Mom, school is so boring.

How many times have you heard your son or daughter say school is boring or how many times have you thought that school was boring. I spent a lot of my years of education looking up at the ceiling tiles and picking out irregularities in the patterns of the dots. Other times I would count the dots and arrange the dots and lines in the tiles by shape and number each group. Then I would count the tiles in the room and multiply the number of dots and lines to come to a total of home many dots and lines were in a classroom.

All equal but not all the same.

I noticed that not all classrooms were the same and not all students were the same. Some students would raise their hands for every time the teacher didn’t finish a sentence.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect… anyone?
It means to be one.”

“That's Right Jenny!”

Jenny got the answer the teacher was looking for. But for the other 26 students that teacher might as well be speaking another language. The problem is that one person is participating and no one else could really care less. It’s not that the subject is not interesting or there is no rapport. The problem is that there is nothing to do.

Rules have changed.

When I played dodge ball in gym class in the 80s the kid who talk the loudest made themselves captain and chose players. They could care less for the dweebs that were picked last. Then the game started by a lucky toss of a coin or rocks scissors paper one team would get the ball first. If you were looking the wrong way for a second and the ball came to you then you were out. Back in those days when you were out that was it. You just waiting on the side of the gym until the all the players were out. There was nothing to do except maybe cheer on your team if you so any meaning in winning at all. Finally the game was over and those who were out first would never be picked first again. This is the way I was taught to play dodge ball.

In high school it got a little worse. Our coach had no tolerance for losers. If you were out you were not just standing around waiting. All losers were doing pushups. If you couldn’t do a pushup then you were running laps. He specially had it out for my hipster friend who would never wear the super short gym shorts and the stripped socks. That gym coach couldn’t stand his long hair and leather jacket. Every class the gym teacher searched him and made him run laps the whole time. That is not cool and that is not what I mean by everyone doing “something”.

My attitude towards PE and even dodge ball changed when I became a teacher. The Korean kids taught me a new way to play. When you were hit by the ball you were out but you were still in the game. Kids who are out can still get the ball and pass and throw the ball at the opposing team. The only thing they couldn’t do was be out because they are already out.

This little exercise allowing the “out” kids to continue playing put a totally new spin on the game. Everybody was playing all the time. It wasn’t just a bunch of kids waiting to get in again and two hot shots throwing a ball. It was team work and friendly competition. They forgot who won and who lost the game and who was out. They all had a chance to take turns and play.

It seems like in elementary school in Korea dodge ball and soccer are the most popular games. These games are fast moving and require participation from every player throughout the whole game. There is not a lot of set up or a lot of rules but constant participation. They really don’t ask why they are playing or who is winning. They just play their heart out.

In the Midwest in the 80s baseball and American football were the sports kids played. Often it was two kids playing and the other kids watching. I feel it is the same with the classroom and the same with movies and television and politics and banks and business. It is two kids playing and the rest watching.

I think it’s time that we grow up. I’m not just talking about giving the losers a chance, but I’m talking about living and playing and working for more than a score but for the joy of playing the game. I’m talking about giving a part to everyone as much as we can to help them experience it hands on and play with others on their own level.

It begins with my classroom and my family to allow my co-teachers, students, even my own kids to take a role and enjoy doing it even if they make mistakes and fail and have to start over again. The last day of winter English camp this week ended with a dodge ball game and the teacher learned a lesson.

This is just an eye opener to the way games used to be played and to the way they are now. I see some hope for a future when we can actually all enjoy playing the game.

Peace,

@mineopoly

Peace,

@mineopoly