Association of Teachers and Lecturers Lectures Parents

[Andy Chalk]

Association of Teachers and Lecturers Lectures Parents

The U.K.'s Association of Teachers and Lecturers is gearing up to lobby for more "stringent legislation" on videogames because parents aren't being careful enough about what their kids are playing.

Fair is fair: It's probably not a good thing to let an eight-year-old play Association of Teachers and Lecturers [http://www.amazon.com/Grand-Theft-Auto-IV-Xbox-360/dp/B000FRU1UM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332787713&sr=8-1] in the U.K. takes that point a little too far, I think; reminding parents that it's a good idea to keep an eye on what their kids are playing is one thing, but suggesting that they're making a mess of it, and that the government needs to step in as a result, is something else entirely.

"It's about reminding parents and carers that they have a very real responsibility for their children and that schools can't do it alone," said ATL chief Dr. Mary Bousted. "It takes the very serious and labor-intensive business of proper care and attention of young children before they go to school and while at school to allow them to learn most effectively."

"If they're up to 12 or one o'clock playing computer games, and coming to school exhausted, not interacting with other children, that's not good preparation for school, and not good preparation for life," she continued. "The fact that children spend hours locked in their rooms playing computer games, which means they're not interacting, they're not playing and not taking exercise."

Hard to argue with that, but the ATL is going beyond simply reminding parents of their responsibilities by seeking to commission research which will ultimately allow it to request more "stringent legislation" of videogames by the U.K. government. The nature of the research and what form of legislation the ATL is seeking wasn't revealed.

Source: BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17514321]


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[Sparrow]

...But the Association of Teachers and Lecturers [http://www.atl.org.uk/] in the U.K. takes that point a little too far, I think; reminding parents that it's a good idea to keep an eye on what their kids are playing is one thing, but suggesting that they're making a mess of it, and that the government needs to step in as a result, is something else entirely.

I don't think it's that much of a stretch. When I was young my parents would let me play 15 rated games, but they'd always really look into a game that was rated 18 if I wanted it. Folks nowadays just don't seem to give a damn. "My 9 year old wants a game called Manhunt? Gee, it says it's rated 18 but my son REALLY wants it!" seems to be the modern mentality.

I'd prefer to sit back and see what exactly the ATL want to do about it, but I believe they're correct in assuming most parents just don't give a rats ass.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I'll wait for a more detail update before jumping to any conclusions, even if i tend to side against parents in such situations

 

[Scrustle]

More ignorant busy bodies telling everyone else how to live their lives. Although that's not the most extreme anti-gaming nonsense I've ever heard there's still a fair lot of bull shit there. That's not to say there's no truth in that either, but these people obviously don't know what they're talking about.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Remember when shit parents were blamed for being shit parents?

Pro-fucking-tip: The solution for getting little Timmy to stop playing GTA4 at 3 in the morning is to kick the little git off the console, not create leglisation to achieve the same effect.

 

[shado_temple]

As long as they're pushing the focus on the parents purchasing/allowing the games to be played, rather than blaming it on the "evil" games themselves, I'm all for it. Yes, the government intervening in such areas of life is a bit extreme, but parents do need to step up when it comes to monitoring what and how much media their kids consume.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

These damn kids with their videogames and their rock music out to be out doing wholesome things! Like breaking each others bones playing football!

Remember when shit parents were blamed for being shit parents?

Pro-fucking-tip: The solution for getting little Timmy to stop playing GTA4 at 3 in the morning is to kick the little git off the console, not create leglisation to achieve the same effect.

+1

 

[Suicidejim]

I'm curious, what legislature would be involved, exactly? I'm just not sure what solution they would propose to stop kids playing games late at night. Consoles already have things like parental protection (as far as I recall, I don't make a habit of checking the various options and settings of my consoles), and in addition to that, the U.K. already prevents underage kids from buying games.

Heck, the Wii even sends you an unremovable message with what games have been played on any given day, and for how long. Aside from mandating that this info be sent to the Government, I'm not seeing an easy solution here.

Incidentally, does this also apply to reading? I remember staying up late at night with a torch and a good book as a kid, should we start legislating that too, in case they read too much? You're not socializing or exercising when you read, after all.

 

[Doclector]

By the state of the Uk's schools, they have no right whatsoever to talk about child safety.

Hell, I'll bet many kids experiences in school were the reason for such "excessive" (and it isn't even that so much) gaming, forcing them into retreat into a virtual world. It's not surprising that kids don't want to interact if the other kids are usually hostile, all grouped up into what basically amounts as gangs (although, I should stress they would not usually actually commit street crime) with the teachers often doing little to nothing about it.

My advice, you want kids to stop turning to a virtual world? Make the real world a little nicer to live in.

And just generally, look for faults closer to home before you go attacking a medium of art. It's happened so many times before, legitimate art forms unduely criticised because of a strenuous link to some kind of societal ill. Not only is this bad for the art in question, but this prevents people looking at the real issues and attempting to solve them.

 

[Weaver]

I stay up until midnight or 1am doing stuff every night and show up for work exhausted every day. I think it's perfect preparation for life IMO.

 

[CosmicCommander]

Oh, great- the rest of us are going to suffer because of some melodramatic busybodies who want to get the state to increase regulation on yet another activity. Good to know that these sodding pressure groups will once more ensure the rest of us suffer because they're unwilling to acknowledge the root of the problem- bad parents, and bad schools.

