Pissed-Off Parents Find Math Game Too Violent for School

Pissed-Off Parents Find Math Game Too Violent for School
An action-packed math game students enjoy playing is a little too fun for some parents of the Albuquerque schools, one of whom went as far as accusing it of fostering video games addiction.

KOAT-TV of Albuquerque ran a piece earlier about DimensionM, an edutainment game produced by Tabula Digital, which promises "all the action and adventure of commercial-quality video games while practicing and reinforcing the skills they need to succeed in math." The game's use in local schools is fully funded by a Department of Defense grant. So, free game, kids are happy, schools are happy, everyone's happy, right?

"We are feeding the addiction of these children to video games," said Marlene Perrotte (pictured; no relation) to KOAT. "They were all excited, and they were excited because of the violence -'I'm getting ahead, I'm getting ahead, I'm getting ahead.'"

You bet they are - in test scores, say school officials. One middle school educator likened it to "a 21st century flash card. ... They can use jetpacks and at the same time they have to know what the associative property is."

Not good enough for Marlene. "What they recall is not the prime number ... but rather getting through to the enemy," she said.

Jesus Christ, lady. You know how hard it is to develop an educational game kids actually want to play? Or do you just want learning to be as painful for them as it was in your unhappy childhood?

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