A recent article in the New York Times, “Less Homework, More Yoga, From a Principal Who Hates Stress,” made me think: Now this is the kind of principal I wish I had had in high school. He was even ridiculed by Jay Leno and Rush Limbaugh for his efforts to get kids to chill out.
Joking aside, this is an issue worth debating. If teenagers are stressed out and worrying constantly about academics, are they likely to do their best in class? Might a little official endorsement of relaxation (which is promoted in quite a number successful companies around the world) result in kids having better concentration and even heightened interest in what they are learning?
I will leave that up to the educators out there to weigh in on this topic. But I will say this: I concentrate and perform at far higher levels in my workplace on the days that I go roller blading in the middle of the day for 45 minutes or so than on the days when I am a desk blob for eight hours.
And they do offer Yoga here too.