Posted August 13, 2010

Guest Blogger: Jessie Mansbacher, Lund and Company Invention, L.L.C.

After reading Stuart Brown’s article Let the Children Play (Some More), on how play shapes the brain, I had to confront a enigmatic idea – Brown is saying that play is integral to a child’s development and that the rigid, serious business of school prevents many children from reaping this benefit. By that logic, it seems to me that it would be better for a child to spend the day “playing school” rather than sitting in an actual classroom listening to an actual teacher.

While I enjoy the subversiveness of this idea, I also think it may actually have merit.

A young woman myself, I can easily think back to my many long days sitting at a desk and fighting to keep my eyes open while my ________ (insert grade here, whether elementary school, highschool, or college level makes no difference) teacher drones on about something I no longer quite remember (for example: the only way I can recall the quadratic equation anymore is to sing a little song I made up about it in sixth grade – which just reinforces the value of play over school, doesn’t it?). I can also think back to the days of playing school in my best friend’s basement, where she miraculously had a chalkboard on the wall (the inspiration for the game in the first place). It was one of our favorite activities, even during summer vacation.

Why on earth would that be so entertaining when school itself was a droning bore most of the time? Brown hits the nail on the head when he refers to the merits of “elective, self-organized play.” When I played school, I was in charge. I organized the room to look just so. I built desks and chairs out of blocks, sticks, books, rope, and anything I could get my hands on. I invented a lesson plan, and I wrote it out on the black board exactly how I wanted it. I made up an alter-teacher-persona and became a new person. I wrote out homework for my pupil(s) (sometimes my friend’s little sisters would join us). Sometimes I yelled and screamed and stomped about disciplining pupils who didn’t want to listen. I told the time. I made “coffee” (mixing many weird things from the kitchen together could always produce “coffee”). I remember these play sessions vividly and fondly – I never had trouble staying awake at play school. 

Don’t you see? I wasn’t a kid, or a student. I was the agent. I was an interior designer, a construction worker, a master craftsman, a chef, a prison guard, a professor, an improv actor, a calligrapher, an academic, a creative. I was learning through doing and no one ever told me when I was “wrong.” In fact, I was never wrong. 

So, yeah, play is good. Stuart Brown knows his stuff. Play keeps kids healthy – mind, body, and soul. Unfortunately, we can’t fire all the teachers in our children’s schools and replace them with the children themselves. But can we work more play into the school day? Sure. Can we let students build their own furniture, or create their own lesson plans? Devise homework for each other? Sure. Can we let them make the coffee? Maybe.