Ali Carr-Chellman: Gaming to re-engage boys in learning

Translator: Nicolai Gylling Reviewer: Jonas Tholstrup Christensen

Jeg er her for at fortælle

So I'm here to tell you that we have a problem with boys,

at vi har et problem med drenge,

and it's a serious problem with boys.

et alvorligt problem.

Deres kultur virker ikke i skolerne.

Their culture isn't working in schools,

and I'm going to share with you ways

Idag vil jeg fortælle om metoder,

that we can think about overcoming that problem.

som vi tror kan løse problemet.

First, I want to start by saying, this is a boy,

Jeg vil starte med at sige, at her er en dreng,

and this is a girl,

og her er en pige.

Det er sikkert stereotyper på

and this is probably stereotypically what you think of as a boy and a girl.

hvordan i forestiller jer en dreng og en pige.

If I essentialize gender for you today, then you can dismiss what I have to say.

Hvis jeg beskriver essensen af køn idag,

så kan i se bort fra det jeg siger.

So I'm not going to do that, I'm not interested in doing that.

Så det vil jeg ikke; Det er jeg ikke interesseret i.

Der er en anden slags dreng og en anden slags pige.

This is a different kind of boy and a different kind of girl.

So the point here is that not all boys exist within these rigid boundaries

Det vigtige her er, at ikke alle drenge

passer ind i de faste rammer,

som vi kommer drenge i.

of what we think of as boys and girls,

and not all girls exist within those rigid boundaries

Og ikke alle piger passer ind i de faste rammer

of what we think of as girls.

som vi kommer piger i.

But, in fact, most boys tend to be a certain way,

Men faktum er, at de fleste drenge er på en bestemt måde,

og de fleste piger er på en bestemt måde.

and most girls tend to be a certain way.

Og pointen er at for drenge,

And the point is that, for boys,

the way that they exist and the culture that they embrace

så er måden de lever og kulturen de dyrker

isn't working well in schools now.

ikke velegnet i nutidens skoler.

Hvordan ved vi det?

How do we know that?

The 100 girls project tells us some really nice statistics.

100-Piger projektet

giver os nogle gode statistikker.

For example, for every 100 girls that are suspended from school,

F.eks.: For hver 100 piger der bliver bortvist fra skolen i kortere perioder,

there are 250 boys that are suspended from school.

bliver 250 drenge bortvist fra skolen.

For every 100 girls who are expelled from school,

For hver 100 piger der bliver permanent bortvist fra skolen,

there are 335 boys who are expelled from school.

bliver 335 drenge permanent bortvist.

For every 100 girls in special education,

Hvor hver 100 piger der modtager specialundervisning,

there are 217 boys.

er der 217 drenge.

For every 100 girls with a learning disability,

For hver 100 piger med indlæringsvanskeligheder,

er der 276 drenge.

there are 276 boys.

For every 100 girls with an emotional disturbance diagnosed,

For hver 100 piger

diagnostiseret med en psykisk sygdom,

har vi 324 drenge.

we have 324 boys.

And by the way, all of these numbers are significantly higher

Og forresten, alle disse tal er væsentligt højere

hvis du er sort,

if you happen to be black,

if you happen to be poor,

hvis du er fattig,

if you happen to exist in an overcrowded school.

eller hvis du går i en overfyldt skole.

And if you are a boy,

Og hvis du er en dreng,

you're four times as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD --

er der 4 gange så stor chance

for at du bliver diagnostiseret med ADHD -

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Now there is another side to this.

Der er en anden side til dette.

And it is important that we recognize that women still need help in school,

Det er vigtigt at vi anerkender

at kvinder stadig skal bruge hjælp i skolen,

at deres lønninger er markant lavere,

that salaries are still significantly lower,

selv når de bliver kontrolleret,

even when controlled for job types,

and that girls have continued to struggle in math and science for years.

og piger må fortsat kæmpe

indenfor matematik og videnskab i mange år endnu.

That's all true.

Det er altsammen sandt.

Nothing about that prevents us

Intet af det forhindrer os i

from paying attention to the literacy needs

at øge indsatsen mod de forståelsesproblemer

of our boys between ages three and 13.

som drenge mellem 3 og 13 har.

Og det bør vi.

And so we should.

In fact, what we ought to do is take a page from their playbook,

Faktisk burde vi tage en side fra deres spilleregler,

because the initiatives and programs that have been set in place

fordi de initiativer og programmer

der er sat igang

for women in science and engineering and mathematics are fantastic.

for kvinder indenfor videnskab, ingeniørkunst og matematik

er fantastiske.

