Positive Thoughts: Boy Scouts Videogame Education

While a good portion of the America's media and child advocacy groups jumped all over The Boy Scouts of America's video game related awards, some, like Bill Walsh, think it's a good idea. Walsh also tackles a similar media related award for the Girl Scouts that teaches about the positive and negative value of watching television.

At first glance these awards sounded like a bad idea to parents who want the scouting experience to center on learning about the Wilderness; but that's a pretty hypocritical approach considering all the awards and merit badges that deal with issues and skills that might not necessarily have anything to do with the scouting life.

Walsh points out the obvious: we now live in a media focused society, and taking the Rudolph Steiner-like approach to technology like television and video games isn't all the helpful. Instead, these awards are a motivation to teach kids about the media they consume on a daily basis. These award programs also reveal something that child advocacy groups don't want to admit: there are good things about television and videogames.

Here's a lengthy excerpt that brings home the crux of Walsh's argument:

Critics have pointed out the gender differences between the two badges (Why are only girls concerned with being couch potatoes and only boys concerned with video games?). Some are even deriding the program(s), saying that Scouting ought to remain campfire (rather than electron tube) based, outdoors (rather than indoors), active (rather than passive), and traditional (rather than 21st century). Amidst the ridicule, some columnists are suggesting that Scouting has “surrendered” to the 21st century and our modern society.

I don’t feel that way. If Scouting wants to take this approach to media literacy, I say more power to them. The activities suggested for each badge are very traditional, very appropriate media study techniques. The prevalence and time spent with video games is a real issue in contemporary society, as is the representation of women in media. There’s nothing wrong with starting to address those issues with kids in the 7-and-above age group. Heck, it may very well go over better than simply lecturing kids about the dangers of too much (and too inappropriate) media consumerism.

For decades now, some of us have lobbied for more media literacy in the schools, but it’s been largely a haphazard program. Some towns, schools and individual teachers are aware and interested in ways to combine modern media concerns into a traditional curriculum. Others are less willing.

If the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts want to join the effort, I congratulate them. Kids need to be asking questions about what they’re doing with their time and how media affects them and their lives. In fact, doing so outside of the classroom highlights the fact that media attitudes are lifelong rather than merely school-based.

Read the rest at WickedLocal.