Should High Schools Bring Back Recess????

Ashlin Morris, Staff Writer

Should high school students be able to have recess? I think that at Ridgeview school we kind of have a recess during our lunch period because the school provides the students with activities they can participate in during my lunch. I think that the students can enjoy the activities that we are given during lunch because it gives us something to do with our friends and just something to do in general. 

But I don’t think that high school students would necessarily go play on a play structure for recess like we did when we were younger. Therefore, I feel that recess wouldn’t really make a difference for students whether we decided to have it or not. In addition, I personally think that having a recess for high school students doesn’t really have many benefits because the school would spend money to get equipment for the students to participate in things and then I think that it wouldn’t get much use. 

This is why in my opinion just sticking to the small activities we are provided at lunch is just fine. A benefit from it is that students can participate with their friends in the activities. An example is the school had a volleyball tournament that was free. You just had to sign up in order to play. This allowed the students who played to have fun during their lunch period and it also allowed the students who were watching to have fun as well. 

One thought that I have is if we should have a recess before lunch and then our regular lunch period. While I think that this thought could be cool I think that it would definitely change our schedules which would most likely mean we would be at school longer because we are given extra time for a recess. But I do think students would enjoy an extra break between classes because sometimes it is just nice to take a break from learning and relax your brain before starting to learn again. 

A CDC article says that studies can show that having a recess or a learning break is good for all students because it increases the level of physical activity, memory, attention, and concentration.  I think these are all good benefits besides the fact that it gives students extra physical activity which in my opinion is why we have PE class in high school.

So in conclusion, I feel that while the thought of recess in high school is a cool idea, it’s not really needed so much for high school students. I think that we get enough physical activity in our PE classes and that my lunch break is enough time for me to take a learning break and hang out with friends.