Chapter 1, You Can't Play, The Habit of Rejection Summary and Analysis

The author, Vivian Paley, notes as she turns sixty that the child's phrase "You can't play" sounds increasingly harsh to her. The habits of rejection and acceptance among small children are surprisingly forthright, some even asking, "Are you my friend?" By the time Kindergarten arrives, a social order has formed within the classroom, with elites determining who is accepted and who is not. This phenomenon continues year after year, long into adulthood. Paley tries to thwart this practice at the start with a sign which states "You can't say you can't play." The twenty-five students in Paley's kindergarten class are shocked, and only the outcast children (four out of the twenty-five) seem happy.

Some of the children can no longer make sense of play time, seeing it...