When asking my five year old sister what her favorite part of Kindergarten was, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that her response was, “RECESS!” Being able to run around freely and burn off excess energy is an activity that all elementary schools typically support. All kids look forward to recess. Kids can jump rope, swing on monkey bars, use the slides, play tag and do many more activities that come with American culture. Although, once these children move up the grades to 6-12th, they’ll find that recess no longer exists. Middle schoolers and high schoolers are not given time for recess because their  studies and electives are deemed more necessary. Whether or not recess for high school students is necessary in a school setting has been a debatable topic for years. Some argue that recess helps students to progressively develop in multiple aspects whereas others simply counter that recess distracts students from their work. 

When asking the students of Roswell High School to answer a poll on whether or not they think students need recess, 106 students said yes and 12 people said no. Obviously the majority of the students desire to have scheduled leisure time where they don’t have to worry about the stresses of schoolwork and can instead socialize with their peers. One student who voted for no on the poll explained that nothing good would come out of recess. He worried that recess would be too uncontrollable to be properly supervised by the staff, and students would have more time to break rules such as fighting and smoking. While this is a mature perspective on the topic at hand, another student who voted yes on the poll countered that measures could be taken for recess to be properly supervised, similarly to how personal fitness electives are watched over by coaches. However, adults and staff can argue that the opinions of the students are biased considering that the majority of them will pick whichever option gives them the freedom that they want regardless of if it is the best for them and their safety. 

Studies show that there are a multitude of positive consequences that come out of recess. Carlee Adams states in her article, “Recess Makes Kids Smarter”, that recess show results that students are, “less fidgety and more on task, have improved memory and more focused attention, develop more brain connections, learn negotiation skills, [and] exercise leadership”. This is explaining that recess helps to take the stress off of students shoulders by offering their brains a break from schoolwork, and this in turn gives them renewed focus for when they return back to classes. Cat Bowen states in his article, “Here Are All The Things That Happen To Kids When They Don’t Get Recess”, that, “according to a study completed by the University of Rochester, students who don’t receive adequate play time in their day are likely to experience retarded growth in their cognitive, physical, and psychosocial development”. Cognitive thinking skills are used to intake, comprehend, remember and apply information which is used daily by humans. This highly important skills seems to go hand in hand with recess, which is an argument that seems to not have an impact in the overall debate. 

On the other hand, others counter that the excitement of looking forward to recess distracts kids from their schoolwork. That itself gives people reason to believe that recess will do more harm than help and should therefore continue to stay separate from the high school experience.