Last week, I pointed out that one of the reasons the Ministry of Education scrapped the ranking of schools and students was to be sensitive to the needs of poor pupils and their equally poor families.

The other reason I gave but didn’t elaborate on was the ministry’s efforts to prioritise children’s play, an important idea that what was buried under the overused terminology of holistic education.

In ‘The Play of Animals’ (1898), Karl Groos, an acclaimed German philosopher and naturalist, argued that play came about by natural selection as a way of ensuring animals would practice the skills they need to survive and reproduce. In 1901, Groos released another blockbuster, ‘The Play of Man’, in which his insights about animal play were extended to humans. He argued that humans have much more to learn than other species, which makes them the most playful of all animals.

He further pointed out that natural selection in humans favoured a strong drive for children to observe the activities of their elders and incorporate these activities into their play.

 Verge of extinction

What the ministry has done is new in the sense of reinstating something valuable to children’s growth and development that was on the verge of extinction. Play experts observe that children are socialised into two forms of education: school and play.

But what has happened in Kenya’s education sector since the introduction of the 8-4-4 system is that play for children has continued to be pushed to the edge as the clamour to appear in the media takes centre stage.

Because students spend nearly all their time studying and have little opportunity to play, they have little opportunity to be creative, take their own initiative or develop physical and social skills. They are less emotionally expressive, less energetic, less talkative and verbally expressive, less humorous, less imaginative, less unconventional, less lively and passionate.

They are also less perceptive and less likely to see things from a different angle. In China, the term used to refer to graduates like these is ‘gaofen dineng’, meaning ‘high scores but low ability’.

The problem with our education system is that it has allowed adults to take complete charge of children’s lives. The thinking behind this practice is dangerous and retrogressive.

In school, as in other controlling settings where adults are in charge, decisions are made for children and problems solved for them. In play, children make their own decisions and solve their own problems.

Where adults see children as being weak and vulnerable, in play the opposite happens: children see themselves as being strong and powerful, able to mimic adult roles with uncanny accuracy.

 Inflated self-regard

The decline in opportunity for children to play has been accompanied by a corresponding decline in empathy and a rise in narcissism.

Empathy refers to the ability to see things from another person’s point of view and experience what the person experiences. Narcissism refers to inflated self-regard and a lack of concern for others. The rising numbers of ageing parents who have been neglected by their ‘gaofen dineng’ children is a case in point.

Social skills and values that increase empathetic feelings in people, while at the same time vanquishing narcissistic inclinations cannot be taught in a school setting that relies on authoritarianism, rather than the democratic ideals that govern play. Schools emphasise competition more than the values of co-operation, compromise and negotiation that guide children at play and have a positive impact on their future adult roles.

The continued rise in childhood mental disorders of anxiety, depression and suicide have been linked to declining opportunities for children to play and learn from their natural surroundings.

Research is now showing that people are most creative when infused by the spirit of play. Albert Einstein, who apparently hated school, referred to his achievements in theoretical physics and mathematics as “combinatorial play”.

What does all this mean for us? If we truly want our children to thrive, we must allocate them more time and opportunity to play and explore their natural abilities for self-education.

-The writer is a mental health researcher. bizbeat@standardmedia.co.ke