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February 27, 2003
The Clackamas Print
★ THE CLACKAMAS
PRiNT*
Change the way students learn
Editor-in-Chief
Daisy Bain
Copy Editor
Shadra Beesley
Photo Editor
Luke Mahan
Managing News Editor
Frank Jordan
News Editor
Pete Ford
Opinion Editor
Robb Egan
Feature Editor
Elisabeth Meyer
A&E Editor
Jen Kane
Sports Editor
Elena Boryska
Webmaster
Joel Gaynor
Advertising Manager
Mark Falling
ext. 2578
Staff Writers:
Megan Cobb
Melinda Crouchley
Heather Dahmen
Nic Delzell
Jeremy Hogue
Erinn Lerten
Cyndee Mady
Sadie McCarthy
Mike Pollock
Andy Price
Cory Price
Tina Tate
Production Assistants:
Jake Carpenter
Katie Funk
Secretary:
JoAnne Gale
Adviser:
Linda Vogt
Goals:
The Clackamas Print aims to
report the news in an honest,
unbiased, professional manner.
The opinions expressed in The
Clackamas Print do not neces
sarily reflect those of the student
body, college administration, its
faculty, or The Clackamas Print.
Products and services advertised
in The Clackamas Print are not
necessarily endorsed by anyone
associpted with The Clackamas
Print. The Clackamas Print is a
weekly publication and is dis
tributed every Wednesday
except during Finals Week.
The Clackamas Print Copyright
2003.
19600 S. Molalla Ave.
Oregon City, Oregon
97045
(503) 657-6958 X2309
cccprint@dackamas.edu
Robb Egan
Opinion Editor
With our economy in the toilet
and our state legislators scrambling
for money like proverbial chickens-
sans-heads, our not-so-beloved pub
lic school systems are facing an over
whelming budget shortfall this year.
Perhaps the cure to what ails the
educational system is not budget
reform, but rather a reform in the sys
tem itself.
Many school districts will be clos-
ing their doors early this year (lucky
kids). Many have cut out programs,
such as art and music, entirely, caus
ing quite a stir among the more cul
tured folk (think VH1 and anti
depressants).
A great deal of time, money, and
effort would be saved if children sim
ply received their scholastic educa
tion at home.
The percentage of American
homes with televisions and access to
the Internet is in the majority, to say
the least. If the media and a number
of our elected officials are to be
believed, America’s youth are heavi
ly influenced by everything they see
on the screen. Th? seemingly obvious
solution? Learning via TV. Hell, CCC
already has televised courses.
Where would this leave our vaunt
ed public schools? Well, that is where
kids would go to receive what could
truly be called primary education.
Children would be taught all manner
of skills that will serve them well
when it is time for them to take their
place in adult society. Skills such as
cooking, changing a tire and other
basic automotive maintenance, using
a home computer, speaking in public,
how to conduct yourself in social sit
uations, and the various vagaries of
dealing with the authorities, followed
naturally with how to hire a lawyer.
Additionally, at a relatively young
age children could be educated of
their various civil rights and duties as
citizens, such as how to vote and
what to do if called for jury duty. A
basic education of the laws under
which we live should be considered
as well.
Elementary courses in mathemat-
ics, history and grammar could easily
be learned from the relative comfort
and security of the home, using either
a computer or television. Think
Sesame Street on a grand scale.
Advances in digital technology
have already made interactive visual
media a reality, making it possible to
fully immerse students in a full-on
educational experience. Already
existing technologies such as digital
cable and satellite systems, combined
with broadband Internet, allow for
quick and easy access to more infor
mation than a person could learn in a
lifetime.
As children are learning useful
social and life skills, they will be able
to explore the avenues of higher
learning and techmeal or vocational
training, in hopes of discovering their
future careers.
Violent video games should be abolished
Staff Writer
“Today video game addiction is
becoming an ever-increasing prob
lem, comparable now even to alco
hol and drug abuse,” declares
Mothers
Against
Videogame
Addiction and Violence (MAVAV.)
There is a danger in society, a
churning super-massive black hole.
According to MAVAV, health stud
ies have shown that video games
causes increased anxiety and irri
tability, argumentative nature,
appetite and weight loss, impaired
judgment, paranoia, sadness and
depression, loss of interest in
appearance, and sleeplessness.
Americans need to recognize the
symptoms of video game addiction.
Video games are increasingly
appealing for the digital escape
they provide. Little do the victims
know, those games are brainwash
ing and desensitizing them at an
exponential rate: an unmerciful
virus.
“I’ve killed hundreds of people.
Men, women, good guys, bad guys,
even animals. I always go for head-
shots-to really show them who is
boss. To be honest, killing people is
just a fact of life for me,” says one
dedicated gamer featured ,on the
PD-ZERO website.
Video games are intensely
engaging. That engagement can
psychologically influence gamers’
subconscious, which in turn causes
negative symptoms.
“I know right from wrong, but I
can’t help but want to live the scan
dalous lives of those digital charac
ters,” admits Tegan, 14, an avid
gamer. “I want to shoot big guns,
speed in hot rods, and kick every
one’s ass if they try to stop me.
Anarchy rules!” >
Hearing this is common among
rebellious teenagers. Due to fre-
quent violence and acts of crime,
students are prohibited from mak
ing such comments in school.
Today, no chances can be taken.
There is an abundant population of
brainwashed gamers who might
commit a fatal act once the final
straw is laid. In order to assure safe
ty, a significant judgment must be
made. This judgment must result in
the elimination of violent video
games throughout the nation.
Yes, it has to be quite drastic,
because the current law for regulat
ing the distribution of specific
video games to young children has
failed.
TV shows don't cause violence, people do
Staff Writer
I can understand unleashing
physical violence on an unsuspect
ing television set, persecuted with
repeatedly yelling at vast audiences
about how they need to change
shampoos; seriously, I can under
stand that.
I am also willing to see how the
Rodney King verdict instigated the
LA riots. Even in these cases, how
ever, the television merely jolted
the cap off an already volatile situ
ation.
Aside from its direct effects, the
media has also been blamed for
desensitizing its long term viewers,
along with planting evil plots into
the minds of anyone patient enough
to sit through commercial breaks.
Humans are intrinsically prone
to violence as a means to some end,
and it has become socially unac
ceptable to act out these urges.
This obviously hasn’t blocked
out the use of violence, and has
skyrocketed ratings for violent pro
gramming like COPS, When
Elephants Attack, or World’s most
Shockingly Deadly Car Chases Part
Two.
So which came first, the joy
rider or the broadcasting of that guy
who stole a tank? Or better still,
when they showed his immediate
execution.
The answer to this boggle is
found when looking at the world
before mas£ media, in the distant
past. Think about the genocide
wreaked by Hitler and Stalin.
Humans are naturally violent crea
tures, and every one of. us gets a
grisly thrill when we see violent
acts taking place, be it televised
hurricane coverage or a street brawl
witnessed first hand.
Like a heroin dealer, the TV is
merely providing the opiate of the
masses.
Are adolescents negatively inluenced by
violence in entertainment media?
"I'm sure there are
kids who take it seri
ously, but I don't
think media should
be censored."
"No. No matter
what they see or do,
they should still
know right from
wrong."
Marisa Krieg
Zach Knudson
Ryan Organ
John Faus
"A little, but I think
TV and music are
more influential
than things like
videogames."
"I think it's all in
your state of mind,
whether you are
influenced or not."
MJ—.... .
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http://www2.dackamas.edu/theprint
photos by ROBB EGAN Clackamas Print
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