Sitting in class on a normal day, one would expect to look around and see students’ attentive faces, working furiously on whatever they have been assigned. However, if that student is a Macbook-owning freshman or sophomore, that may not be the case. While some students, namely juniors and seniors, are either forced to or are content sitting in class dying of boredom, others take advantage of the otherwise useless six and a half hours students spend at school each day by playing computer games.
There are numerous games available to play online that teach students beneficial, important life skills. To start, one of the most popular types of games to play during class is action games, and for good reason too. Popular action games include Free Running, Wrestle Jump, Police Pursuit, Zombotron and Gladiator; these games prepare students for the soon to come zombie apocalypse, train them to successfully escape a police chase and show them how to win a fight against a dinosaur. Additionally, games like Gladiator teach students more about former eras than any history class ever could, while games such as Police Pursuit educate students on the American government system. Besides simply educating students, playing action games during class also helps students develop valuable skills like the ability to multi-task, strategize and solve problems quickly. By far the most important impact playing action games has on students is that it causes students’ thumbs to become so strong that one student could easily beat Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in a thumb wrestling match. With this broad set of skills, students are ready for almost anything the world has to throw at them.
Another type of game that became extremely popular last year is Agar.io. In this game, players play as one cell in a map representing a petri dish. The goal is to “swallow” as many smaller cells as possible while also avoiding being consumed by larger cells. This game is best when played during science class because students are playing as cells; by playing Agar.io, students are essentially being educated on endocytosis and other cell behaviors. Who needs to take biology when you can learn all you need to know about cells simply by playing a computer game?
Personally, after watching over seven seasons of Grey’s Anatomy I consider myself to be an expert on all things medicine, so I put myself to the test by playing surgery games in class. I may not have gone to medical school, but I now know how to perform a variety of surgeries like knee, eye, tonsil and even heart and brain surgery. Despite not having a famous mother like Meredith Grey, with my surgical experience I might as well just skip medical school and go straight to being a resident.
Gaming during class may be fun, but always remember that it does come with a risk. Teachers do not understand how beneficial computer games actually are, so if you are caught playing during class then you could get in a lot of trouble, or even worse, they could confiscate your Macbook.
To avoid this, first, always make sure that you have multiple tabs open so you can easily switch to another page when a teacher walks by. Second, always check that your volume is turned down to make sure that the familiar Mario Kart theme song does not start blaring from your computer in the middle of class. Another thing you should always have turned down is your screen brightness. By doing this, you eliminate the chance that people behind you will be peering at and drawing attention towards your computer.
Last but not least, while playing a game during class, at least try to look up at the board every so often. I understand that it may be difficult to tear your eyes away from your game and risk losing all of your progress, but hey, losing a game every once in awhile is better than having no Macbook at all, right juniors and seniors?
