Sent to the USC Trojan Family Magazine March 9, 2011 The heading
preceding the stimulating interview with gaming experts ("Deep
play," Spring 2011) announced that online games "may help
salvage our failing schools." The experts interviewed made an
excellent case for games, but our schools are "failing" for only
one reason: Poverty. Studies show that American students from
well-funded schools who come from middle-class families outscore
students in nearly all other countries on international tests.
Our average scores are less than spectacular because the US has
the highest percentage of children in poverty of all
industrialized countries (over 20%; in contrast, high-scoring
Finland has less than 4%). Poverty means inadequate nutrition,
inadequate health care, exposure to environmental toxins, and
little access to books, all of which are strongly associated
with lower school performance. If all of our children had the
same advantages middle class children have, our test scores
would be at the top of the world.