Students Speak on Video Games

There is a great debate on video games, with supporters and detractors coming from all over.  Educators, parents, researchers, publishers, policy makers, and manufactorers have all weighed in on whether the video game industry, as a whole, is a positive influence on students.

The Sun Journal, in Lewiston, Maine, recently asked another group to weigh in: the students.

These two essays submitted by the students view all video games as a single entity.  This makes for some interesting reading; the "Pro video games" student appears particularly torn, as s/he can't help but acknowledge the dangers of violent games, even as s/he discusses the benefits of educational games.

So why, I have to wonder, why are the two arenas still being discussed as though they were one and the same?  Documentaries and horror films may use the same medium, but schools still happily use documentaries in class, without fear that the students will be influenced by horror films.  Equally, why is so much of the population convinced that, should we allow students access to educational computer and video games, they will automatically also be playing violent video games?

A few examples of educational games I recently found in the news:
Pi's Kingdom
Grammar Games - oddly, the grammar in the article could do with some correcting, however the games (particularly Slam Dunk) are fun and educational and free!