by Wes Pollock

Created on: December 26, 2008

Should the game of tag be banned on school grounds?

Of course it should. It is dangerous. A child could have a serious case of windage, enjoy a game involving running, turning, jumping and other cardiovascularly related activities. Coordination could be improved as could speed and confidence. A knee could be bloodied, an ankle twisted.

How could we possibly subject a child to such things? Far better to keep them indoors, those children who would otherwise be outside playing, under fluorescent lights, never breathing fresh air, only that faintly scented by the vast tracks of aluminum that comprise the school's ventilation system, never basking in the warm grace of a sunny day or knowing the bracing chill of a quick moving wind. Far better to be forced inside where there is no dirt, no grass, no terrible creatures making noses run and eyes itch, those rotten mean spirited flowers. Far better to be warm and dry and secure that it will always be 74F and 40% humidity no matter what. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, the only thing that changes is what time the lights go on.

Far better a life indoors, safe and secure, always knowing what is next to come, where next you will go. Far better than one outside where a fall could skin a knee or a fast run across the schoolyard could cause one to run out of breath. Heaven forfend our poor young ones be exposed to such as that.

Why just imagine the strong bodies, confident in their movements and secure in their abilities, carrying around minds that are alive and yearning for knowledge to be poured into them. Proud young people. Imagine the smiling faces laughing children who are not too fat and tired to chase each other, who are not so discouraged and lacking in self confidence that they look forward to going outside, rain or shine, to run and play and chase; to take a chance on skinning a knee while sliding in the dirt or running out of breath racing across the schoolyard. Imagine them wanting to be so happy.

No, far better to ban this game, this one and those of it's kind, games such as statue maker, red rover, and even duck duck goose, a game just asking to have someone's eye poked out being chosen as goose. Too dangerous for our children whether we, our parents or their parents before them, played the very same games.

Yes, ban tag from school grounds. Children have plenty of confidence building activities provided for them in the class room already; excellent, well planned, carefully studied activities.

Direct contact with plants and animals, pollens and danders, seeds, dust, sunburn, windburn, muscle soreness and muscle growth, increased coordination and confidence are all the result of playing this game, this game of running and jumping, stopping and turning sharp, of interaction with other children. None of which can be achieved to the same degree if we only keep our children indoors and inert and entertained.

Absolutely, ban this game from out schools.

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