It's better for these odious cunts to create a scapegoat rather than acknowledging the truth- that these unions with the imposition of bureaucracy akin to Brazil's level in schools has disenfranchised teachers and students, and made education less about the pursuit of knowledge and more about the preservation of their member's livelihoods via hitting examination quotas.

 

[MammothBlade]

"It's about reminding parents and carers that they have a very real responsibility for their children and that schools can't do it alone," said ATL chief Dr. Mary Bousted. "It takes the very serious and labor-intensive business of proper care and attention of young children before they go to school and while at school to allow them to learn most effectively."

Oh, not simply a real responsibility? God I hate it when people use that newspeak crap. /nitpick

The job of schools isn't to do the parenting. Yes, they do have a role in bringing up children but they shouldn't get too involved with childrens' home life. The nanny state can f**k off. The overwhelming majority of parents and families don't need the government breathing down their necks ensuring that they conform to some totalitarian obedient-docile-citizen-manufacturing regulations.

 

[IndianaJonny]

Hard to argue with that, but the ATL is going beyond simply reminding parents of their responsibilities by seeking to commission research which will ultimately allow it to request more "stringent legislation" of videogames by the U.K. government.

I'd like to see them get far with that since Ozzy announced tax credits (akin to those given to the British Film Industry) for videogame companies (a la 'creative industries') in the Budget only last week. British software companies are 'in vogue' so far as the government is concerned - doesn't mean they're getting everything right, mind.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Incidentally, does this also apply to reading? I remember staying up late at night with a torch and a good book as a kid, should we start legislating that too, in case they read too much? You're not socializing or exercising when you read, after all.

I'm actually more likely to stay up real late for a good book than a game. I've been playing my games for awhile, but that book's a new experience, and I just need to figure out what happens next. I might stay up 30 to an hour for a game, but I've lost several hours worth of sleep over books *shrug*

You know, I do believe today's LRR is rather appropriate for this article.

 

[ph0b0s123]

If only there was some system for legally enforced ratings for games and movies in the UK.... Oh yeah there is...

The only thing that could be done further, is to punish parents who let their children watch movies and play video games rated too old for them.

In that case my parents would be in prison as well as they let me watch movies I was too young for. Also not helped by me living in a country for a few years whose maximum age limit for a movie was 16 and not 18 as other places.

 

[Formica Archonis]

We don't like what our children play. Give the government the power to take it away.
We don't like what our children see. Give the government the power to take it away.
We don't like what our children hear. Give the government the power to take it away.
We don't like what our children think. Give the government the power to take it away.

 

[Therumancer]

Well, when I listen to this it reminds me of similar issues here in the US. One of the big issues with kids playing games/watching TV is simply that they can't go out and play. At the best of times a two income family means the parents are exhausted when the kids come home and can't exactly go out to supervise them, and with the way liability works in the US unescorted children are a civil suit waiting to happen since anything they do comes back to the parents now, and everyone is concerned about what happens tot hem if they say hurt themselves at a playground or in someone's yard.

This is to say nothing of the dangers of tolerance, letting all those freaks and wierdos wander around until they actually do something wrong and are caught (ie totally reactive) means that the streets just aren't safe for children to wander the neighborhoods. Drugs, prostitution, molesters, and worse, with things getting even more bad every year.

In the UK I don't know about the actual reported crime rate, but I hear a lot about the so called "chavs" and got to listen to what a lot of the "young men" on the street are like during those riots not too long ago. With those attitudes I'm not surprised if there are similar motives for keeping kids indoors.

I'm just saying, pointing fingers at the parents is not entirely fair, society has change radically over the period of a lifetime or so. In my grandparents day you typically had stay at home moms (ie home makers) who could take care of children full time, and society being a less tolerant place might have been an affront to civil liberties in the minds of the left wing but it DID lead to an enviroment where kids were able to roam the streets more or less freely. Starting with my parent's generation we started to see the two income families and a definate change of what's tolerated on the streets, and moving into my generation... well we see the problem.

I won't go into solutions, other than to say your looking at a situation where society as a whole sort of needs to change, not just the parents. It's great for schools to say parents need to be more responsible, but without two jobs paying the rent/mortgage might be impossible, and really all the parenting in the world isn't going to deal with the punks and freaks wandering the streets in most places in increasing numbers. As a father I'd be nervous about letting my 11 year old daughter out of my sight at a mall where I'm also shopping, never mind let them wander the streets and play with other kids like the old 50/60s clique (ie Dennis The Menace, and things of that ilk). I can't imagine the UK being all that differant from what I've seen.

 

[Antari]

So the way to remind parents of their responsibility is to give it to someone else?

They'll just keep the parents rights in a desk for the day. They can have them back if they behave.

 

[Dastardly]

Association of Teachers and Lecturers Lectures Parents

It's a very understandable desperation move.

As an American teacher, I'm held accountable 100% accountable for the behavior and performance of my students. My job security is tied to those scores, while our school's funding is tied to enrollment -- meaning the school will do nothing to get rid of even the worst kids, because that's lost funding.

But I've got these kids strolling in late every morning, chugging down energy drinks, bleary-eyed because they've been up on the computer or console, or even just TV, unable and unwilling to get any work done. And when review time comes around, guess who gets put under the microscope? Not the parents.

Until there are measures in place that allow us, as teachers, to be shielded from punishment for these factors that are far beyond our control (I have yet to see an end-of-grade test that asks the child whether he/she ate breakfast that morning), you can expect that we'll do our best to bring the system down on the right folks.

If we're going to bear the responsibility, we need to bear the control. If the parents want the control, they need to shoulder the responsibility.