Video Games Are the Future of Education

Instead of creating serious games. Teach people to be serious players!

I have learned a ton from the following games:

- Poker (statistics)

- Any game (English)

- Factorio (programming / software design)

- Warcraft 3 (mental arithmetic and resource management)

- World of Warcraft (market manipulation -- I created a temporary monopoly on an item and earned 500 gold within an hour as level 20 player, culture -- I met a South African person who spoke Afrikaans while I spoke Dutch)

- The Werewolves of Millers Hollow / Maffia (politics, lie detection -- or lack of it, the difference between bad actors and ignorant people doing the exact same thing)

- Imperial 2030 (investing)

What games have you played to improve driving abilities.

And a question for you: while I do share that games are the way to learn things (our instinct for playing, shared with other animals, is precisely so we can learn), do you know any good investors in that sector? My experience is that three words to turn-off an investor is "a game", "educational" and "for the public good". :)

The question is very practical: I develop Quantum Game with Photons (https://quantumgame.io/) and looking for investors to make it a fully viable game and educational platform.

This is called Active Learning and there are decades of work that have gone into demonstrating it's effectiveness. Also see: Constructivism. Although the majority of k-12 education still emphasizes passive learning, constructivist approaches to learning are being taught around the world and in the U.S. (Papert's work is a good resource for those who are curious)

> 3. Schooling mostly fails at giving you this deep understanding.

I think calling 'schools' (so many, not sure what type this person attended) a failure is a bit harsh. The type of freedom in learning that the author is arguing for is HARD at scale. It requires smaller classes, more engagement from teachers, and an entire re-evaluation of how academic achievement is measured. We humans are still evolving...we'll get there. A good start would be to pay teachers more. A better start would be to prepare parents to support active learning in the home.

> 4. Video games will become a core component of education.

They already are: https://clalliance.org/

The general sentiment of this article is fair, but if you are going to make a statement about education you should reference educators rather than bloggers and biographers.

Edit: One more thought about the PG tweet...

"you'll surprisingly often have to teach yourself. I had to teach myself Lisp, how to write essays, and how to start a startup. I had examples to work from, but no teachers or classes."

First, I would argue that school provides us with the ability to teach ourselves. Paul taught himself Lisp, but did he learn how to program at all in school? Probably. He had to teach himself how to write essays, but surely school taught him how to write? Also, there are plenty of schools that offer writing classes...usually electives. Startups, well...that's silly...that's why we have MBA programs. Actually, I am not sure what PG's point is with this tweet. Is it a critique of the educational system in the U.S. or a reflection on missed opportunities from his youth?