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Minister: Wii the best boost for children's intelligence
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor29.12.08
CHILDREN who play computer games will do better at school than those who just sit and watch television, government minister Tom Watson claimed.
Mr Watson, the Government's e-minister and one of Parliament's most prodigious bloggers, said the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft Xbox can give children real educational benefits and that he had already witnessed progress in his three-year-old son from interacting with computers.
"I'd rather my boy be playing on his Wii than passively watching telly. Most games are educational. They make you think, focus, challenge and change - 500 years ago a medium that did this would be called art," the West Bromwich East MP said.
He added that a friend's eight-year-old learned how to make bronze after playing the game Runequest.
His views are at odds with several politicians who have attacked computer games. Home affairs select committee chairman Keith Vaz condemns violent games for links to real-life murder cases, and former sports minister Richard Caborn said: "We all have a role to play in encouraging young people to get out from behind their computer games and playing sport." Recent figures show a quarter of five-year-olds are overweight or obese.
Reader views (4)
Why, when reacting to this Minister's comments, do people knee jerk respond? Simply put, why can't children be known for watching TV, playing computer games, reading books and going outside and socialising? As usual people are so desperate to categorise others which is wholly unjust. As a child I did all of these things which I continue to do to this day. Indeed my partner's daughter and all her friends do all of these things too. The fact is computer games have an educational benefit and also provides other forms of developmental benefit such as problem solving or spatial awareness. Anyway why quote the worthless opinions of the crooked Keith Vaz? How he remains an MP beggars belief given the various fiddles and other inappropriate activities he has been found doing, though that may be answered by how he courts public opinion by villifying computer games. I fondly remember how be sought to ban a computer game based purely on it's proposed name (of Bully) claiming it would be a playground violence simulator - this was before any of the content was announced so was pure speculation on Vaz's part. Anybody who ended up playing what turned out to be a charming game will know that Vaz's guesswork was utterly off the mark so why he has been allowed to retain his position when he has a proven track record for not only making decisions based on fantasy but considerable corruption is a true example of the typical poor quality politician so prevalent in Britain's modern environment.
- Tim Danson, Beckenham, Kent
Children who play computer games will do better at school than those who just sit and watch television, !'
You don't mean "better" you mean less poorly, as both habits are bad for learning. You still can't beat books for a decent education
- Keith Price, Luton, England
Yeh your right I'm just waiting to murder someone after 17 years of game playing. Just once I've mastered Ryu's fireball technique no one will stop me!
- Dick Head, England
How about the children who play board games, who read and who go outside and play? Oh of course we don't have any children like that anymore in Britain.
- Casper Slides, France at the moment
