Another Elementary School Bans Tag
“For the times they are a-changin’”
Discovery Canyon Campus, an elementary school located in Colorado Springs, Colorado has joined the lengthening list of schools that have taken the stance of banning tag. Discovery Canyon took the action after some children complained that they were harassed and chased against their will.
According to assistant principal Cindy Fesgen, “It causes a lot of conflict on the playground.” The school is continuing to allow running games as long as children don’t chase each other.
Though the recent announcement received very little fanfare, earlier this year, Attleboro, Massachusetts hit the national news for their decision to also ban games of tag on the playground. At that time, the opening line of the AP story carrying the news all across the country read, “Not It” while the first line read “Tag, you’re out.” The seemingly preposterous decision to ban the game also led to CNN covering the decision on its national prime time news show and to Jay Leno of “The Tonight Show” poking fun at the school.
In most of the articles making their way across the country then, Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe was panned for establishing the ban on games of tag. The principal was quoted, perhaps somewhat unjustly, as saying recess is “a time when accidents can happen.”
To which we say, “Oh my goodness.”
4 comments
“A time when accidents can happen?” That’s crazy talk. Accidents can happen anywhere, anytime. Sure, we can do things to avoid them, but it’s never 100 percent, of course. What does the principal expect to do? Put everyone in bubble wrap?
[...] schools, one that eliminates many of the childhood games that children love to play. In “Another Elementary School Bans Tag,” we discussed the alarming overreaction of yet another public school that put an end to a [...]
[...] schools, one that eliminates many of the childhood games that children love to play. In “Another Elementary School Bans Tag,” we discussed the alarming overreaction of yet another public school that put an end to a [...]
It is hard to chase someone who doesn’t run away from you. So all you have to do is tell the child who doesn’t want to play to tell them don’t feel like playing tag and not to run from them. When you elimate chasing games you elimate running, with children getting so little exercise and a growing weight issues, I find this very concerning.
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