Not Surprising/Surprising - Professional Interviews (Initial Post)

I was not surprised about the information I received through two interviews in a local early childhood program about the need to advocate for play as the means for learning in a developmentally appropriate way. One insight I gained from one of the professionals that was not surprising was how parents and families do not understand the purpose of play and some even see it as a waste of time in an early childhood educational program. This has been a topic of discussion with several families when they pay tuition for their child in a program about being developmentally educational. A second insight I gained through the other professional I interviewed came as a surprising statement. She referred to higher expectation in academics in the early grades as "cheating our children out of their time of play by cutting it short because the pressure is on to perform academically (Kay, 2011)." 

I was encouraged to hear about the advocacy efforts in place from the two interviews. First was hearing the instructors at the local community college teaching Early Childhood Education classes were advocating for play in the centers. Second was hearing about one director at a local preschool program blogging about parental fears and myths along with practical solutions to understand it all. And third, the local school district launched a program being funded by First 5 to collect exit interviews and inventories of preschool children who are entering into kindergarten for that district. The purpose is to see if these children are up to the new expectations of school success. 

Listening to the two professionals about play encouraged me seek this as the main topic for my research paper. I could hear frustration, passion, and desire to change things about sharing the benefits of play. Since there are already pre-existing attitudes and perspectives about play in young children, the challenge will be to change them so they are about play as the means to learning in academics and development. 

Play is a huge topic. Is this appropriate for an advocacy research paper and then action plan? Is it too vague? And what would be some related issues?