It’s true that engaging with others on the playground can be a harrowing experience,
too. Children often need to be monitored and, at times, disciplined for acts of cruelty,
carelessness, selfishness, even violence. Computers do provide an attractively reliable
alternative to the dangers of unsupervised play. But schools too often use computers or
other highly structured activities to prevent these problematic qualities of childhood
from surfacing – out of fear or a compulsion to force-feed academics. This effectively
denies children the practice and feedback they need to develop the skills and
dispositions of a mature person. If children do not test the waters of unsupervised
social activity, they likely will never be able to swim in the sea of civic responsibility. If
they have no opportunities to dig in the soil, discover the spiders, bugs, birds, and
plants that populate even the smallest unpaved playgrounds, they will be less likely to
explore, appreciate, and protect nature as adults.