They've done a lot of good for girls in these situations,

De har gjort en masse godt

for piger i disse situationer.

and we ought to be thinking about how we can make that happen for boys too

Og vi burde tænke på

hvordan vi også kan få det til at ske for drenge

in their younger years.

i deres yngre år.

Even in their older years,

Selv når de bliver ældre,

what we find is that there's still a problem.

oplever vi at der stadig er problemer.

When we look at the universities,

Når vi ser på universiteterne,

60 percent of baccalaureate degrees are going to women now,

udgør kvinder 60% af de færdiguddannede

which is a significant shift.

hvilket er et markant skift.

And in fact, university administrators are a little uncomfortable about the idea

Faktisk er universiteterne

en smule urolige ved ideen om,

that we may be getting close to 70 percent female population in universities.

at vi nærmer os 70%

kvindelige studerende på universiteterne.

Og det gør universiterne meget nervøse,

This makes university administrators very nervous,

because girls don't want to go to schools that don't have boys.

fordi piger ikke vil gå på skoler, hvor der ikke er drenge.

And so we're starting to see

Og så begynder vi at se etableringen af

the establishment of men centers and men studies

centre for mænd og mandestudier

til at undersøge hvordan vi kan fange mænds interesse

to think about how do we engage men in their experiences in the university.

for universitetet.

Hvis du spørger universiteterne siger de måske,

If you talk to faculty, they may say, "Ugh. Yeah, well,

"Uhh, ja, de spiller computerspil,

they're playing video games,

and they're gambling online all night long,

og de spiller hele natten

and they're playing World of Warcraft,

og de spiller World of Warcraft.

and that's affecting their academic achievement."

Og det påvirker

deres studie."

Guess what?

Og ved i hvad?

Video games are not the cause.

Computerspil er ikke årsagen.

Video games are a symptom.

Computerstil er symptomet.

They were turned off a long time before they got here.

Mænd havde mistet interessen

lang tid før de dukkede op.

So let's talk about why they got turned off

Lad os snakke om den manglende interesse,

i alderen 3 til 13.

when they were between the ages of three and 13.

Jeg tror der er 3 grunde til

There are three reasons that I believe

at drenge at kommet ud af sync

that boys are out of sync with the culture of schools today.

med nutidens skolekultur.

Den første er tolerance.

The first is zero tolerance.

A kindergarten teacher I know, her son donated all of his toys to her,

Jeg kender en børnehavepædagog,

hvis søn gav hende alt sit legetøj,

and when he did, she had to go through and pull out all the little plastic guns.

og hun blev nødt til at gå det igennem

og fjerne alle de små plastikpistoler.

You can't have plastic knives and swords and axes

Du kan ikke have plastik knive, sværd og økser

and all that kind of thing in a kindergarten classroom.

og den slags ting

i en børnehave idag.

What is it that we're afraid that this young man is going to do with this gun?

Hvad er det vi er bange for, at denne unge mand vil gøre med sådan en pistol?

I mean, really.

Seriøst.

But here he stands as testament

Men her er han som bevis for,

to the fact that you can't roughhouse on the playground today.

at man ikke længere kan lege "drengelege" på legepladsen.

Now I'm not advocating for bullies.

Jeg siger ikke god for ballademagere.

I'm not suggesting that we need to be allowing guns and knives in the school.

Jeg foreslår ikke

at vi skal tillade pistoler og knive i skolen.

But when we say that an Eagle Scout in a high school classroom

Men når vi siger at

en spejder i folkeskolen,

som i sin låste bil på parkeringspladsen

who has a locked parked car in the parking lot and a penknife in it,

har en hobbykniv liggende,

has to be suspended from school,

skal bortvises fra skolen,

I think we may have gone a little too far with zero tolerance.

så er vi gået et skridt for langt med hensyn til nul tolerance.

Another way that zero tolerance lives itself out

Et andet sted vi ser nul tolerance er i det som drenge skriver.

is in the writing of boys.

I mange klasseværelser idag

In a lot of classrooms today,

you're not allowed to write about anything that's violent.

er det ikke tilladt at skrive noget som helst om vold.

Du må ikke skrive om

You're not allowed to write about anything that has to do with video games.

ting som har med computerstil at gøre - disse emner er forbudt.

These topics are banned.

En dreng kommer hjem fra skolen og siger,

Boy comes home from school, and he says,

"Jeg hader at skrive."

