 |
|
In The News
Subscribe to G4C In the News RSS
The Honorable Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Makes a Strong Case for Games for Social Change
Posted by Elena Haliczer on 06-04-08One of the highest points of this year's Games for Change Festival were the closing remarks made by the inveterately wry Honorable Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who not only presented a real case for social issue games while professing not to play games, but also fielded questions from Reuters and The New York Times with a cantankerous wit that lent a true joy to the last Q&A of a fascinating event.
Introducing her was Bob Kerrey, current President of The New School in New York and former Senator from Nebraska. He remarked that the judicial branch of our government is the least understood, but "the most important branch of government, because it is where we [the people] have the most power." His conclusion, "it is critical that we understand not just the ideas, but the commitments that make democracy work."
O'Connor, taking the stage, began, "had someone told me when I retired from the Supreme Court, that I would be presenting at a conference on digital media, I would have reacted with extreme skepticism." She then went on to tell the story of her involvement, beginning with her disturbance with the "increasingly vitriolic attacks against the Judiciary"--attacks she viewed and still views as holding a particular political agenda. "I always thought that an activist judge was a judge that got up every day and went to work," she concluded to applause and laughter from the audience.
The erosion O'Connor sees happening to the role and power of the judiciary branch is something she feels must be addressed in public education above all. "Public education is the only long-term solution for preserving an impartial judiciary and ensuring a robust democracy" said O'Connor, and was responded to with vigorous nodding throughout the crowd.
A more positive trend O'Connor noticed, was that of young people using interactive media to engage with politics and find their political voice. This was something O'Connor found highly intriguing, and she's set out, with help from Jim Gee to create a website called OurCourts. It is because O'Connor believes we must ensure that our future leaders are well-informed that she cares about "bringing the OurCourts project to life."
OurCourts is currently in development stages, but you can visit the landing page at http://www.ourcourts.org. Launching initially in September 2008 for teachers, and in September 2009 for kids, the site will teach students civics through entertaining multi-media problem-solving activities, including games.
Not only does OurCourts hope to teach students about civics, it also sets out to counteract the erosion of judiciary power and civil rights, by raising awareness of and engagement with the constitution as it is written and applied to real cases, especially in examples of cases that effect students in our schools.
Through OurCourts, O'Connor hopes to provide the text of the constitution in various contexts and "have students test out the issues" weighing and balancing their views accordingly.
While O'Connor sees the importance and implications of games and other interactive media, she is not a game player herself. When asked by a journalist from Reuters what video games she'd played before, she replied, "I don't play video games. Sorry!"
Despite her own lack of playerly interest, she's noted her grandchildren's engagement with games and digital media. She, like many educators and game theorists in the audience believes that "you learn by doing, and you remember and understand it better than if you're hearing it in the classroom" and that this engaged learning can be achieved in games and other digital media.
Her conclusion was that the ideas that would productively engage students and future leaders in the major issues of the day would be "seeded in this room" and would be as diverse as the imaginations of the people she addressed.
Comments
