Friday, May 07, 2004
Chinese Government Limits Distractions to Youth; should we?
China has shut down thousands of internet cafes for allegedly illegally admitting juveniles, which the government views as a threat to the education of youth. While I think it's obvious that the government will use any excuse to limit the exposure of their public to the ideas of the outside world like freedom and democracy, I think that most of the closures were probably because of juveniles accessing online content and games.
We wonder why there is a gap between the test scores of the US and other countries like China. Aside from the fact that in the US everyone is educated by the government, whereas in China only the gifted and priviledged in wealthy areas of the country get access to secondary education and beyond, the limiting access by students to distractions like computer games must have a measurable impact.
Is that a good thing, however? Even though it may increase their test scores and help them to succeed academically, is it the government's duty to limit such things as time spent playing computer games? Is this a question that we should be asking here in the US?
We wonder why there is a gap between the test scores of the US and other countries like China. Aside from the fact that in the US everyone is educated by the government, whereas in China only the gifted and priviledged in wealthy areas of the country get access to secondary education and beyond, the limiting access by students to distractions like computer games must have a measurable impact.
Is that a good thing, however? Even though it may increase their test scores and help them to succeed academically, is it the government's duty to limit such things as time spent playing computer games? Is this a question that we should be asking here in the US?
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