"I hate writing."

"Why do you hate writing, son? What's wrong with writing?"

"Hvorfor hader du at skrive, sønnike? Hvad er der galt med det?"

"Jeg skal skrive det som hun siger jeg skal skrive."

"Now I have to write what she tells me to write."

"OK, what is she telling you to write?"

"Ok, hvad siger hun du skal skrive?"

"Poems. I have to write poems.

"Digte, jeg skal skrive digte.

And little moments in my life.

Og om episoder i mit liv.

I don't want to write that stuff."

Den slags har jeg ikke lyst til at skrive om."

"Ok, hvad har du lyst til at skrive? Hvad vil du skrive om?"

"Well, what do you want to write?

What do you want to write about?"

"Jeg vil skrive om computerspil og hvordan man stiger i levels.

"I want to write about video games. I want to write about leveling-up.

Jeg vil skrive om den verden.

I want to write about this really interesting world.

Jeg vil skrive om en orkan der kommer ind i vores hus

I want to write about a tornado that comes into our house

og blæser alle vinduerne ud

and blows all the windows out,

og ødelægger alle vores møbler og dræber allesammen."

and ruins all the furniture and kills everybody."

"Ok."

"All right. OK."

Fortæl det til en lærer,

You tell a teacher that, and they'll ask you, in all seriousness,

og de vil spørge dig,

"Should we send this child to the psychologist?"

"Skal vi sende dette barn til en psykolog?"

And the answer is no, he's just a boy.

Og svaret er nej - han er bare en dreng.

He's just a little boy.

Han er bare en lille dreng.

It's not OK to write these kinds of things in classrooms today.

Det er ikke i orden at skrive om den slags ting

i klasseværelset i dag.

Det er den første grund:

So that's the first reason:

Zero tolerance policies and the way they're lived out.

Nul tolerance politik og dets virkning.

The next reason that boys' cultures are out of sync with school cultures:

Den næste grund er at drenges kultur er ude af sync med skolers kultur:

Der er færre mandlige lærere.

there are fewer male teachers.

Anybody who's over 15 doesn't know what this means,

Alle der er over 15 år gamle ved ikke hvad det betyder,

because in the last 10 years,

fordi de sidste 10 år,

the number of elementary school classroom teachers has been cut in half.

er antallet af folkeskolelærere

blevet halveret.

We went from 14 percent to seven percent.

Vi gik fra 14 procent

til 7 procent.

That means that 93 percent of the teachers

Det betyder at 93% af de lærere

that our young men get in elementary classrooms are women.

der underviser drenge i folkeskolen

er kvinder.

Now what's the problem with this?

Hvad er problemet med det?

Women are great, yep, absolutely.

Kvinder er fine, bestemt.

Men mandlige rollemodeller for drenge

But male role models for boys that say it's all right to be smart --

der siger det er i orden at være smart -

de har fædre,

they've got dads, they've got pastors, they've got Cub Scout leaders,

de har spejderledere,

but ultimately, six hours a day, five days a week

men i sidste ende, 6 timer om dagen, 5 dage om ugen,

they're spending in a classroom,

bruger de i klasseværelset.

Og i de fleste af disse klasseværelser

and most of those classrooms are not places where men exist.

er der ingen mænd til stede.

And so they say, I guess this really isn't a place for boys.

Så de siger, det er nok ikke et sted for drenge.

Det er et sted for piger.

This is a place for girls.

Jeg er ikke særlig god til det her,

And I'm not very good at this,

so I guess I'd better go play video games

så jeg må vist hellere

bare spille nogle computerspil eller dyrke noget sport eller lignende,

or get into sports, or something like that,

because I obviously don't belong here.

fordi her hører jeg åbenbart ikke til.

Men don't belong here, that's pretty obvious.

Mænd hører ikke til det, der er tydeligt.

So that may be a very direct way that we see it happen.

Så det er måske den direkte vej

vi ser det ske.

Men mindre direkte

But less directly, the lack of male presence in the culture --

er manglen på mænd i kulture -

you've got a teachers' lounge, and they're having a conversation

lad os se på lærerværelset

hvor de sidder og snakker

about Joey and Johnny who beat each other up on the playground.

om Joye og Johnny som sloges på legepladsen.

"Hvad skal vi stille op med de drenge?"

"What are we going to do with these boys?"

Svaret på det spørgsmål afhænger helt af hvor der snakker om det.

The answer to that question changes

depending on who's sitting around that table.

