Safety is Making Us
Stupid
How over-protective
safety measures may inhibit learning
By Dylan Grinder
Have you noticed that see-saws, jungle gyms, and other dangerous play structures
been disappearing from playgrounds? This is due in large part to the safety concerns of parents and
the fear of litigation possessed by city government. Being afraid of getting sued may not be the best
motivation, but parents seeking the safety of their children must be doing the right thing, right?
Wrong.
An article published in the journal of Evolutionary Psychology by Ellen Sandseter of the
Queen Maud University of Early Childhood Education and Leif Kennair of the Norwegian University of Science
and Technology, posits that risky play is an evolutionary development built around protecting children
from situations they are incapable of handling, while incrementally expanding the limits of what
they can handle. Dr. Sandseter says of jungle gyms “children approach thrills and risks in a progressive
manner, and very few children would try to climb to the highest point for the first time they climb.
The best thing is to let children encounter these challenges from an early age, and they will then
progressively learn to master them through their play over the years.” Put simply, playing in slightly
dangerous environments helps a child learn to assess danger level and personal limitations while
providing a feeling of entertainment and personal success. Not only that, but Sandseter and Kennair
write that “our fear of children being harmed by mostly harmless injuries may result in more fearful
children and increased levels of psychopathology.”1 If that weren't enough, "surfaces designed to
reduce the risk of head injuries may not be effective in dealing with commoner playground injuries (long
bone fractures); [and] children may take more risks in apparently safer environments"2 leading to an
increase of playground-related injury.
Meanwhile, off the playground, critical thinking is becoming a rare attribute. People fail to
separate fact from opinion on a daily basis, being easily swayed by pathos- rather than logos and egos
(see Aristotle’s Appeals). In fact, a study of 2,322 students conducted by Richard Arum of New
York University states that over the course of two years in college there were “no statistically significant
gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills for 45 percent of the students in the
sample”3 which reduced to 36 percent over four years.
What if these two issues are related? What if all those safety labels you see everywhere
telling you not to hold a chainsaw by the wrong end and not to put a plastic bag over your head
are leading to a decrease in self-awareness and problem-solving ability? As a society, we have
become so used to warnings of potential danger being plastered on products that we assume things
aren’t dangerous because if they were, they wouldn’t be legal. This inability to think for ourselves
- to assess danger or tell logic from fallacy - is a serious issue compounded by many factors, and
it seems likely to lead to a future where people can’t learn from their mistakes and we don’t make
educated decisions. Many things in the world can hurt you, to think otherwise is foolish. Don't
overprotect children to the point that they don't learn anything from playing; don't assume that
everything without a label is safe; and instead of blindly;avoiding something risky, think about it
and assess for yourself how dangerous it might be.
been disappearing from playgrounds? This is due in large part to the safety concerns of parents and
the fear of litigation possessed by city government. Being afraid of getting sued may not be the best
motivation, but parents seeking the safety of their children must be doing the right thing, right?
Wrong.
An article published in the journal of Evolutionary Psychology by Ellen Sandseter of the
Queen Maud University of Early Childhood Education and Leif Kennair of the Norwegian University of Science
and Technology, posits that risky play is an evolutionary development built around protecting children
from situations they are incapable of handling, while incrementally expanding the limits of what
they can handle. Dr. Sandseter says of jungle gyms “children approach thrills and risks in a progressive
manner, and very few children would try to climb to the highest point for the first time they climb.
The best thing is to let children encounter these challenges from an early age, and they will then
progressively learn to master them through their play over the years.” Put simply, playing in slightly
dangerous environments helps a child learn to assess danger level and personal limitations while
providing a feeling of entertainment and personal success. Not only that, but Sandseter and Kennair
write that “our fear of children being harmed by mostly harmless injuries may result in more fearful
children and increased levels of psychopathology.”1 If that weren't enough, "surfaces designed to
reduce the risk of head injuries may not be effective in dealing with commoner playground injuries (long
bone fractures); [and] children may take more risks in apparently safer environments"2 leading to an
increase of playground-related injury.
Meanwhile, off the playground, critical thinking is becoming a rare attribute. People fail to
separate fact from opinion on a daily basis, being easily swayed by pathos- rather than logos and egos
(see Aristotle’s Appeals). In fact, a study of 2,322 students conducted by Richard Arum of New
York University states that over the course of two years in college there were “no statistically significant
gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills for 45 percent of the students in the
sample”3 which reduced to 36 percent over four years.
What if these two issues are related? What if all those safety labels you see everywhere
telling you not to hold a chainsaw by the wrong end and not to put a plastic bag over your head
are leading to a decrease in self-awareness and problem-solving ability? As a society, we have
become so used to warnings of potential danger being plastered on products that we assume things
aren’t dangerous because if they were, they wouldn’t be legal. This inability to think for ourselves
- to assess danger or tell logic from fallacy - is a serious issue compounded by many factors, and
it seems likely to lead to a future where people can’t learn from their mistakes and we don’t make
educated decisions. Many things in the world can hurt you, to think otherwise is foolish. Don't
overprotect children to the point that they don't learn anything from playing; don't assume that
everything without a label is safe; and instead of blindly;avoiding something risky, think about it
and assess for yourself how dangerous it might be.
