Content area
Full Text
The Trouble with Play Susan Grieshaber and Felicity McArdle Maidenhead, England: Open University Press, 2010. References, indices, illustrations.144 pp. $96.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780335237906
While readers might assume The Trouble with Play presents an analysis of the siege on play in schools, authors Susan Grieshaber and Felicity McArdle, in fact, offer a perspective on play that departs radically from the assumed truths of early-childhood education. Early-childhood educators, influenced by developmental theory dating back to Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Friedrich Froebel, believe that play is natural, holistic, and innocent. The authors argue, instead, that play is not always innocent, fun, and natural, and they assert that it often involves social injustices.
Specifically, the book challenges six valued beliefs about play: that play is natural, that it is about development and learning, that it is normal, that it is fun, that it is innocent, and that it is a universal right. The first six chapters explore these beliefs. Chapter 1 provides an overview of these ideas and questions normative, conventional models of child care. Chapter 2 deconstructs the binary logic that separates play from work, fun from effort, and pleasure from pain, though the authors fail to cite Kathy Hirsch-Pasek's arguments supporting the benefits of unstructured play for children's learning or contrary viewpoints suggested by Nina Howe and Robert Pianta.
Clearly, the research is contradictory, and we need more empirical data before we can draw conclusions about play and work. I agree, however, with the authors' claim that the reliance on slogans and mantras about work and play and fun and work reinforce the divide, rather than disrupt the tensions between free play and academic...