Er der mænd ved bordet?

Are there men around that table?

Er der mødre der har opfostret børn ved bordet?

Are there moms who've raised boys around that table?

Du vil se hvordan snakker forandres

You'll see, the conversation changes

depending upon who's sitting around the table.

afhænging af hvem der sidder ved bordet.

Third reason that boys are out of sync with school today:

Den 3. grund til at drenge er ude af sync med skolen idag:

Kindergarten is the old second grade, folks.

Børnehaven er den gamle 2. klasse.

We have a serious compression of the curriculum happening out there.

Vi har et meget sammenpresset pensum.

When you're three, you better be able to write your name legibly,

Når du er 3 år gammel, skal du helst kunne skrive dit navn,

ellers vil vi betragte det som sen udvikling.

or else we'll consider it a developmental delay.

Når du starter i første klasse,

By the time you're in first grade,

skal du helst kunne læse din første tekst

you should be able to read paragraphs of text

hvor der måske er et billede til, måske ikke,

with maybe a picture, maybe not, in a book of maybe 25 to 30 pages.

i en bog på 25-30 sider.

If you don't,

Hvis du ikke kan det, bliver du sikkert sendt til

we're probably going to be putting you into a Title I special reading program.

specialundervisning i læsning.

Og spørg man specialunderviserne, fortæller de:

And if you ask Title I teachers, they'll tell you

Der er 4-5 drenge for hver pige der deltager,

they've got about four or five boys for every girl that's in their program,

i de første skoleår.

in the elementary grades.

Grunden til at det er et problem

The reason that this is a problem

is because the message that boys are getting

er at den besked drengene får

is, "You need to do what the teacher asks you to do all the time."

er "Du skal gøre

som læreren siger hele tiden."

The teacher's salary depends on "No Child Left Behind"

Lærerens løn afhænger af

at Intet Barn Bliver Efterladt og Hvem Kommer Først

and "Race to the Top" and accountability and testing

og opgørelser og tests

and all of this.

og den slags.

So she has to figure out a way to get all these boys

Så hun skal finde ud af hvordan

hun får alle drengene igennem pensum -

through this curriculum -- and girls.

og piger.

Dette sammenpressede pensum er dårligt

This compressed curriculum is bad for all active kids.

for alle aktive børn.

And what happens is,

Det der sker er,

she says, "Please, sit down, be quiet, do what you're told,

hun siger, "Sæt jer ned,

vær stille og gør som der bliver sagt, følg reglerne,

follow the rules, manage your time, focus, be a girl."

hold øje med tiden, fokuser,

vær en pige."

Det er hvad hun siger.

That's what she tells them.

Det er hvad hun inddirekte siger.

Indirectly, that's what she tells them.

And so this is a very serious problem.

Det er et alvorligt problem. Hvor kommer det fra?

Where is it coming from? It's coming from us.

Det kommer fra os.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

We want our babies to read when they are six months old.

Vi vil have vores babyer til at læse når de er 6 måneder gamle.

Have you seen the ads?

Har i set reklamerne?

We want to live in Lake Wobegon where every child is above average ...

Vi vil bo i Lake Wobegon,

hvor alle børn ligger over gennemsnittet.

but what this does to our children is really not healthy.

Men hvad det gør for vores børn er ikke sundt.

Det er ikke godt for deres udvikling,

It's not developmentally appropriate,

and it's particularly bad for boys.

og det er særligt slemt for drenge.

Så hvad skal vi gøre?

So what do we do?

Vi skal møde dem hvor de er.

We need to meet them where they are.

We need to put ourselves into boy culture.

Vi skal sætte os ind i drengenes kultur.

We need to change the mindset of acceptance in boys

Vi skal ændre vores opfattelse

af hvad der kan accepteres af drenge i folkeskolen.

in elementary schools.

More specifically, we can do some very specific things.

Vi kan lave nogle helt specifikke ændringer.

We can design better games.

Vi kan designe bedre spil.

Most of the educational games that are out there today

De fleste undervisningsspil der findes

er blot infokort.

are really flashcards.

They're glorified drill and practice.

De er en velkendt øvelse.

They don't have the depth, the rich narrative

De har ingen dybde, de mangler handlingen

that really engaging video games have,

som computerspil har,

det som drenge er interesseret i.

that the boys are really interested in.

Så vi skal designe bedre spil.

So we need to design better games.

We need to talk to teachers and parents and school board members and politicians.

