
Why Kids Shouldn’t Sit Still in Class - tuxguy
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/well/family/why-kids-shouldnt-sit-still-in-class.html
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Pulcinella
HS science teacher here. I'm lucky in that I have lab tables that are standing
height(there are of course stools as well).

All the other teachers are not so lucky. One of the reasons that a typical
classroom has desks in rows is because that's all the school provides. Most
teachers at my school would love actual tables to group kids at. Tables are so
much more flexible; you can have stations, group discussions, combine them for
a round table discussion, etc. Kids and teachers can move around to the
different tables much more easily than desks in rows.

Your average school desk is also just a POS. They are too small for most HS
students (and not just because "The Yanks are fat" you rude foreigner :P ).
They are lousy build quality. They are too low to the ground. ADA height
tables are actually taller than student desks. This also kills teachers' backs
when we have to bend over the check student work.

I would love if we had standing tables but they are expensive (especially for
"school grade" tables) and schools would rather spend money every year
replacing crappy desks and buying smart boards.

Edit: Also as teachers we are told to be "more engaging" but then when
administrators do walk throughs and observations we get docked for having the
kiddos moving around the classroom and talking because some of the admin are
not used to anything other than teachers lecturing to a quiet, obedient
classroom.

~~~
baddox
Oh dear. SMART Boards. I hadn't thought about those for a while. They were all
over my high school, and they were such a waste of time and money. One of my
favorite memories from high school was when a teacher mistakenly drew on one
with a permanent marker.

~~~
Pulcinella
Smart boards are the Microsoft or IBM of schools.

"No administrator has ever looked bad in front of parents for buying smart
boards."

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abledon
Also reminds me of parents who are hurried, and say, 'Ok I'll just throw my
kid in the stroller for today, even though they are old enough to stand/walk
around today... Its just that I'm in a rush and I cant move as slow as them, i
need to speeeeed down the streets to do all my errands.' So the kids are
already sitting down when they are 4/5 years of age and the body is really ,
really trying to develop and get a sense of bone/structure/alignment but is
already being corrupted by having been locked into a stroller every day
mom/dad goes out for errands with them. Sheesh!

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mattmanser
I find this sort of attitude to be fairly insidious, you're suggesting that
kids should become the entire focus of a parent's life, which is actually just
as harmful.

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sgehly
Should they not be?

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sokoloff
IMO, no.

We care (well, IMO) for our kids, but my wife and I continue to have our own
individual interests and we do family or couple things that the kids would
prefer we didn't.

Just because we could lavish our children with 16 hours of undivided attention
per day (entire focus), doesn't mean that's healthy for the kids or the
adults. The kids need to learn that they live in a collective world that does
not revolve around them, and the adults need to have time and space to live
their adult lives as well.

~~~
cylinder
I don't​ know how or why people do this. My parents made us ride in the car
with them on weekends as they spent hours driving around looking at real
estate to invest in. We hated it but did it. It was quite beneficial (I just
wish they bought some)

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bayesian_horse
Sitting still is important for children. Restricting movement builds will
power through strengthening the pre-frontal cortex.

That doesn't mean there shouldn't be regular activity or exercise, just that
sitting still is very important.

~~~
thomastjeffery
Even if that is true, does that mean we should make children sit still and
quiet for the better part of _7 hours a day_ 5 days a week?

