British Teachers Still Blaming Games for Schoolyard Violence

The Wooster

King Snap
Jul 15, 2008
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British Teachers Still Blaming Games for Schoolyard Violence


Games are being linked to an increase in "hitting, hurting and thumping" in British schools.

Children are vile little goblins. That's a concrete fact. They're forever climbing, drooling, drawing or choking on things they shouldn't have touched in the first place. As infuriating as they are to adults, the ungrateful little turdlets manage to be even more unpleasant to each other. They're getting worse too. In England at least, reports of violent behavior involving schoolchildren seem to be increasing year over year. To find out why, you have to travel through the tremendous buck-passing conga line. The government blames the parents, the parents blame the teachers and the teachers blame - you guessed it - video games. In this case, violent video games that the kids shouldn't have in the first place.

This coming Wednesday, at the annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers - the same group that graced our front page last week with demands for more "stringent legislation" regarding parents buying games for their kids [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116506-Association-of-Teachers-and-Lecturers-Lectures-Parents] - former president, Alison Sheratt, intends to claim that games with "horrific" content are responsible for an increase in violent behavior in schools. She's also going to claim that teachers have witnessed young pupils "acting out quite graphic scenes" and that games are responsible for an increase in "hitting, hurting and thumping."

Sheratt, a teacher at Riddlesden St Mary's Primary School in West Yorkshire, says she's seen children "throwing themselves out of the window of the play car in slow motion and acting out blood spurting from their bodies," apparently in imitation of whatever awful murder-simulations they've been playing on their consoles.

I don' think the fact that children, thick as they are, tend to emulate whatever entertainment their parents stick in front of them, but I do wonder why games are singled out over, say, movies, or television.

Sheratt also claims that since gaming is a "fairly solitary existence" it can have a negative effect on communication skills, which affects school performance.

"Sadly, there is a noticeable correlation between the children who admit to playing games and those who come to school really tired," she added.

Honestly, I've spent far too many classes in a post-all-night-gaming-session coma to even dream of disputing that point.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers will meet this Wednesday. It's expected that the group will back a motion calling for the Teacher's Union to commission more research into the link between gaming and child behavior.

Source: The Telegraph [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9183385/Violent-video-games-are-fuelling-rise-in-aggressive-behaviour.html]


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mattttherman3

New member
Dec 16, 2008
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Yeah, I read this, couldn't help but think back to when I was in grade school and the WWF was blamed for every violent situation.
 

PureIrony

Slightly Sarcastic At All Times
Aug 12, 2010
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Kids beat the shit out of each other because we are living in an age which glorifies violence to an almost masturbatory extent. That, and the fact that everyone in this generation seems to have no sense of self-control, and that should go double for children.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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stricter legislation?

what about...education?!..hey parents...see this 15+ rating here? if you worry about little john and his games you might want to take note

anyway, this really isnt worth getting riled up over...Im pretty mcuh imune to this kind of thing...birds fly, fish swim and aults dont like the "vid-eee-ooohh" games
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
18,863
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PureIrony said:
Kids beat the shit out of each other because we are living in an age which glorifies violence to an almost masturbatory extent. That, and the fact that everyone in this generation seems to have no sense of self-control, and that should go double for children.
pretty sure thats been going on since caveman times

me and my brother used to get into fights all the time (and he was a biter)
 

Jorec

New member
Jul 7, 2010
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Kids have gotten into scraps for a long time, its nothing new. Maybe instead of taking the easy way and blaming games people should see if the child's home environment isn't the cause for their violent behavior.
 

gigastar

Insert one-liner here.
Sep 13, 2010
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They see children that they think have been warped by a culture that they dont understand.

I see the same children being human.
 

viranimus

Thread killer
Nov 20, 2009
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Ahem...

Dear British teachers, At what point exactly did you forget that the teacher is to be blamed for the failures of the student?

You dont like them exhibiting the same typical behavior exhibited by generations of children? How about teaching them to not act like children then? If you feel encumbered to teach them as their parents would not condone teaching them how to behave, then, teach the parents to teach the children.

Blame where blame is due. I dont think teachers are truly to blame. However I will claim they are because its every bit as rational to blame the teachers failing to keep the kids under control as it is to blame the video games for the behavior.
 

RaNDM G

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Apr 28, 2009
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I got in fights all the time when I was 5. I didn't pick up a controller 'til I was about 7.

 

PureIrony

Slightly Sarcastic At All Times
Aug 12, 2010
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FelixG said:
Humans are naturally violent critters, it has very little to do with the "age we live in" crap.
The article was attempting to blame violence in kids on "age we live in" crap. I made my statement because I believe videogames to be a part of a larger issue in that regard, if that is the issue.

It may be because people are naturally violent, but that's getting into a much longer debate over the nature of man, nature vs. nurture, the role of society in shaping a man's personality, etc. I didn't bring all of that up because whether that is a cause, and, if so(and it probably is), to what extent, is part of a centuries-old debate I just didn't want to get into.

Mortai Gravesend said:
This reminds me of the people who complain that we're making kids into wimps who can't handle violence like in the good old days.

I'm gonna say that we probably don't glorify violence much more than before.
I think the whole "thing" with that is that we do glorify violence more today, as we do really hype it up and revel in it, but we've also made it much cleaner.

Think of most of the video games, action movies or anime you've seen in the last few years. They probably had a lot of violence in them, but the protagonists never really seem all that bothered by it. They'll take bullet wounds and long gashes and leap through windows with only minor cuts. They'll clearly feel pain, but they won't do much more than grunt a little or lie down after a fight. Most of the hyped-up violence we see isn't real, and I'm willing to bet a lot of people aren't really used to the weight of real violence, even if they see violent things all the time.
 

elexis

just another guy
Mar 17, 2009
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Grey Carter said:
The government blames the parents, the parents blame the teachers and the teachers blame ... violent video games that the kids shouldn't have in the first place.
So in other words they blame the parents for ignoring the rating system.
 

Scars Unseen

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May 7, 2009
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DVS BSTrD said:
Scars Unseen said:
DVS BSTrD said:
These videogames are making our students un-conch-onable!
Like a conch shell? I don't get the reference.
You don't know what film the picture is from do you?
Nope. I don't watch many movies. The local theater is pretty awful, and by the time a movie comes out on Blu-Ray I've forgotten all about it in most cases.