Hi everybody,
I'm new to the list and I was inspired to write my first posting after about
a month of preparticipatory lurking by Paul Dillon's intriguing story about
Pokeimon on the airplane. Well, my response got lost in the techno-ether,
and so I'm trying again.
I just wanted to share my personal experience as a Pokeimon mom, and
reflections on this, somtimes tortured and confused...
So I have a 9-year-old son and 10-year-old girl, and it's my son's
experiences that have really made me think. He is a Pokeimon expert, and I
am half tempted to make some sarcastic or condescending comment here because
it's what we Pokeimon moms usually do, and that's where the reflection comes
in. Because Gaelan came by his Pokeimon expertise as honestly as anyone has
come by any expertise; he studied manuals, practiced games over and over,
shared advice with friends...I take his Pokeimon expertise very seriously,
because it is what he and his community value, and he is frighteningly
encyclopedic in his knowledge. The same kind of knowing, I would argue,
just a different group deciding what is worth knowing (Pokeimon "zoology"
vs. categories of rock formations, which his teacher decided was important).
I know a few [people have been advancing connections between Pokeimon and
other school-valued skills (arguments I have heard include improvng math
skills, reading about Pokeimon). I am thinking that Pokeimon has a value
aside from how useful it is for learning things that schools find useful. I
think it has been decided among my son's valued community that knowing what
pikachu and bulbasaur evolve into is important, and knowing this grants him
entry....in much the same way that my community to which I am seeking entry
into values knowing what is a ZPD. There is something transformative and
enriching, I think, about getting good at something, about learning the
lingo of the in-crowd, about becoming an expert in anything so that you can
participate fully in your target "crowd" and also take on the role of
teacher for others. And I can say that seeing my 9-year-old son as a
teacher/consultant for the first time has altered my view of him, and I can
only imagine how it has altered his view of himself.
Well, probably I sound like a Pokeimon marketing spy by now, but I also have
to submit that, concerning the marketing thing, I can no more say that he is
obsessed, overcome by marketing, or brainwashed than I can say that about,
well me and almost everybody else I know. I have bought books from
amazon.com. I have taken my kids to Disney movies. I once bought someone a
beanie baby (kind of reluctantly)...my point is not to deny that Pokeimon is
an aggressive ruthless megalobusiness marketing ploy, but rather..."what
isn't?" And, in some cases at least, I use marketing megalobusiness and they
use me...but that's another story. Digression danger...must stop here...
Maybe I'll talk about my daughter if the conversation ever turns to the
Spice Girls...
Well, that's my introductory ramble. I am Renee, and am graduate studenting
at the University of Delaware, by the way.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 11 2000 - 14:04:05 PST