US president Barack Obama spoke out this week in support of a video game design contest for children after making negative remarks about gaming consoles earlier this year.
Obama announced the launch of the National STEM Video Game Challenge and praised the motives of the competition.
"Our success as a nation depends on strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of discovery and innovation," President Obama said. "I applaud partners in the National STEM Video Game Challenge for lending their resources, expertise, and their enthusiasm to the task of strengthening America’s leadership in the 21st century by improving education in science, technology, engineering and math."
The challenge includes two competitions in which children of specific age groups design games related to those fields that Obama mentioned, with educational goals in mind. It was created as a result of inspiration from the president’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign.
Obama’s support of the competition may surprise those who recall some earlier comments he has made about gaming. In a speech to college graduates at Hampton University in South East Virginia in May, the president was quoted as saying, "With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations - none of which I know how to work - information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. All of this is not only putting new pressures on you. It is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy.”
It’s certainly nice to see Obama changing his tune a bit when it comes to console games. While games can certainly harm a child’s education and development if there is no supervision or moderation of what they are allowed to play, there is no reason why learning cannot be combined with games that kids will enjoy. I’m also a bit jealous of the kids that get to participate in the competition, and wish that we had the technology for such events when I was their age.
