Schools Using Grand Theft Auto to Teach Kids

[GamingAwesome1]

It makes me wonder if people really are that dumb that we have to tell what's real and what's virtual.

 

[Ricotez]

I approve of this method. Too many people are incapable of distinguishing a video game from reality. And I mean that even a single one is too many.

 

[TerribleAssassin]

This really really will not work at all....


why though? we all know that shit tbh

 

[trueluigi7]

I think this is good

 

[sirdanrhodes]

So let me get this straight. Schools are doing what parents should be doing themselves?

 

[scotth266]

Snip.

When I saw the headline, I actually thought that the cops were going to be using the game to show why drunk driving is bad. After all, driving in GTA4 while NOT intoxicated is an infuriating task. Doing so while your character is drunker as a skunk is almost impossible. Not to mention the cops WILL catch you.

 

[Mechsoap]

the kids are so fucked up they need a computer game to teach them? i like the idea with setting computer games in teaching since myself find teaching boring, but still.

 

[Handofpwn]

This has honestly brought back my faith in humanity. Schools are finally working with the popular culture to educate kids and teach them that it is entertainment, not real life. While I think it is the parents job to teach the kids this, they so often fail to do it so at least someone is teaching these kids.

 

[Grounogeos]

IT'S THE PARENT'S JOB TO TEACH THIS!

Didn't you get the memo? Parents aren't responsible for their kids' behavior anymore.

And God forbid the kids themselves be held responsible...

 

[The_Graff]

It is sad that we must teach children what is real and what isn't.

Were we all that stupid back then?

IT'S THE PARENT'S JOB TO TEACH THIS!

true, but most parents seem to view children as noisy annoyances at best so ... what the hell are we going to do about it?

 

[Eekaida]

On the one hand, this is a stupid idea: 10-11 year old don't become violent from videogames, they become violent because they are surrounded by/subjected to violence in their home life, most likly from their parents. Violent parents beget violent children (parents who claim otherwise are either in denial or just plain lying).
Also, I would have been insulted by this if I had been shown it at age 11. I'm old enough to take the 11+ exam, but not old enough to know the difference between fact and fiction?
I can only think of twice in the past 10 years that some murdering twonk had his violence linked with videogames here in england, which lost their credibility because both cases had a past hitory of mental problems.

On the other hand, its nice to see they're doing something to address they media hype or violence in videogames.

 

[Mr.PlanetEater]

I applaud the idea, but shit if 10-11 year old's can't grasp the core concept of Fact and Fiction, we're screwed 20 or 30 years down the road. Honestly how hard is to grasp, that guns aren't magic things that you point at something you die..or that you can't leap off a building and survive, or that you can't stomp on turtles to save a princess.

 

[Jared]

Well, its certainly unique.

I suppose younger generation will also be able to relate to it more but seems...like using GTA as an example...well, I suppose can only ne negative as not muich positive about been a criminal lol

 

[300lb. Samoan]

I like the idea of this program primarily because it isn't another example of parents and teachers putting on the blinders and pretending like kids aren't already playing Grand Theft Auto for 8 hours a day, every day, after they finish beating up their classmates and robbing old women. It does seem like it's modeled to counteract violence used in videogames and other forms of entertainment, and not to get on the Jack Thompson train or anything, but maybe it's not such a bad thing to specifically say to kids that Grand Theft Auto is nothing like real life and to prove why.

Totally agreed. I hope that people will be much more accepting of violent video games if we actively educate children on the impact of violence in the real world. The problem for a long time has been that parents (and even some teachers) are willing to let their children be raised by TV and video games, and those children end up having their world view shaped by fiction rather than fact. Escapism is truly good only for those who are aware of what they escape from.

 

[Deleted]

Remember kids, up down right left X RB LB Y to make your car fly!

 

[Dioxide20]

Forget all these stupid programs, its the damned parents fault.

 

[FloodOne]

Kids aren't stupid. They can tell the difference between a car made up of pixels and a real one.

What they get taught from these games is that society puts violence, theft and hookers up on a pedastal and begins to believe these are socially acceptable.

After all, they just bought a game glorifying it so it HAS to be good, right? Right?

Point is, the kid should know that's not how things work if they've got a functioning mind.
The main character fights gangsters, heals bullet wounds with hotdogs, escapes police by dying/respraying his car in a public chop-shop, the first place the police would probably check...

Anyone who's walked down a street or even simply scrapped their knee could tell this is just not how things work.
And we're supposed to believe that people are thick enough to believe this shit?

Are you inside the mind of a ten year old? Are you entirely sure how their brains process information? I don't think so.

Knowledge is never a bad thing, and everyone could use more of it on a breadth of subjects. i support this idea 100%.

 

[Zersy]

Using Grand Theft Auto to promote anti Violence?


Well, at least they're thinking outside the box.

I think they might have used the wrong box in the first place.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Are you inside the mind of a ten year old? Are you entirely sure how their brains process information? I don't think so.

Knowledge is never a bad thing, and everyone could use more of it on a breadth of subjects. i support this idea 100%.

I was inside the mind of a 10 year old when I played Duke Nukem 3D and I never thought "I wanna do that to real people".
But what I was trying to say was if a kid needs to go to these classes to know that killing a person is bad, the problem is being stupid, not being young.

 

[pyrus7]

I believe the program is less about trying to separate reality from fiction, and more about trying to undo the increasing desensitization to violence due to media (movies, tv and videogames). Kids might perfectly well understand that shooting someone makes them permanently dead but they might not necessarily see why doing so is wrong, when shootings (especially by the protagonists/good guys) are so commonplace in the media.