17:31
A teacher
Again, a great thread from the PC-Gamer board. As usual, I'm not responsible for the content of this outside link: http://www.pcgamer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17031
At another parents(') evening last week (where I tell parents how their children are progressing in English), I had three sets of folks who told me their kids played too many games. Of course, their kids are probably playing too many FPS games, and I tried to direct them towards something else.
Here's an interesting article on what some teachers think about games in school, in light of a teaching union (albeit the smallest one) saying that there needs to be some legislation against violent games:
http://beefjack.com/features/what-do...ut-videogames/
My take? I think that every student in the 21st Century UK is entitled to a rich imaginative life. Of course, through class and gender every student in the UK has a path to the future already laid before them. That cannot be easily changed. However, games - like books and film - can offer purpose and fulfilment far beyond the aspirations of schooling's bells and rows. To paraphrase Alan Bennett's Hector in History Boys, you need the pop-culture to balance, nay, to be an antidote to elitism in high-culture. Never before has there be a generation better able to create its own culture, and its own games and its own imaginative fulfilment. Youtube, Alice, and a myriad of game-making software is freely available. It just needs to be used, and esteemed.
At the moment, though, such culture manifests mostly through Charlie biting a finger and filming angry teachers. That's funny, but perhaps it's time for games to be seen more as the fulfilling imaginative experiences that they can be.
At another parents(') evening last week (where I tell parents how their children are progressing in English), I had three sets of folks who told me their kids played too many games. Of course, their kids are probably playing too many FPS games, and I tried to direct them towards something else.
Here's an interesting article on what some teachers think about games in school, in light of a teaching union (albeit the smallest one) saying that there needs to be some legislation against violent games:
http://beefjack.com/features/what-do...ut-videogames/
My take? I think that every student in the 21st Century UK is entitled to a rich imaginative life. Of course, through class and gender every student in the UK has a path to the future already laid before them. That cannot be easily changed. However, games - like books and film - can offer purpose and fulfilment far beyond the aspirations of schooling's bells and rows. To paraphrase Alan Bennett's Hector in History Boys, you need the pop-culture to balance, nay, to be an antidote to elitism in high-culture. Never before has there be a generation better able to create its own culture, and its own games and its own imaginative fulfilment. Youtube, Alice, and a myriad of game-making software is freely available. It just needs to be used, and esteemed.
At the moment, though, such culture manifests mostly through Charlie biting a finger and filming angry teachers. That's funny, but perhaps it's time for games to be seen more as the fulfilling imaginative experiences that they can be.
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