Games in class hurt student’s learning time
By William Parker
Students at Moody Middle school have recently been playing video games in class using their computers, thus intruding on their learning time. One game-playing student responded in an interview saying that he did not learn as much when he played games in class.
The HCPS Code of Conduct states in Section 12.B.Prohibited_Acts.6 that “Students are prohibited from playing games during the instructional day unless otherwise instructed by a teacher or administrator.” However, certain students pretend to be working on their computer while actually playing games. Some of them may use the internet or SWF files, which are a type of file that holds a game but doesn’t require internet connection. Needless to say, the teachers are trying to rectify this. Mrs. Byrd, a 7th grade English teacher, said that she “would warn students playing games…but take their computer if it happened again.”
Students also watch movies on their computers. These are illegal, not only because of the Code of Conduct, but because they are pirated. Some are pirated directly from sites like thepiratebay.se and transferred onto flash drives and passed around the school. Others may start out as legitimate movies, but are copied and passed around, thus making them illegal. Most of the movies are also rated R, or occasionally PG-13. Not only does it intrude on the students’ learning time, it is also flat-out illegal.