A libertarian inclined blog for teachers and learners of all ages. Comments, emails and links to other educational stuff welcome.
Recent Comments
-
Headteacher job london on Teacher as hero
-
Tony on Exam results in South Africa are bad but the exams themselves may actually be quite good
-
suresh on Police academy
-
MBA Lady on How to learn how easy a language will be to learn
-
Jack Courtney on "There aren't very many jobs for teenagers ..."
-
MBA Lady on "There aren't very many jobs for teenagers ..."
-
Kim Ramsey on Higher paid teachers – bigger classes – better results
-
Procerin Reviews on Higher paid teachers – bigger classes – better results
-
Mia on How Chinese soldiers are trained to keep their heads up
-
Logic Prevails on How Chinese soldiers are trained to keep their heads up
Monthly Archives
-
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
Most recent entries
- Category error!
- The SATs fiasco makes the cover of Private Eye
- Summer holiday
- Grilled Balls
- Party talk
- Lowest bidder
- Another teaching blog
- Unstructured
- “Parents should not rely on SATs …”
- Let the feral kids get jobs
- Rock and roll cricketers?
- The many degrees of Robert Mugabe
- Making the students love ID cards
- The genetics of autism
- Meeting a celeb at a posh school doesn’t count
Blogroll
A don's life
children are people
Dare to Know
Educating Outside The Box
Elemental Mom
Ewan McIntosh's edu.blogs.com
Green House by the Sea
HE&OS
It Shouldn't Happen to a Teacher
Joanne Jacobs
kitchen table math, the sequel
Life WIthout School
Mr. Chalk
Mortarboard
O'DonnellWeb
school of everything
Stay at home dad
Successful Teaching
The ARCH Blog
The Core Knowledge Blog
The DeHavilland Blog
To Miss with Love
Websites
-
A-Z Home's Cool
dyslexics.org.uk
Education Otherwise
Educational Heretics Press
E.G. West Centre
European-American University
Homeschool World
Independent Schools Council
Indian Moms
Kumon
New Model School Company
Reading Reform Foundation
Ruth Miskin Literacy
South West Surrey Home Education
TES
The Supplementary Schools Project
Mainstream Media education sections
BBC
Guardian
Independent
Telegraph
Times
Syndicate
RSS 1.0
RSS 2.0
Atom
Feedburner
Categories
Adult education
Africa
Architecture
Asia
Australasia
Bias
Bits from books
Bloggers and blogging
Books
Boys
Brian teaches
Bullying
Business education
Canada
China
Class size
Comprehensive schools
Compulsion
Computers
Consent
Crime
dcsf
Diet
Discipline
Distance learning
Drama
Economics
Educational memories
Equality
Europe
Examinations
Exclusion
Famous educations
Gerald Hartup
Girls
Globalisation
Grammar
Grammar schools
Higher education
History
Home education
How the mind works
India
Initiatives
Intelligence
Languages
League tables
Learning by doing
Links
Literacy
Maths
Medicine
Middle East
Movies
Music
OFSTED
Parents
Physical education
Play
Podcasts
Politics
Primary schools
Qualifications
Quote unquote
Reading
Real life
Religion
Russia
Safety
School choice
Science
Scotland
Self education
Sex education
Socialising
South America
Sovietisation
Spelling
Sport
Targets
Teacher training
Technology
Television
Testing
The internet
The private sector
This blog
Three Rs
Training
Truancy
UK
USA
Video
Violence
Vouchers
West Indies
Other Blogs I write for
CNE Competition
CNE Intellectual Property
Samizdata
Transport Blog
Brian Micklethwait
(the personal blog)
Previous entry: Their funeral?
I have now read the first of these three pieces, and am greatly looking forward to reading the other two. Here’s how the first one starts:
My husband Jason is a major video game geek. We have boxes in the garage, full of all his old game systems, and the games he couldn’t trade back in for credit on newer ones. The guys at the local GameCrazy don’t know his name; they just call him “big spender.”
I’ve known about this fascination since we started dating, and in fact, his ability to press the pause button and continue to interact with the people in the room was one of the things about him that impressed me to begin with. We’d curl up together, him with the latest Zelda, me with my laptop, and I’d cheer with him when he beat a level, and be dutifully sad when the solution to the puzzle eluded him. We discussed the ethics of cheats, and whether it was worth it or not. To this day, I get all nostalgic about our dating days when I hear the startup music to “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.”
When we had our first child, Jason and Rowan spent many the happy hour cuddling together, while Jason narrated game strategy, and Rowan soaked up the comfort and security of being in his Papa’s arms. That’s not a direct benefit of game playing by any stretch, but it does set the scene for What Happened Next.
Rowan pretty much demanded a controller of his own from the time he could make his hands obey his direction. And he knew the difference between when the controller was connected, and when it was not. No substitutions tolerated; he wanted to play.
Some amazing father-son bonding times have happened in front of The Box. Sometimes, it’s a game that Rowan can play, sometimes, Rowan sits and watches Jason play and asks questions. Part collaboration, part adoration, it’s precious time that the two of them share together. Usually, I go to bed pretty early, so the two pals hang out, and more nights than not, Rowan still falls asleep in Papa’s arms while they play together.
Just for that alone, I’d say video games were worth it and then some.
Deep thanks to Adriana for alerting me to this lady (see in particularly this). She and Adriana are collaborating on, if I understand it right, stuff like this.