Poll: Should games be taught at schools?

[AMMO Kid]

NO. The gaming industry should remain a hobby for those who enjoy immersive gameplay and good storylines. That's like asking if we should teach movies in schools.

But we teach music, literature and drama. Why shouldn't movies and games be a part of our fundamental education, if the former are?

Because if we teach things like that school like other things it will become a job opportunity for everyone. Then it will become another "desk job" for whoever wants it most instead of what today's employees of companies like "Valve" and "BioWare" say about their jobs(as in they enjoy their jobs very much).

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Only Age of Empires 1 & 2 for History and Deus Ex + Planescape Torment for Philosophy

 

[P.Tsunami]

Because if we teach things like that school like other things it will become a job opportunity for everyone. Then it will become another "desk job" for whoever wants it most instead of what today's employees of companies like "Valve" and "BioWare" say about their jobs(as in they enjoy their jobs very much).

I understand your argument, but I think it's just theorizing. On the other hand, we do have job opportunities for writers, musicians and actors. They're not opportunities for everyone, and most within these fields enjoy their jobs very much, with a passion. And yet, we teach these subjects in basic education. I'm still not clear that there's a huge difference with video games.

 

[Drop_D-Bombshell]

wouldn't really benefit anyone. So no.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

Not games, but graphic design should be taught in schools

 

[tehweave]

Cinema (movies) have been around since the turn of the century 1900s.
It wasn't really until the 50s that film was being taught in colleges, and people could go to school for a film degree.
Nowadays, most colleges (like mine, University of Kansas) have film 'studies' degrees. They focus very little on making movies and more on understanding the theory behind cinema.

Video games have been around since the 70s.
There are colleges where you can go to study video games and how to make them.
But there isn't really a wide spectrum on teaching about video game history...

I'm guessing that sometime within the next 30 or so years, we'll start to see video game theory as a major or even video game studies, where students are REQUIRED to play through certain games.

Now, SHOULD this happen? It's hard to say.

People used to read for pleasure all the time, and now most people find reading to be a chore.
A lot of film students find watching old cinema from the 1910s to 1950s a chore, despite that being the most popular form of entertainment through the depression in the 30s.

I think games will eventually start being taught in schools, but they'll have to wade through the history of it like pong, the atari 2600, and even E.T. before hitting the fun ones like the NES and Sega Genesis.

 

[Blueruler182]

Actually, there's a DigiPen program that teaches game design, I believe it's used as a way of helping people with math. Didn't help me, just reinforced my belief that I want to do concept art, but there is a gaming course for grade 11/12. Of course, it tanked out here after the first year, but there is a course.

 

[Coop83]

Video Games are a part of popular culture and as such shouldn't need to be taught. However, judging by some of the useless shite that you can get a university degree in these days, you might as well teach people about it. Don't forget that some bits and pieces should also be educated about as a part of a syllabus involving this - D&D, other roleplaying games and so forth have their place in the games industry, as would writing a dissertation on ZeroPunctuation

 

[JEBWrench]

I'm sure you had music class in your elementary school (or equivalent) education. Is music essential? Keep in mind that I ask this as an amateur musician for whom music is the single most important thing in life. The only people who need to know how to make music are the people who will be making music. We still teach music as early as kindergarten. In this regard, what separates music from video games?

The ability to discern rhythm is an important part of a child's development. And children learn that best through music.

Thus, music is important to teach young kids.

The more you know!

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

It works from either perspective you look at it. If you look at it from the artistic perspective, there is precedent because there are theater and film classes. If you look at games as simple entertainment, there is still precedent because sports are taught in schools, and are nothing but very simple entertainment.

Exactly my point, as well. There are current areas in the curriculum that tell me games certainly have a place as well.

[small]Nitpick: Sports classes obviously have an additional function, namely to keep kids in a reasonable shape.[/small]

You don't need to fund a sports program to keep people in shape. You can use less expensive general PE courses, which are usually offered as well.

 

[P.Tsunami]

I'm sure you had music class in your elementary school (or equivalent) education. Is music essential? Keep in mind that I ask this as an amateur musician for whom music is the single most important thing in life. The only people who need to know how to make music are the people who will be making music. We still teach music as early as kindergarten. In this regard, what separates music from video games?

The ability to discern rhythm is an important part of a child's development. And children learn that best through music.

Thus, music is important to teach young kids.

The more you know!

Yes, I'm well aware of that! However, I've seen several studies that show children playing video games develop a greater sense of coordination and better reflexes as well, so it's not like - although this seems like a prevalent notion in this thread - video games are useless for a child or teen's development. I for one learned English almost entirely through video gaming.

 

[Caurus]

My exact thoughts are "no that's stupid"...
The end.

 

[AMMO Kid]

Because if we teach things like that school like other things it will become a job opportunity for everyone. Then it will become another "desk job" for whoever wants it most instead of what today's employees of companies like "Valve" and "BioWare" say about their jobs(as in they enjoy their jobs very much).

I understand your argument, but I think it's just theorizing. On the other hand, we do have job opportunities for writers, musicians and actors. They're not opportunities for everyone, and most within these fields enjoy their jobs very much, with a passion. And yet, we teach these subjects in basic education. I'm still not clear that there's a huge difference with video games.

Good point.

 

[Mr. In-between]

Absolutely not.

While video games might be a viable study at the college level, they have no significance in the K-12 classroom. As a matter of fact, they shouldn't allow the tards and fuck-ups to get High School diplomas by playing video games and breaking things when they are angry, because that is a complete load of bullshit that still pisses me off to this day.

 

[Srdjan]

Yes, it would improve childrens creativity.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

I think they could be used as an instrument of learning, certainly.

Otherwise, what kind of school are we talking about? College? Sure, they teach the Simpsons at college. Regular school's? They don't teach movie at school...

 

[Anticitizen_Two]

Nah. I don't really see the point.

 

[Firetaffer]

Nah. I don't really see the point.

There is no real point in learning about films either (At English in my school we are currently learning film techniques behind Coach Carter ), yet we do it. Games really are becoming more main stream than ever, so I see that if we learnt how for example, the process that goes into making Bioshock is done, it will scare the try hards away and leave us with the real guts of the video gaming industry. I agree with the posts above that is should be an extraciriculum activity.