Is this appropriate for a teacher to do?
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2014/04/02/lifestyle/family/794612.txt
I think it's ok as long as the teacher isn't pressuring students into it or scolding students for not being part of it.
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It's appropriate for anyone to do, but this teacher should do it on her own time. Classrooms should not be places to hold students captive to the teachers' social and political agendas.
She wasn't specifically holding them captive. I think it was more of an idea she proposed to her students. Now I won't say it should be stopped, since it can't, because the entire school and then some's on board with it, but I personally think it's insulting to game developers to collect games for the purpose of destroying them like they're parasites.
Well, students in a class are, in a sense, held captive in such a situation with a proselytizing teacher. Students have little choice but to sit there in their seats and listen to the teacher. It would take a very strong-willed, outspoken student to challenge the teacher or object, and most wouldn't bother. Teachers shouldn't push their political and social agendas in the classroom. And I happen to agree that very young people playing violent games and watching violent movies is often a bad thing.
And how do you know the whole school was okay with what she was doing? Publicly objecting to this teacher and going against the mob mentality might seem like more trouble than it's worth.
It says in the article that most if not all of the school is supporting it. And as for the little kids who play these games, it's an obvious sign that some people just aren't fit to be parents. Plus, this is a middle school, so these kids can't be that young.
Getting students to think about ethical and political issues? That's the kind of education I can whole heartedly support. But balance is important, it should be a discussion, not a doctrine.
Exactly. Making the students aware of an issue is a good thing, but not making them pick a particular side. And I don't see what's to gain by destroying something that people have put so much effort into. Keep violent games away from little kids? Sure. But destroy them because parents let their kids play them? It makes you wonder how many people are actually fit to be parents.
As for the effectiveness of the destruction, I'm of the personal opinion that being desensitised to killing on-screen does not desensitise us to actual killing. Also, being desensitised to fiction is a very different concept to blurring the lines between fiction and reality. It wouldn't surprise me if most such murders are committed by people who feel alienated and powerless, rather than those suffering delusions. I also don't feel blanket censorship would be an intuitive solution, even if it could be proven violent delusional people are inspired by violent media, in part because the worst atrocities are on the news, not DVD. Finally, censorship culture is more concerned with the explicit rather then the implied, rendering it mostly ineffective.
Sir, what you have said has restored my faith in humanity's intelligence. I am in your debt.
So, the reporter interviewed everyone at the school, then? Including all of the staff and administrators? I doubt it.
Facilitating a discussion is different than political and social agenda advocacy. If the teacher is unable to facilitate discussion without becoming an advocate, then they shouldn't be teaching.