The absence of a federal standard for recess makes outdoor activity for students a suggestion, one that schools are rapidly opting out of. The United States Education Commission estimated on April 22nd 2016, that while seven states suggest standards for recreation, only four states currently ensure students a 20 minute daily minimum for outdoor play. Pediatric occupational therapist Angela Hanscom, painted a dark image of the everyday classroom, in which students are physically and mentally under academic control. Writing that as students are becoming more and more physically restricted in the classroom setting, they often go hours without standing up, in addition to lack of outdoor activity, go the majority of the school day restrained to a desk.



