America’s Army To Invade Schools, Motives Questioned

Once again, the U.S. Army’s training and recruitment tool/video game America’s Army is making headlines. Last year I wrote about how they came under fire for providing potential recruits with “a sanitized view of violence“, and subsequently…released a set of action figures. You’ll note at the bottom of that post that I blithely joked “Maybe they can arrange Army play dates for 6 year olds; never can start too young.”

Turns out the Army was way ahead of me. They’ve recently announced a partnership with Project Lead The Way, a NPO that “educational program that helps give middle and high school students the rigorous ground-level education they need to develop strong backgrounds in science and engineering”. They think tat America’s Army might be just the ticket and are working with the Army to get it into America’s schools.

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Especially considering the amount of blasting the game and Army as a whole has been taking as a result of what critics call a glamorization of violence and blatant pro-Army recruitment. If I were a parent, I would be none too happy that the military could be laying stakes in a chunk of my children’s education.

Water Cooler Games Via GamePolitics