A Colorado Springs school has banned tag. In fact, they banned any game involving chasing. How come? "'It causes a lot of conflict on the playground,' said Assistant
Principal Cindy Fesgen. In the first days of school, before tag was
banned, she said students would complain to her about being chased or
harassed." And it's stories like this that make me wonder if I'm becoming some crotchety libertarian crackpot, poised to start scrawling letters to the editor. Because I think this is ri-stupid-iculous. Here's how my rant will start: "We are raising a nation of namby-pamby kids, unable to resolve conflicts or function in the world because there's a damn ban on everything remotely controversial."
Seriously, I'm irritated for starters because we've already sheltered our kids from physical activities like bike riding and walking to school because supposedly there's a kidnapper or pedophile lurking on every corner. Now in an effort to purge the schoolyard of conflict, there's bans on every dang activity (even ones like tag that are good for fitness) and just loads of focus on a safe, positive, orderly school climate. That isn't a totally bad thing, but outlawing crap is really a lame solution. How about working with kids on conflict resolution? Having kids take part in the discussion of what's appropriate and what's hurtful, and give them a say in determining the rules? Or not worrying so damn much about our children being scarred by tag?
Yup, I'm a total crank.
