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[quote=Anonymous]22:39 wrote in part (numbers inserted for clarity):
 
  "They likely opposed it because the kids spend all day in adult directed activities and [1] kids need time to be in kid directed only activities.  And yes, what you are describing is a teacher led activity.  [2] Other parents would not be happy with this."

I agree with point one above generally, but disagree that this precludes having an adult facilitated option at what is finally becoming more recognized as the most challenging time of the school day for many elementary age children.  I would actually argue that in small privates it is even more important to offer a structured alternative than in a larger public because in the former it is harder to escape majority social pressure than in a larger class.  An adult facilitated option helps younger kids who don't follow the majority to either resist social pressure,  or provide a cushion against their feeling totally ostracized.  It also provides eyes on to prevent bullying and similar undesirable behaviors. More pragmatically, it encourages the existence of a smaller social group alternative to a majority activity.  This will be unnecessary as kids get older and attend schools with larger classes, and some kids may be fine with unstructured time with peers in a different setting after school.  Academically strong students may be able to do this perfectly well with similar peers during the class room day as well.

The presumption that all kids need breaks with no adult guidance during recess or lunch is itself an opinion that assumes what is good for some kids is necessarily good for all or almost all kids.  That is an example of the sort of ideological presumption that I believe OP needs to be careful to avoid.   As for point 2, I can't imagine a parent having a valid objection that their child has the option to do something entirely without an adult or to do something adult facilitated.  What would it be?  That before there was an alternative we had better soccer games because more kids played unsupervised even though it now is clear some of them wanted to be doing something else?   [/quote]

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