The Cheat Codes; A Conversation

 

“I can’t ever remember stuff for the test,” my son complained after a particularly poor score on a social studies test in middle school. 

“How many cheat codes do you know in GTA?” I asked, “I’m guessing about 50?”

“But, but….you can’t compare school with video games,” he said with a bit of sneer in his voice.

Continuing, I said, “And you’ve got a bunch of video games.”

“But, but….I know, but that’s not the same thing,” he implored.

“Ahhhhhh, but it is. It shows you can remember things that are important to you. Clearly, social studies is not as important to you as Grand Theft Auto,” I began, “If you can remember all those cheat codes for all those games, you have the ability to learn and retrieve the information.”

Silence…

“I’m not suggesting Social Studies, or Math or English or any class in school is going to be more interesting than using the cheat code to get a tank to roll all over San Andreas causing mayhem, but I am suggesting that you could do better in school.” I finished, “If you really want to. IF you really want to.”