In Bill Bigelow's article concerning the Oregon Trail video game, a sense of awareness is aroused in the reader. Bill calls for us to understand the complex social and ethical practices and non practices that we encounter when we use this game as an educational tool. Bill feels that minority groups are not portrayed effectively in this game, and that their stories are not fully told. Bigelow shows us that we encounter Native Americans and African Americans, but do not get to hear much about them other than a brief stereotypical statement. His whole agenda is to voice his frustration that schools still use this as an educational tool. He believes that all of the social insensitivity included in the game should be enough to make teachers think about not using this game as an educational media.
While I agree tat this game shows insensitivity to other cultures, and fails to develop the story of minority groups, I do believe that this game can be incredibly effective in promoting compassion, understanding, and ethical attitudes towards minority groups. In this game, the player has the mind set of a pioneer. Pioneers that left for the Oregon Trail had a certain mindset towards minority groups that are explored throughout the game. I believe that if the teacher that is using this game stresses the importance of this mindset, the game can be very effective. When a student understands that he has the mindset of a pioneer, he or she can differentiate the pioneer's attitude from the attitude of society today. While playing the game, students will be able to receive a historical perspective, and learn more than just about the Oregon Trail. They can learn about the importance of diversity and respecting other cultures. I believe that Bigelow strives to promote safe thinking and to have teachers really focus on equality. This is admirable, but abolishing the context of the game completely would allow for a loss of opportunity towards promoting the very aspect that Bigelow is concerned with. While I believe that the Oregon Trail should still be used in the educational system, I strongly encourage that teachers instruct the purpose of the game and how it fits into the mind set of Oregon Trail pioneers of old.
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I think that you nailed it when you said that students are encouraged to have the mind set of a pioneer, but I think that this is where the problem lies. This mindset does not encourage respect of other cultures or diversity, it is one of entitlement and cultural insensitivity. By not offering students a real historical perspective and focusing only on the task at hand (getting to Oregon at any cost) and not acknowledging the reality of the situation once the 'pioneers' arrive, we are robbing students of what could be a very valuable learning experience. I would love to see a version of this game that resembles the one that Bigelow described. Perhaps that is where we are headed?
ReplyDeleteI like how you do not completely disregard the game and offer the idea of using the "Pioneer Mindset" as a teaching point and invite the studets to compare it to the way we think today, hopefully allowing them to realize some of the game's flaws and biases on their own.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Bigelow really pushes for this type of educational software be supplemented with more complete and accurate instruction. I also find that this game shouldnt' necessarily be altogether thrown-out, but used as an even greater learning tool than originally intended. You made some great points about the article and I appreciated your take and input on the situation.
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