DEEP PLAY - LIFE THREATENING PLAY

"PLAYING WITH DEATH - DEEP PLAY"

This page provides evidence of how the Welsh Government funded play curriculum attempts to place children in potentially 'life threatening' situations based upon the misrepresentation of scientific literature.

This form of play is part of the Welsh Government funded 'play education' sector which in our opinion is teaching unsafe and anti-social practices including bullying, fighting and swearing.

"The First Claim" is published by the Welsh Government funded organisation 'Play Wales', it is written by 'Bob Hughes' who suggests that children should take part in 'deep play' as part of the play curriculum.

'Deep play' Bob Hughes says is "... is essential for a child's personal development".

'Deep play is described as

CHILDREN PLAYING IN FRONT OF TRAFFIC

RIDING A BIKE ON A PARAPET OF A BRIDGE

RIDING A BIKE THROUGH A FIRE

HIGH TREE CLIMBING, ESPECIALLY OVER RIVERS OR THE SEA

PLAY IN WHICH THE STAKES ARE SO HIGH......

THAT IS.. IRRATIONAL .. TO ENGAGE IN IT AT ALL

'Deep play' according to Bob Hughes is what children should do is based upon a scientific article by US anthropologist Clifford Geertz in 1972. The article by Geertz is about adult males on the island of Bali taking financial risks when gambling on cock fights. There is no mention of children taking physical risks. If we look at the image below we will see that Hughes has introduced [children] in square brackets into his interpretation of Geertz's work. The use of square brackets in a quote or interpretation indicates that the writer has added this information.

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This we believe is a deliberate misrepresentation and to confirm this we sought the opinions of two of Clifford Geertz's doctoral students who themselves are now professors of anthropology in leading American universities:

Princeton Universities' Professor Lawrence Rosen was of the opinion:

"I think the idea that one can encourage or discourage certain forms of children’s play based on a simple calculus of an isolated factor does indeed miss Geertz’s point and is rather a perversion of his approach than an application of it."

The University of California's Professor George E Marcus was of the opinion that Hughes definition of 'deep play' was

"a complete distortion of how Geertz thought and developed interpretation."

he went on to say that anyone placing "children in real danger is reckless!"

To summarise, two United States University professors of anthropology who knew Geertz personally in an academic capacity as his students believe that Bob Hughes has misinterpreted or misrepresented Clifford Geertz work on 'deep play'. One says it's a perversion, the other a distortion.

What Geertz actually said was that people who took part in 'deep play' should be "protected against themselves".

We have provided this information to 11 Welsh Assembly members, all of whom have ignored it or used methods of deception to hide it.

'Deep play remains on the Welsh play curriculum, it is still regarded as essential for a child's personal development. As parents or guardians children we need to act now and work collectively to protect our children from the Welsh Government.......

Direct comparisons between the 1972 Clifford Geertz article and the 2001 interpretation of this article by Bob Hughes.
CLIFFORD GEERTZ "Deep play"	BOB HUGHES "Deep Play"	COMPARISON
Date: 1958	Date: 2001	43 years - different generations
Location: Bali, Indonesia	Location; Wales	different locations and cultures
Subject matter: adult males	Subject matter: children of both sexes	different ages and single against both sexes
Risk factor: Financial (loss of money and property)	Risk factor: Physical (loss of life and/or serious injury, including mental trauma)	different types of risk
Opinion: Negative Geertz felt that people taking part in 'deep play' should be protected against themselves	Opinion: Positive Hughes believes it is essential for Welsh children to placed in life threatening situations	opposite opinions Geertz wrote the article and formed a judgement based upon the real life situations he encountered. Therefore Geertzs' opinion is the only one that counts.

ACCOUNTABILITY

The information contained on this page is guaranteed to be authentic by our analyst. M59-20190528.

Any personal opinions on this page belong to our analyst M59-20190528

Our analyst M59-20190528 who was born in Wales and has lived his whole life in Wales is happy to accept that he is accountable for any factual errors, or errors of judgment on this page.

If you believe the facts and conclusions of our analyst are incorrect, misrepresent or misinterpret information please email us at - abetterwales@gmail.com.

If you would like further information, for media enquiries or to volunteer to help protect Welsh children please email us at - abetterwales@gmail.com.