Land without technology- Epilogue

Okay... so... I must make another concession on the topic of technology being the downfall of all that is good and right in the world. Also... if it's not reading across, I am definitely being sarcastic here, as there are numerous benefits from technology at large. My harping is mainly focused on the preservation of creative thinking in young children while their innate developmental tendencies allow for it to such a florid extent. But, New York Times, you bring up some interesting ideas with this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/magazine/19video-t.html?pagewanted=2&_r=3&ref=general&src=me

While this is still not tackling my issue of fostering organically generated creative abstract thought, it does make an interesting case for ways the mass appeal of extremely reinforcing video games can be harnessed and used to benefit kids. I guess I am now wondering why this hasn't been utilized to a larger degree sooner? Educational tech games have been around a while. I know when I was a kid, I could spend hours on Math Blaster... does anyone else remember that computer game? It was awesome, and believe me when I say, me describing anything related to math as "awesome," is a rarity.

I think one of the major important parts of this article, was mentioning how testing is such a scary huge deal, you pass or you fail, live or die. Those tests are so stressful for kids and teachers alike and I think they really take away from the purpose of learning. While as the article mentions, some people feel kids should learn for the sake of it, not through games, kids aren't learning from the sake of it now, they are learning for the sake of the exam and isn't that even worse? I don't see the benefits of learning out of fear and pressure and stress rather than out of fun and enjoyment and enthusiasm. I think there is something to be said for the forgiveness of mistakes that is taught in video games. Sure you may die a gory death but you get to try again, sure maybe a few levels back... maybe all over again, but the point is you get to learn from mistakes and go back and that is a really valuable lesson.

I still don't think this is an IDEAL system to implement and I think age restrictions for tech based learning should be put in place. To me, that video of a two-year old smoking was just as scary as videos of two-year olds playing with ipads. But, I do think maybe there can be a happy medium.

While we're on this, can someone design a video game for GRE prep? It's a little late for me now, but I could have really used a dopamine rush during my studying a few months ago. I don't wish that kind of hell on anyone.