There's an article over at Game Politics commenting on an aspect of the President's address to congress. The article states that the President "Once Again Links Video Games to Academic Underachievement". So, it got my attention. But as I read what the President actually said I wrinkled my nose and wondered how the author of the article got it so wrong.
Source: Game Politics [ more info ]

In talking about education he said "there is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who will attend those parent/teacher conferences, or help with homework after dinner, or turn off the TV, put away the video games, and read to their child. I speak to you not just as a president, but as a father when I say that responsibility for our children's education must begin at home."

You guys know me, I'm a video game advocate of the "watch your damn mouth" variety. Meaning, the slightest perceived infraction against gamers and I get really grumpy really quick. But, I can't find any part of that comment that I don't agree with. It's not a slam on video games and I can't see any hint of accusation that video games are the cause of "academic underachievement". What I see is a call for parents to get more involved in their kids' education. I can only imagine that the author put forth an inflamatory title purely for the purpose of drawing more attention to the article. If it's not that, then the only other possibility is wild oversensitivity in the face of a very valid point.

In order to really help their kids and keep them interested in school work some distractions will have to be TEMPORARILY sacrificed. It doesn't mean no video games or TV ever. It just means no video games or TV for an hour or so each night.

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Today's Pimpage: Woody is wearing a "Tragedy Struck" shirt and Ted is wearing a "Solitary Dream Pt2" shirt from Threadless.Com.

I'm totally with you on that Woody. He said nothing wrong, only true and meaningful stuff.

It's so annoying when media "spices" up stories just to sell more. For the love of god, write what he meant and not what you thought! *mumbles* stupid journalists..

preach on, brudda
I'm a latchkey kid raised by my video games and the internet, but if my parents had read to me more as a kid...
...well, probably not much would change, my whole family has rampant ADD and failure to commit to any one project for very long unless we REALLY like it
still, though...

I agree with you Woody. I'm a conservative, and definitely don't agree with most positions our new president holds...however, on this particular statement I can find no fault.

But in this day and age, people want to find every other excuse in the book to blame on their children not doing well ... then to actually put the blame where it should be, on the parents.

peace
~r~

Perhaps prompted by "Read to your child day" on February 14th -- which to me is WAY better than celebrating Valentines Day.... I'm on that same boat. Creating a love of books, reading and learning in children is something that starts at home, at a young age. The Kiddo(tm) is only 15 months and LOVES books... has a bookcase full of them, but still reaches for "Goodnight Moon" nearly every night. Well, there is the Hamster Alphabet book and "Dinosaur vs. Bedtime"... but you get the idea.

yeah, i agree also. i remember those old days when i was little (gradeschool) reading with my parents, or having my dad help me put together a model only to lose the X-acto knife half way through...and then while searching, finding it sticking out of his foot when he moved too fast...hmm i was rolling around laughing when he screamed and jumped around, guess I just always had a bloody sense of humor...You can't blame that on Atari video game Red square on blue square violence, "those blocks make me want to kill"...or underachieve since i still managed good grade, cause i have my study time, and when it satisfied my mother, i had my game time...

hey where do these rocket scientist get their data from for all these studies? cause i really don't they try hard enough to get a decent cross section of America and its gamers...

So like that knife was like halfway into the side of his foot...before i broke out in laughter, I announced to my mom, "Dad found it!"

Ahh quality family time

Sadly its the nature of the country now to get totally "outraged" over any perceived slight. Look at the massive blowback from the monkey/stimulus cartoon.

I was very proud of the president's stance, parents desparately need to take a more active role in their child's education. I could go on a long tirade about that... but this isn't the place heh.

Considering that we actually have a President that is willing to admit that he "screwed up", I would consider the honest with which he addresses something like parental responsibility. As a father myself, nothing is more important than my child and I would do anything to see them succeed.

That being said, if you blame video games for making kids underachieve, shouldn't you blame spoons for making people fat?

Nice, I'll have to remember that spoon thing...

What you say? You mean to say that my mom, sister, brother and I shouldn't be playing WoW in the dark together? Woody, just because it's true... *trails off*



I agree though, the comic does highlight one of the things I still believe in, and the program I was in as a kid will go forth in the future with my kids too. (Parents as Reading Partners)