Megan Melendez

March 9, 2011

Synthesis Prompt

Over the past two decades video games have become increasingly popular

amongst America’s youth. I believe that video gaming is a perfectly acceptable way for

children to spend free time as long as it is done so in moderation, and the games are

appropriate for that particular child’s maturity level. Jesse Snyder, author of “Counter

Strike Culture” would most likely agree with me that as long as children are able to

distinguish the difference between game world and reality, video games pose no negative

effects. For example a six year old boy who is easily influenced and not yet mature

enough to establish boundaries between unrealistic games, and what is appropriate in the

real world should not come home from first grade and spend his entire evening playing

Grand Theft Auto, a game where it is perfectly acceptable to kill people, rob banks, and

pick up hookers on your way to steal a car. However, there is no harm in that child

playing an appropriate game on his Xbox for an hour after completing his schoolwork.

Thomas Spence, author of the article “How to Raise Boys Who Read” might disagree,

saying that an hour a day is far too much time wasted playing video games and that boys

should spend their time reading intellectual novels. Jim Gee of the article “Gee Whiz”

would completely disagree with Spence’s idea, arguing that video games are a great

educational instrument for students. All three authors have different opinions about the

role video games should play in the lives of America’s youth. However, the underlying

question in all of these articles remains, are video games detrimental to society, or should

we use these video games as an aid to further educate our youth?

The article “The Brainy Gamer: Gee Whiz” was written by Michael Abbott, a

teacher at Wabash College. It is written about the opinions of a man named Jim Gee who

is “one of the nation's leading voices for school reform and the foremost scholar on

games and the lessons they have to teach us about learning and literacy.” This initial

broad statement leaves me questioning Gee’s creditability. It is unclear what exactly

Gee’s job title is. What qualifications does Gee have that allow him to be called the

foremost scholar on games and lessons they teach us? The article does not introduce any

of Gee’s previous research before visiting Wabash College. Abbott does not make Gee

seem like a creditable source because he fails to give the reader significant information

about Gee’s past work and research.

Gee does not believe that video games are the answer reforming education in

America, however he does believe that as a society we can learn from the methodology

exemplified through the playing of video games. In one lecture Gee makes an implausible

claim that the Late Greek philosopher Plato would have preferred video games to writing.

This implies that video games are therefore more effective than written print. I disagree

with this claim and I believe that Thomas Spence would also disagree. How could a

philosopher effectively covey his vastly in-depth logic and reasoning into a video game?

A video game attempting to teach philosophy would be more easily misinterpreted than

the written word.

Gee claims that video games are “extraordinarily effective teachers” because by

participating in the playing of video games we are essentially solving a problem.

Throughout the entire game we are being “assessed” until we pass the final test. He

believes that the current education system is failing because students are able to

memorize facts, but lack problem solving skills. He expresses that the reason smart kids

are failing is because they see no personal benefit from reading or completing

assignments. However, these same children who are failing in the eye of our public

schools are able to understand the complexities of games such as World of War craft. He

calls this theory “empathy for a complex system.” The students are able to see a direct

correlation between learning and progress, which inadvertently motivates them. If

students were able to use his “empathy for a complex system” theory in the classroom,

progress would skyrocket (Abbott 2009).

Jesse Snyder’s article, “Counter Strike Culture” conveys that the thousands of

gamers who play counter strike have developed a culture in the language they use, and

how they communicate with one another. The players abbreviate and create new words;

for example, the term elite is often abbreviated “1337.” Snyder claims that these

abbreviations are being carried over into schoolwork and these gamers are “butchering

the English language.” He also argues that since the gaming world is so competitive

many players resort to cheating. Cheating becomes an acceptable approach to winning,

and kids are unable to distinguish the difference between the gaming world and the real

world, therefore proving the point that video games encourage cheating. Snyder also

introduces the idea that young players are becoming homophobic because they call each

other gay as an insult.

In the last paragraph of the article Snyder states that although video games have

some negative effects, positive things such as meeting new “nice” people can arise

(Snyder 2011). However there is always the exception where a person who is heavily

influenced by video game behavior rebels against societal norms and attempts to bring

the video game culture into the real world. Snyder confirms my belief that video games

are a completely harmless source of entertainment so long as the gamers are able to

differentiate between the real world and the game world. Pence would disagree with this

ideology by deeming video games as a detrimental part of society.

In his article “How To Raise Boys Who Read” Pence brings the reader’s attention

to the gap between the reading proficiency levels of young boys and girls. “According to

the Center on Education Policy, substantially more boys than girls score below the

proficiency level on the annual National Assessment of Educational Progress reading

test”. He elaborates by saying that the gap between boys and girls is apparent in every

socioeconomic and ethnic group. He then goes on to say that influential people are

noticing the problem, but have “perfectly awful” thoughts about solving it. He criticizes

the experts at the Associated Press’ opinion that in order to get boys reading more we

must “meet them where they are.” This logic justifies the new phenomenon of “gross

out” book series such as Captain Underpants and the Butt books that appeal to the sense

of humor of young boys. Pence is disgusted with the theory of trying to meet boys where

they are and even goes so far to claim that we are raising a generation of “barbarians and

morons.” He then brings up the point that the literacy gaps between boys and girls

“coincides with the proliferation of video games.” As the father of six sons, Pence

establishes his creditability to speak on the topic of raising boys who read. His simple

solution is to limit the amount of electronic media in the lives of young boys and keep

good books readily accessible (Spence 2010).

I agree with Pence’s point that electronic media should be kept to a minimum. If

Jim Gee read Pence’s article he would strongly disagree with his position that “meeting

boys where they are” is detrimental to their future success. Gee would argue that by

“meeting boys where they are” we are simply encouraging them to learn in a manner that

is more enjoyable and will therefore further motivate the boys. After analyzing these

three articles my views about video games remains unchanged. These articles reinforced

my opinion that video games can be beneficial for young children so long as they are

played in moderation and the child is able to disconnect his or her real life from their

gaming life.

References

Abbott, M. (2009, March 2). The Brainy Gamer. Retrieved March 5, 2011, from

http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2009/03/gee-whiz.html

Snyder, J. (2011). Counter Strike Culture. The Journal of Education, Community, and

Values, 11(1), 1. Retrieved from

http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2003/08/snyder.php

Spence, T. (2010). How to Raise Boys Who Read. The Wall Street Journal, 1. Retrieved

from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487042718045754055117

02112290.html