Children of the Masterchief

Do you like the title? I think that would be a great title for the coming generation: "Children of the Masterchief." The Masterchief is a character in the video game "Halo" in its various forms and versions. Some of the guys I have in class have spent more time with the masterchief than than they will have with me, I think. I suppose that would only (only, he says) five hours a week during the school year to do that. That would equate (using forty weeks as a guide) to 200 hours for a full year. I'd say some of the guys I know have had that amount of time in in a year easily.

I haven't, mostly because I know that if I bought an xbox I'd need to give up little things like food and sleep, and that wouldn't be a good thing.

Basically what I'm saying the folks at xbox have the attention of some of my students for more time in a year than I have them in class. In some cases, I think than several teachers together have them in class. That might not be entirely healthy.

I suppose the same thing was said about the Atari and Pong ever so long ago. The one glaring difference is that Pong didn't have a warning on it for violence and gore. I suppose that means I'm getting old. Perhaps. In fairness, I wasn't much of a fan of Wolfenstein in the eighties.

I am somewhat concerned that the masterchief may be a good teacher. What if my students listen to what he says to them while traipsing through alien battle fields? What if he can motivate them in ways that I can't? What if that silly, glowing green box speaks to my students in some primal way? Frankly, it concerns me that it probably does. I suppose we'll see.

And as I age, I'm not looking forward to the one who will come after the masterchief. He'll be even harder to ignore.