Growing up with 4 siblings, my parents were very strict about what we watched, listened to, and played with. No video games or weapons (guns, swords, etc.) were aloud in the house. Now I have 4 more younger siblings (all under the age of 6) and they are aloud to have toy guns and swords (though can not point them at be violent towards anyone.) We also have a game system for them, though most the games are either Disney or Racing. It seems to me like my parents are still grounded in their beliefs, but after Wednesday's discussion I now wonder, "What changed?" Are they really just trying to keep up with the times?
About the 16 year olds running a prostitution ring in MOA... Do they really have NO moral issue with doing this? I think this comes back to parents wanting their kids to be happy and kids wanting to fit in. The media is creating this monster of an image that young girls see as their ideal look/ attitude. It needs to stop. Parents need to teach their kids morals and not worry about their day-to- day happiness, but rather their life-long happiness and well being.
The article about the school shootings in Finland was very disturbing ,yet at the same time it wasn't too shocking. I mean, what do we expect kids (and people in general) to learn from playing "Kindergarten Killer" and similar games? I do not understand why and how people can play these sorts of games. It makes me sick just thinking about the fact that they exist. I don't think that the problem is simply regulating what kids can and can't rent, play, view on the Internet. The bigger issue is that people of all ages have come to believe that it's ok to play extremely violent and realistic video games. Someone might argue "it's just a game/ entertainment," but it's NOT. Though they might not realize it by playing these games for hours and hours their brain starts to think, "Wow, this is kind of fun!" I don't know what the solution is, but something needs to change in our society as a whole.As teachers, we will be a big part of the future generations' moral development. We need to come up with ideas asap that will help to get the media and morality of our society headed back in the right direction
2 comments:
It's a difficult battle, and our society is losing the fight. I like to play "violent" video games from time to time now, but only for so long, and I have my limits for what I find acceptable to play.
There are ratings on video games for a reason- but again, the responsibility lies with parents- who are largely failing!
I agree, parents need to step up and teach their children morals. As future educators, we need to be thinking about how we can help our students decide between right and wrong. This is very tricky.
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