Join us to lead the conversation on responsible, effective AI integration in elementary education, because the future belongs to those who build it together.
In many elementary schools, the school day is tilting more toward academics and away from play time. More time is being spent on core subjects and standardized testing, while recess, arts, and unstructured social time are slowly disappearing. Extra instructional time helps boost academic achievement and gives young students a stronger academic foundation. On the other hand, losing playtime means losing a space where kids learn to collaborate, solve problems creativly, and develop key emotional skills. As the balance shifts, the question grows louder: how much time should children spend learning from books, and how much from each other?
I believe there needs to be a stronger balance between academic instruction and social time in elementary schools. While academic learning is important, young children also need substantial time to learn through social interaction, play, and collaboration. These experiences are essential for developing communication, cooperation, and emotional regulation, and they should be treated as a core part of the school day rather than as time away from learning.
This feels especially important today, when so much of children’s interaction revolves around screens. Even when kids are physically together, they are often distracted by phones or tablets rather than engaging with one another. Because of this, schools play a key role in intentionally encouraging face-to-face interaction and teaching social skills.
At the same time, academic learning from books remains essential. As technology continues to advance, foundational skills such as reading, writing, analysis, and critical thinking still require structured instruction and sustained focus. A significant portion of the school day should remain dedicated to these skills so that students build a strong academic foundation.
However, I do not think that social learning has to come at the expense of academic learning. It can take many forms and be meaningfully integrated into the curriculum. For example, there are educational approaches, such as the Reggio Emilia philosophy, that combine unstructured, student-led learning with collaboration and exploration. These types of approaches allow children to build confidence, engage socially, and take ownership of their learning, while still developing academically.
Rather than viewing play and social time as secondary, schools should recognize them as foundational components of a well-rounded education that supports both cognitive and emotional development, which leads to long-term academic success.
I feel the schools tend to focus on quantity over quality. Children, especially elementary school aged need unstructured time and movement to make the time in learning maximally effective and efficient. I had a colleague from Norway who described that in his Norwegian grade school they had 15 minutes of recess for every 45 minutes of learning. That would amount to 1.5 hours of recess time for my kids if Brookline followed that model, they get half an hour. This would have positive benefits socially, physically, there would be fewer behavior problems, and the time in learning would be more effective.