Obama: Console era a concern for education

[richardhutnik]

sieanr said:

homicidaIpanda said:
Liberal...

What of it?

Plenty of conservatives rally against video games as well, and a good number of them claim games incite violence as well as stupidity.

Try adding something of substance to the conversation instead of a knee jerk politicizing remark.

richardhutnik said:
Would focus on jogging or playing hoops out on the court actually improve math and science scores? How about promoting strategy games, like Chess or Go? How about having historically based games that generate an interest in history? I know Obama plays basketball, and there is genuine concern that excessive and unfocused to any end videogames can be a problem. BUT, to say kids need to get into shape more physically will help with grades how?

I will go on record here saying that an interest in the game Civilization would do more to raise school scores than playing basketball.

http://www.livescience.com/health/081229-sports-youth-exercise.html

A bunch of studies have shown that exercise correlates with better test scores.

What I do know is that chess has been documented to raise math scores (link to a bunch of studies there):

http://www.quadcitychess.com/benefits_of_chess.html

I also WON'T argue that getting exercise can't help improve scores.  Physical fitness does help build a base to improve cognitive skills.  What I do take offense is that games get bashed and then we are told that just more exercise will somehow have great effects, and kids should stop playing games.  So, don't do chess, end up doing things like play basketball or jog. 

Anyone want to debate that playing basketball will do more to improve cognitive skills than playing a strategy game?