Vi skal tale med lærerne og forældrene

og skolebestyrelserne og politikerne.

We need to make sure that people see that we need more men in the classroom.

Vi skal sikre os at folk indser, at der mangler flere mænd i klasseværelserne.

Vi skal se nærmere på vores nul tolerance politik.

We need to look carefully at our zero tolerance policies.

Giver de mening?

Do they make sense?

Vi skal tænke over

We need to think about how to uncompress this curriculum if we can,

hvordan vi kan gøre pensum nemmere at komme igennem,

trying to bring boys back into a space that is comfortable for them.

og bringe drengene ind i det rum

som de kan lide at være i.

All of those conversations need to be happening.

Alle disse snakke skal ske.

There are some great examples out there of schools --

Der er nogle gode eksempler

på skoler -

the New York Times just talked about a school recently.

New York Times nævnte en for nylig.

A game designer from the New School

En spil-designer fra Den Nye Skole

put together a wonderful video gaming school.

lavede en fantastisk computerspilsskole.

But it only treats a few kids, and so this isn't very scalable.

Men der er kun plads til få børn.

Så den er ikke videre skalérbar.

We have to change the culture and the feelings

Vi bliver nødt til at ændre kulturen og de tanker

that politicians and school board members and parents have

politikere og skolebestyrelser og forældre har,

om hvordan vi accepterer og hvad vi accepterer

about the way we accept and what we accept in our schools today.

i skolerne idag.

We need to find more money for game design.

Vi skal finde flere penge til spil-design.

Because good games, really good games, cost money,

Gode spil, virkelig gode spil, koster penge,

og World of Warcraft har et heftigt budget.

and World of Warcraft has quite a budget.

Det har de fleste uddannelsesorienterede spil ikke.

Most of the educational games do not.

Der hvor vi startede:

Where we started:

my colleagues Mike Petner, Shawn Vashaw, myself,

mine kolleger - Mike Petner, Shawn Vashaw, jeg selv -

we started by trying to look at the teachers' attitudes

vi begyndte at se på lærernes holding og

and find out how do they really feel about gaming,

hvordan de har det med computerspil,

hvad har de at sige til det.

what do they say about it.

And we discovered that they talk about the kids in their school,

Og vi opdagede

at de taler med børnene i skolen,

som taler som spil,

who talk about gaming, in pretty demeaning ways.

på en nedværdigende måde.

They say, "Oh, yeah. They're always talking about that stuff.

De siger, "Ja, de taler altid om den slags.

De snakker om deres actionfigurer

They're talking about their little action figures

og deres små præstationer og duelighedsbeviser,

and their little achievements or merit badges,

or whatever it is that they get.

og hvad de ellers får.

And they're always talking about this stuff."

Og de taler konstant om den slags."

And they say these things as if it's OK.

Og de taler om disse ting helt naturligt.

But if it were your culture, think of how that might feel.

Men hvis det var din kultur,

så forestil dig hvordan du ville have det.

It's very uncomfortable to be on the receiving end

Det er ikke rart at være modtageren

of that kind of language.

for den slags omtale.

De er nervøse omkring

They're nervous about anything that has anything to do with violence

alt hvad der har det mindste med vold at gøre

because of the zero tolerance policies.

på grund af nul tolerance politikken.

They are sure that parents and administrators

De er sikre på at forældrene og lederne ikke vil acceptere noget som helst.

will never accept anything.

So we really need to think about looking at teacher attitudes

Så vi skal se på lærernes holdning

and finding ways to change the attitudes,

og finde ud af hvordan vi ændre den holdning

so that teachers are much more open and accepting of boy cultures

så lærerne bliver mere åbne

og accepterer drengenes kultur i klasseværelset.

in their classrooms.

Because, ultimately, if we don't,

Fordi i sidste ende, hvis vi ikke gør noget

then we're going to have boys who leave elementary school saying,

så ender vi med drenge der forlader folkeskolen og siger,

"Jamen det er jo kun for piger;

"Well I guess that was just a place for girls, it wasn't for me.

det var ikke noget for mig.

So I've got to do gaming, or I've got to do sports."

Så jeg skal spille eller dyrke noget sport."

If we change these things, if we pay attention to these things,

Hvis vi ændrer disse ting og er opmærksomme på det,

and we reengage boys in their learning,

og få drengene igang med at lære igen,

they will leave the elementary schools saying, "I'm smart."

så vil de forlade folkeskolen og sige, "Jeg er klog."

Tak.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Klapsalver)