More doom and gloom news as it relates to video games. People are freaking out in England because their position in the World Reading League Table dropped several places, which means English kids can’t read for beans. And yes, video games are to blame. Supposedly. It seems at least one-third of 10-year-olds play video games for at least three hours per day, which is insane any way you look at it. That’s three hours, so the argument goes, that would be better spent reading and writing.
For the record, throwing money at the problem didn’t help much, with Cambridge University saying that the extra money pumped into the education system only made a “small impact.”
Maybe kids just don’t like to read anymore? Why read when you can futz around with a cellphone or play one more level?
Video games ruining reading [The Sun via Next Gen]
Being literate isn’t “cool” anymore (like it was back in the early 1900s).
Where are the parents in all this? Who’s letting their kid have a PS3 up in their bedroom next to all those dusty books?
Being England, I’m sure the government will dole out some sort of programme to force children to read (school?), which would promptly have its funding cut due to a budget crisis, only to exist for several decades as a watered down public programme in which parents use as an excuse not to parent their children (well it’s the government’s job, isn’t it?). Then, Jamie Oliver or J K Rowling or some other crappy celebrity will turn it into a reality show and make massive amounts of £££ by helping one child a week how to read.
My cousin learned how to read by playing Pokemon with his mom. I was introduced to world mythologies by playing Final Fantasy games. The average RPG has more dialogue than any books at these kids’ reading level. Give them a good RPG and you’ll improve their literacy in no time, along with giving them an appreciation for complex plots and characters.