Why They Banned Legos - Because The Free Market Is Not Fair

I just read this article "Why We Banned Legos" from a site called Rethinking Schools Online. It is a rather lengthy article but a very good read if you have the time. The article is a case study done at an elementary school concerning the interaction of the kids in building "Legotown".

First off I must admit that I always have a difficult time being disparaging against teachers and the public education system given the history my family and friends have in working in the public school system. That being said...if this is the indoctrination, oops I'm sorry education, our children are receiving in school...I'm afraid for our future. The last paragraph of the article, namely the last sentence, says it all:

Children absorb political, social, and economic worldviews from an early age. Those worldviews show up in their play, which is the terrain that young children use to make meaning about their world and to test and solidify their understandings. We believe that educators have a responsibility to pay close attention to the themes, theories, and values that children use to anchor their play. Then we can interact with those worldviews, using play to instill the values of equality and democracy.

Honestly as I said before this is a really well written and insightful article, my issue is with how the teachers are instilling their values of "equality" into the children. The teaching that Collectivity, Shared Power, Moderation and equal access to resources are all valued goals. Building a society on the basis that all structures are public structures, Lego people can be saved only by a "team" of kids, not by individuals, and all structures will be standard sizes. Apparently the teachers feel a communist society is a more thriving society then the children were having before, under a natural free market.

I called it a natural free market based on the fact that, in the beginning, the children were given no guidance as to how to proceed in building their Legotown. A free market system came naturally to the children and Legotown grew and thrived for months. I do question how long Legotown lasted and how fun it was for the children after a week or two of the rebuilding. If you notice the teacher cuts the analysis of the children’s behavior and excitement before the actual rebuilding begins, it ends just after the discussion of the "New Ethics" of Legotown.