Deprive boys of video games to make them read...

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

That's horrible. Kids should be encouraged to pursue their own interests. Forcing a kid to do something that you think is good will just make them angry and resentful, in addition to stifling their own creativity and individual interests.
Video games can tell great stories and have reading built into them too. It's just a different story telling medium. Encourage them to read by all means but don't force them.

 

[Rayne870]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405511702112290.html#articleTabs=article

The idea behind this article, I believe, is that boys (and ONLY boys, as girls do not play video games apparently) who do not like to read should not be pandered to by giving them "gross-out" books to read or bribed with video games in order to get them to read. Rather, they should be deprived of all electronic stimuli until they are so starved for entertainment they HAVE to read to relieve the boredom.

Hm. Discuss, Escapists: Rational, logical suggestion? Or is someone WAY overstepping their bounds here?

Personally I don't see the point, I grew up reading very few books, but having a massive gaming collection and yet I am fairly well educated through my own doing and with traditional methods. Sure I wasn't the top of my class in high school but that was due to discovering girls, sure I dropped out of police foundations in college, but that was after completing 1.5 years of the 2 year program and doing very well (I dropped out due to my loss in faith in the justice system as it exists) And now I am going to college again for Game Development.

Where the self education comes in is through my own interest. When I was doing something interesting in traditional learning I went further and learned more, I put most of my attention to ancient history, psychology, and sociology. I did most of that research via the internet, starting with Wikipedia, moving to sources from the wiki page, and branching out to find the most credible and well researched sources. As far as I am concerned here Internet replaced books as a non fiction information source.

When it comes to fiction and fantasy, it really is "same shit in a different barrel". The story in games is just as rich and inspiring as books. Games can lead one to books though, for instance I played Dune II extensively when I was about 8-12 years old, and I followed that up by reading the original Frank Herbert's Dune series by the time I was 18. More recently before I bought Dante's Inferno on PS3 I also bought The Divine Comedy (Which still bakes my noodle when I read it).

I think that we need to offer both games and books to children and let them choose for themselves. As I think the driven and curious ones will balance it on their own, while the ones whom are less intelligent (the ones counting on hockey scholarships, that eat pieces of newspaper in your business class rather than write out an assessment on the article) won't show much interest in books anyway, and probably won't gain much from games other than "LAWL I r uber leet CoD nub pwnzer".

 

[Dogstile]

Every game I play for a few hours is me reading a 100 pages of a book. RPGs FTW.

Stupid idea.

 

[ModsDeleteThisAccountPlease]

Hmmmm, I read way to many novels yet balance it with games. I don't think it's impossible. You just have to find for the uninterested ones something they like.

 

[ModsDeleteThisAccountPlease]

Hmmmm, I read way to many novels yet balance it with games. I don't think it's impossible. You just have to find for the uninterested ones something they like.

I was able to get one of my cousins into reading by giving him one of the Halo novels. He loved it so much, he bought the other ones, then moved on to other series and just kept on reading

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

If we have books that interest us then we'll read. I had to read Huckle Berry finn over this past summer. No shot in hell that was happening, later we read Anthem which actually wasnt that bad. Its not that I even need a syfy or book about fighting. I just don't want some lame love story, like I'll be reading in 11th and 12th grade. I want a story that isn't that.

 

[gigastar]

Some things overstep the line.

Others take a flying leap over it.

This however curb stomps it in half then throws the pieces back the way it came from.

For the last 8 years ive read books and play games. Both on and off and sometimes simultaniously.

 

[Darth Crater]

... and getting them to associate reading with boredom helps, how?

I admit that I've done less reading of physical books since getting my own PC, but the number of words I've read (both fiction and non-) has spiked absurdly. I also read new books in whatever free time I have; I just don't reread old books as often...

 

[shiaramoon]

I loved reading as a child, and you want to know why? Because my parents read to me when I was little and they showed me all the great things that books have to offer. So, once I was able to read on my own, I kept reading. The problem isn't that the kids need to be pandered to or forced to read, it's that they need to be shown why reading is fun and that is a responsibility that lies with the parents. As far as how to help them start reading once they're older, I still think that reading and possibly discussing a good book together as a family could help. However, I also think that you could improve their literacy by buying them video games that they'll like that have a good amount of reading in them. Although most video games do that already, so I doubt that the games are to blame for their illiteracy.

 

[Silvanend]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704271804575405511702112290.html#articleTabs=article

The idea behind this article, I believe, is that boys (and ONLY boys, as girls do not play video games apparently) who do not like to read should not be pandered to by giving them "gross-out" books to read or bribed with video games in order to get them to read. Rather, they should be deprived of all electronic stimuli until they are so starved for entertainment they HAVE to read to relieve the boredom.

