AP English Language And Composition: Playgrounds In High School

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Recommended: Parent involvement in education

Anjali Patil
Mrs. Dafoe
AP English Language and Composition: Period 4
28 October 2015
Playgrounds in High School Every day, I sit in a classroom for four to five hours until lunch. During lunch, I talk to my friends. We talk and we talk and we talk. But we don’t move. We don’t move unless the guys near us throw something in our direction. If it rains, we sit in a classroom where we talk. We talk and we talk and we talk. But we don’t move. We don’t move unless we need chairs for people to join us.
But lunch wasn’t always so still. I used to move a lot. I ran around on black asphalt. I smacked cherry balls against concrete walls. I slid on bright and colorful slides. We had playgrounds in elementary school. When my friends and I went to middle …show more content…

Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent in order to offer large play spaces for children. But that's just it. This money was spent for children. The last time I went on a playground, I noticed a big blue sticker. It said “Ages 5-12.” When we become teenagers, are we not supposed to go on a playground? Are we not supposed be kids anymore? Sandra Cisneros addressed this idea in her short story, “Eleven,” in which the main character Rachel turns eleven. Throughout her day, Rachel realizes that turning eleven means that she is not only eleven but also newborn through ten. “Like some days you might say something stupid, and that's the part of you that's still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama's lap because you're scared, and that's the part of you that's five. And maybe one day when you're all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you're three, and that's okay.” Cisneros discusses an idea that society seems unable to accept. When we turn thirteen, sixteen, or eighteen, we don't suddenly stop being ten. I don't suddenly dislike the feeling of the air when I swing. But society has dictated that I suddenly shouldn't like the playground. When I sit on a swing, society glares at me with the eyes of a mom with her five-year-old daughter. Who are you to be where my daughter should be? But society forgot that I’m not just sixteen. I’m also five at …show more content…

Having a playground at school would allow more opportunities for students to relax and have fun during their school days. Fun should not be a missed opportunity. It should be something we experience on a daily basis because it makes us better people. We should be kids and teenagers!
We will still sit in a classroom for four to five hours before lunch. But when the bell rings for lunch, we won't just talk. We'll talk and we'll laugh and we'll play. We'll jump and we'll swing and we'll run. And when we come back into the classroom, we'll be ready to learn. And no one will tell us we can’t. Works Cited
Bossenmeyer, Melinda. “The Benefits of Physical Activity in Schools.” Peaceful Playgrounds.
N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
“Education Spending Per Student by State.” GOVERNING. E.Republic, Inc., 2015. Web. 19 Oct.
2015.
Gregoire, Carolyn. “5 Amazing Things Your Brain Does While You Sleep.” The Huffington
Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 28 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
Savin, Ada. "Le Dialogisme Poétique De Sandra Cisneros." Revue Française D'études
Américaines No. 66. LA MEXICANITÉ AUX ÉTATS-UNIS (1995): 576-84. Web. 28
Oct. 2015.
“School Playgrounds.” Play & Park Structures. Playcore, n.d. Web. 19 Oct.

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