I don't think so.

~~~
bayesian_horse
On a side note: Breaks and activity are necessary.

And maybe, through developing better ways to develop a strong PFC, which is
crucial to a non-violent society. I do believe that compulsory schooling, and
increasing rates of schooling, lowered the rates of violence somewhat. I don't
have proof for that idea, unfortunately, but it is plausible just from the
idea that school builds discipline or strengthens the attention network in the
brain, and that this kind of strengthening has been linked to better self
control and less aggression.

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mschuster91
> “We need to recognize that children are movement-based,” said Brian Gatens,
> the superintendent of schools in Emerson, N.J. “In schools, we sometimes are
> pushing against human nature in asking them to sit still and be quiet all
> the time.”

Exactly: Schools are bending and breaking kids so that they will be perfectly
quiet persons later in life - let's face it, not many people will do work that
will require moving around in the future. Also, these kids are likely to not
rebel later in life or question authorities, when their resistance has been
broken early in their youth.

Honestly, I'm 25 and I had ample time after school to go out and play (or, in
later ages, get wasted). Now, when I'm looking at young school children - what
the fuck? Sitting all day in school (in Germany we call it "Ganztagsschule")
and after school on homework? Or in the US, where regular threads on HN show
up about parents getting into all sorts of trouble with CPS because they let
their kids play unsupervised? What dystopia is this?

And this "let the kids have some movement through the school day" stuff from
the article. What a looooad of bullshxt, it's the same "bend and break them"
again. Let the children have time on their fucking own and not their entire
wake day dictated from above (0800-1600 or such school, then sports being
forced by their parents from 1600-1900 and then homework until midnight).

I'm scared for the future of our society.

Oh, and the biggest joke from the article is this masterpiece:

> “We are not thinking about the child as an entire person, how physical
> activity helps them cope with the stresses of school and actually benefits
> them in the classroom.”

What the ...? THEN REDUCE THE STRESS THEY GET IN SCHOOLS YOU ... INSTEAD OF
"TREATING" THE SYMPTOMS.

~~~
milesrout
Can we please stop promoting this stupid meme that education is entirely about
controlling people and making them docile? It's not. It's about education.

The idea that children 'do homework until midnight' is similarly stupid.

~~~
speeder
Read UN human rights list.

It states right there that schools should be mandatory and mandatory teach
about the UN. And in another section of the document it says rights are
"universal" to people that aren't against UN interests.

Many countries happily follow these "guidelines" in the school sense... how is
that education?

From my personal experience school was just a indoctrination tool, to make
people subservient to state, employers and the UN. All useful stuff I learned,
even decent basic maths and language was learned outside school (example: my
parents taught me maths, my grandmother taught me how to read and write, I
learned English, Lua, C, etc... on my own, learned physics and chemistry by
reading books)

~~~
mschuster91
> example: my parents taught me maths, my grandmother taught me how to read
> and write, I learned English, Lua, C, etc... on my own, learned physics and
> chemistry by reading books

Which proves only one point: that you had the advantage of an extremely
interested, caring and knowledgeable family.

Many people, especially PoC and "poor people", do not have this advantage (be
it because parents or other family are locked up in jails, or because parents
have to both work two jobs in order to make rent) - public schools are the
only education resource for kids in these families. We as a society must not
let them down or we will face the harsh consequences in the future.

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mverwijs
Most important line to me: “Adults aren’t wired that way either.”

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Qantourisc
I think it's safe to replace kids with humans here. See:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12166415](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12166415)

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helthanatos
Elementary school has recess Middle/high school has PE High school / college
has I'll get up when I want and stretch, thank you. Personally, I vibrate my
leg a lot and get up and stretch every hour or two. Some people make fun when
I Pace, but it helps.

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hackermailman
Some schools here have kids run a treadmill then they have no problems with
sitting still or concentration​
[https://www.thestar.com/life/parent/2011/05/19/schools_takin...](https://www.thestar.com/life/parent/2011/05/19/schools_taking_fitness_action.html)

They also use group desks [http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/new-
brunswick/treadmills-...](http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/new-
brunswick/treadmills-put-n-b-students-on-learning-track-1.993215)

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artursapek
Waldorf schools understand this!

~~~
jcoffland
Waldorf schools have some good ideas but they come with a lot of wacky
Steinerism like Anthroposophy which they swear up and down they don't push on
the kids.

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Pica_soO
Finally, i always move in circles when i think. Expecting results from me
sitting still.. that is just not happening.

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michaelchisari
Basically, pomodoro for kids.

