Living Well
Is Play Pointless?
EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION
Play is not a break from learning in this account — it is how learning begins. Presenting Rutger Bregman’s Humankind: A Hopeful History, Doug moves from playful intelligent animals to historian Johan Huizinga’s claim that culture originates in play. Hunter-gatherer children supply the living example: through unstructured, mixed-age play, they acquire practical knowledge, cooperation, and the skills adulthood requires.
A Note on the Original Text
Doug’s writings are presented as originally written. Spelling, punctuation, and grammatical irregularities have been retained to preserve his words and the integrity of the original record.
ORIGINAL WRITING
The content in this post is based on the book Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman.
“…the fascinating thing is that it’s the most intelligent animals that exhibit the most playful behavior. Domesticated animals play their whole lives. What’s more, no other species enjoys a childhood as long as Homo puppy. Play gives meaning to life, wrote the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga back in 1938. Everything we call ‘culture,’ said Huizinga originates in play.
Anthropologists suspect that for most of human history children were permitted to play as much as they pleased. Considerable though the differences between individual hunter-gatherer cultures may be, the culture of play looks very similar across the board. Most significant of all, say researchers, is the immense freedom afforded to youngsters. Since nomads rarely feel they can dictate child development, kids are allowed to play all day long, from early in the morning until late at night.
But are children equipped for life as an adult if they never go to school? The answer is that, in these societies, playing and learning are one and the same. Toddlers don’t need tests or grades to learn to walk or talk. It comes to them naturally, because they’re keen to explore the world. Likewise, hunter-gatherer children learn through play. Catching insects, making bows and arrows, imitating animal calls—there’s so much to do in the jungle. And survival requires tremendous knowledge of plants and animals.
Equally, by playing together, children learn to cooperate. Hunter-gatherer kids always play in mixed groups, with boys and girls of all ages together. Little kids learn from the big kids, who feel a responsibility to pass on what they know. Not surprisingly, competitive games are virtually unheard of in these societies. Unlike adult tournaments, unstructured play continually requires participants to make compromises. And if anyone’s unhappy, they can always stop (but then the fun ends for everyone).