I’ve been visiting a few schools lately, and I am rather disturbed by some of the things I see on the campuses.
One school has no playground at all. Pointing to a tiny handkerchief of space, the person talking to me says, “That is enough for our children.”
Another campus of the same school has a few small ornamental trees near the entrance gate. The entire campus is covered in concrete and the green of the trees are those which are in the neighbouring apartment buildiings.
One school has very professional loops of barbed wire on its compound wall.
What sort of intruders does the school expect to fend off?
Definitely, the character of our school campuses are very different over a period of time. All these schools talk glibly about Nature and the Child and Being Green and Being Welcoming ….does it reflect in the architecture of the schools, or the sight of such awful deterrents?
I remember my daughter climbing large shady trees in her school…it is indeed sad that her children cannot do the same thing. We need trees, not only stunted plants and concrete.