can Do to Help Boys Succeed.” Time.com. Time, 26 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2014