Mixed reactions to "Play Held Hostage"

Reading "Play Held Hostage" was kind of a rollercoaster for me! I went into it expecting to do a lot of head-nodding - I'm no fan of the idea of "excellence" as it's often practiced, and I certainly value play. But while doing the reading, I found myself not so much nodding vigorously as tilting my head, and occasionally rolling my eyes.

It seemed over-the-top to me, almost shrill in tone. Linda Cameron does offer the caveat that she might sound more passionate than rational, and I agree with her on that. Is play really in such jeopardy that it warrants such phrases as "Teachers and students are to be mere puppets, to comply, conform, and to serve..."? In my (limited) experience, children DO play, and teachers and parents care about much more than grades. I've never met one of these parents who pushes their child to get high grades at the expense of happiness, or kids who didn't have time in their day to experiment and create.

On the other hand, I agree very strongly with Cameron's indictment of toystores. I took these picture in Chapters once because I was so appalled by the gendered costumes available there.

And after our class discussion on Thursday, especially following the video we watched, I see her point more and more. Those parents who prioritize structured activities, and the children deprived of play, DO exist, and I need to be careful not to take my own experience as anything more than one anecdote in a sea of data.

My other reaction when reading the paper was that Cameron had a very strong sense of nostalgia for the type of play she did as a child, the "out until the streetlights came on" model (so many of these theorists have a particular attachment to the streetlights rule!) I'm wary of nostalgia, as we tend to have pretty inaccurate recollections of how good things used to be. I was a kid who was largely left to her own devices, and honestly, I would have loved to have piano lessons or even a little more pressure to perform well in school. Again, though, there is always a balance to be struck. I also needed to remind myself that Cameron's speech is just that, a speech, and not a formal paper, and as such, the passion is well-placed.

The main thing I came away with after this paper and Thursday's class is that I need to know more, read more, understand more about play. Exciting!

Sources:

Cameron. L (2006.) Play held hostage by the 'bully' excellence. Touchstone 36th Annual Conference Proceedings: Council of Drama and Dance in Education, 6-10

Harper, S. [Producer-Director]. (2009). Lost Adventures of Childhood [Motion picture]. Canada: CTV.