That's according to the Mirror and lots of other sources, which leap on news that England has slumped from third to 15th place in an international league table of reading skills. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study apparently also asserts:
The 37 per cent of children in England who reported playing computer or video games for more than three hours a day constitutes one of the highest proportions among participating countries. Spending this amount of time playing computer and video games is associated with low attainment.
It's clear the Mirror is happy to put the blame with games, it's headline in today's paper declaring, "Wii are failing" (did Nintendo ever suspect that its unothodox console name would be such a gift to headline writers?). Education Secretary Ed Balls was happy to concur. He's quoted in The Times as suggesting, "Across the country we should be getting our kids to play computer games a bit less and to read a bit more." A remark that faintly recalls another hackneyed, condescending soundbite from a flailing government.
However, the Mirror article quotes two sources from teaching unions - you know, the people who have actual hands-on experience in education. They provide alternative explanations. Steve Sinnott, of the National Union of Teachers, suggests, "Our overloaded curriculum and testing system is sapping young people's enthusiasm of reading for pleasure."
Chris Keates, of the NASUWT union, adds, "It is too easy to blame the distractions of computer games, mobile phones and children's access to TV. The simple fact is that too many children view reading as a chore rather than a pleasure."
Education, education, education, the government once intoned. But education, it has found, is a complicated issue. Better to put the blame with computers and video games. Better not to look into the robotic production line that schools have become.
