WTF

[Busterblade]

Well, here's some news for you:

1 hour, 35 minutes ago

WILTON, N.H. - An elementary school says electronic games and gadgets are not appropriate for school yards and has banned the devices.


The school board decided Monday to ban the games at Florence Rideout Elementary School after listening to parents. The board says the rule will be put into the student handbook while a policy is developed.

"They should be encouraged to go out and play, not huddle around a game thing," said Lisa Lewis, a parent.

Principal Edmund Heffernan said the problem has increased in the last year and a half and involves a small group of older students who "don't like to run around."

The school has about 300 students in grades kindergarten through six.

Other elementary schools in the area also ban the games for a variety of reasons. Some school officials say the games are a distraction and can lead to fights at recess. Others say theft is a concern since elementary students can't lock their lockers.

"They are distractions at recess, in terms of kids wanting to play with them, which leads to altercations," said Peter Bonaccorsi, principal of Milford elementary school.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061115/ap_ ... h_tech_ban

WTF, a game thing? BS. Lisa Lewis can't even incorrectly refer to all handheld games as "Gameboys." All she can manage is "things." Things, that's quite descriptive indeed. This is gayer than when my old elementary school banned Pokemon cards back in 2000. Of course, we all just brought the cards immediately after the ban, so I bet kids at this crap school will do the same. Someone should do something about this. What do you think? Any of you live in the area where this school is?

[ATOMICMAN]

hah funny this was never a problem when i was in school.

yeah if they ban handhelds they will just move to something else like trading card games, traditional card games, or something else they will end up banning also.

[bicostp]

Well, a school district in Massachusetts has banned Tag and other "chase games", including such games as touch football.

Actually, I agree with that news post. Kids should spend time outside playing, not sitting for a whole 15 minutes watching Mario run around. Kids need the physical exercise, especially after having to sit in classrooms all day. Unstructured free time is good for them. (Besides they should appreciate it while they can.)

[NES_fanatic]

That's like the inverse of my school.
We're even having an all-school-all-night game-fest tomorrow night. We call it Uberfest.

Imagine the school hallways lined with TV's all playing other systems, and in some rooms, we play on 10' projector screens. Some things you're likely to hear in my school:
"In Paul's room they're using a projector for a Guitar Hero II tourney, Wanna come?"
"Who brought the N64?"
"Ray, your NES is broken!"

That last one I keep hearing because of all the noobs who don't know how to work it right and the screen starts flashing.

[Busterblade]

Well, Bicostp, banning of tag is even stupider. That keeps you physically active. And NES_fanatic, Uberfest sounds really awesome. At my school, everyone has a laptop, so we can play games during class or at lunch.

[gannon]

I can slightly agree with the ban of electronics, but only because of the risk of getting them stolen.

[HomicidalBarber]

That woman sounds like such a parent calling it a game thing...I would slap her and gladly accept the assualt charges

[atari2600a]

You think THAT's bad!? In my elementary school, we couldn't even RUN!!! They also replaced ALL THE SAND IN THE DISTRICT WITH BARK! How the hell is BARK safer!!!!??!?1

[dj-spuddy]

Thats so unfair. Luckily we never had that problem at my Elementary school. School would of driven me insane by now if I wasn't allowed some form of electronic entertainment.

[Harshboy]

That sucks big time. We cant really listen to iPods or play games during class, but during flex (a one hour study hall every day from 1:50 to 2:50) we can do anything we want Then again, this is highschool.....

[usbcd36]

I don't agree with their reasoning, but I can understand all of it.

I don't agree because, like some kids, I didn't like to run around at recess. I'd rather sit around and think or talk, not run pointlessly. You do that in gym class where it's required.

I don't agree with the banning of running/tag, though. I understand that kids should be kept "safe", but c'mon! There aren't many deaths caused by running on the playground. I also understand that parents like to keep their kids safe, but too much of this causes kids to be weak when their support is gone.

My final complaint is the lack of vocabulary. Just as we should "not say anything if we don't have anything nice to say", they should not say anything unless they know the right way to do so.

[Skyone]

Heh, I wasn't allowed to bring any electronics to elementary school, except maybe a watch.

And ya, we couldn't even run either.

[Triton]

lol not running at recess in elementary is hilarious, lemme guess when it gets cold you all stay inside too? pansies. our playground was all pea gravel, we went outside no matter what unless it was raining even if it was below freezing lol. only things that we arent supposed to have normally is celphones

[JAY]

I agree with usbcd36:

Banning video games because the parents want the children to play is selective punishment. What would they do to penalize the kids who just sit/walk around and just talk? Obviously, they really can't do anything (aside from muzzling them). While most of the boys in my class played basketball virtually everyday in grade school, most of the girls didn't do anything but talk with each other. So now, instead of sitting there and playing video games, the kids could still just sit there and do nothing at all.

However, video games, as well as any other expensive items, don't really have a place at school recess. Things can easily get broken and stolen when there are a lot of kids around.

[daguuy]

If their game's gonna get broken or stolen, they should learn that themselves. Crazy rules like that just prevent people from learning leasons they'll need when there aren't as many rules