During my time working in a large well resourced loose parts playground I have, both affectionately and not so much heard the space referred to as an environment that incites images from “The Lord Of The Flies”. The novel of this name written by William Golding in 1954 is an interesting one as was written at a time in psychological history where many were seeking to answer important questions about the darkness of people’s subconscious and potential. It is this underlying theme of the novel that always made me feel uneasy by the comparison to our play space, as if made by someone who had actually read the book, it would imply it was only a matter of time until someone got speared or worse!
Some time ago I was listening to a pod cast interview of evolutionary psychologist Dr Peter Gray when the interviewer questioned him about the rather free range approach to learning he purports and, like many before compared such an environment to “The Lord Of Flies”. Gray, promptly and with wit quickly shut such a suggestion down pointing out that:
a: It is interesting that in this scenario the children depicted succumbing to relative evil where in fact children who had come out of a military academy, regimented and ordered, denied the freedom to play and to learn based on their pursuit of intrinsic motivations such as Gray champions.
b: Despite the books critical acclaim… The book is fiction.
The significance of this point, the fact that the book is fiction recently popped back into mind when reading a true life account of 6 boys marooned on an island for a considerable amount of time. I will not paraphrase the results of this real life “Lord Of The Flies” scenario but rather invite you to read by clicking the link below to give full credit to the author. I will however state that this alone should be enough to question those “stories”, “fictions” and dare I saw it “fears” that can guide our reactions and perceptions.
Link: The Real Life Lord Of The Flies
Angus Gorrie