Hm. Discuss, Escapists: Rational, logical suggestion? Or is someone WAY overstepping their bounds here?

I can't help but feel that you're misinterpreting the article. Point-by-point:

The article never claims that girls don't play video games. I claims, instead, that boys have lower literacy scores than girls of the same age, and suggests that this is because a large amount of boys play copious amounts of video games. These statements aren't sexist.

And, lets be honest just for a moment. Reading is good for you. Parents who want their children to be successful will want their children to read, the same way that they want their children to get good grades in school and be healthy and so forth.

The method of removing digital entertainment from their kids to get them to read is really the same as removing junk food from your house when you want to lose weight. The article, on a surface level, seems to suggest that this is "boring" the kids into reading, but, as far as I can read into it, he's really just being self-depreciating. It's true that video games are more engaging than books to many people, but that doesn't mean that books are boring, and I doubt that someone who works at a publishing house would think that books are dull.

A lot of people in this thread are saying things like "let kids do what they like, doing otherwise just breeds resentment!" But, lets face it, your parents forced you to go to school, and you turned out better for it. Children's brains are underdeveloped when it comes to long-term-rewards based decision making. Letting children make decisions that can have a negative effect on the rest of their lives (like spending a lot of their time playing shoot-em-ups instead of reading) is honestly downright negligent.

 

[me.vicky]

As for myself, I inhabit both the electronic and the reading worlds- and have done so since I was five years old and able to play Mario Paint (I taught myself to read when I was three). I read anything and everything I can get my hands on, and I carry my DS with me at all times.

But, then, I am a girl, so does my argument even count?

 

[Rusty pumpkin]

Okay, what? I'm going to organize my thoughts here before someone drowns in a badly spaced essay.

1: Boys? ONLY boys? That's really unfair, I'm a freshman and I've already completed the collected works of H. P. Lovecraft, halfway through Edgar Allen Poe, I read my assigned english book in the week. So yeah, have the writer of the article tell me what a "pseudonym" is and then I'll consider them slightly intelligent.

2: I play games a lot. I have at least 10 hours on anything, 270 on tf2, and a embarrassing amount on WoW. Clearly, this doesn't mean I don't read. This idea is a complete overshot, and will probably hurt the wrong target.

3: I'm supposed to be interested in goose bumps and 'sweetfarts'??? WHO THE HELL MAKES THE STEREOTYPES?!?! I like horror because that's who I am, but goose bumps is a childish approach to something like a giant gorilla. I read Shakespeare when I'm in the mood, Edgar is using words I don't think 67% of the world even know now, I can even write a decent story. This doesn't apply to all males, but the author implies it that way, and that is pissing me off.

Well... crap I'm a hypocrite, this was an essay.

 

[Semudara]

That's horrible. Kids should be encouraged to pursue their own interests. Forcing a kid to do something that you think is good will just make them angry and resentful, in addition to stifling their own creativity and individual interests.

Video games can tell great stories and have reading built into them too. It's just a different story telling medium. Encourage them to read by all means but don't force them.

I couldn't have said it better! So I won't. This is completely my opinion!

 

[Shoggoth2588]

When I was young I hated reading too. I would play the Final Fantasy and Zelda games on the SNES, not skipping text most of the time because back when I was a kid books and games were very, very different in my mind.

Once I had graduated high school I started reading A LOT. I went from nothing to Lovecraft, Karpyshyn and, Pratchett (in that order too: It took me until Mort to realize I should have started at the Discworld)

I read quite a bit at this point but I do stick to certain genres and, subjects.

If I was forced to read as a child I wouldn't have done it.

 

[AgDr_ODST]

that very idea is so fucking stupid! if you take away what someone loves and say do this or enjoy that first and then you'll get *insert object* back is utterly ridiculous. I've loved reading ever since I first picked up a book and although I've transitioned from paperback/hardcover books to reading stories online and and on Ebooks readers(kindle) the fact is that I still like reading I just also enjoy games.

 

[hinataxemnas]

Speaking as a guy who loves video games AND reading, I personally think that it shouldn't really matter...

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

As far as I can see, the best chance for a kid growing up to read for pleasure is if they're raised in an environment where it's a regular entertainment activity.

 

[espada1311]

when i was a kid, my parents HATED video games. And they HATED the fact that i liked them. Being an only child in the middle of nowhere, they couldn't understand why i couldn't find something more entertaining.

This was my childhood exactly except i got into music instead of literature. its fun how parents can isolate you and then complain about the one thing you found to actually have social interaction beyond your household