Gamestop Manager Won't Sell Games To Stupid Kids

[devitek]

Woohoo! First time for everything...

I'm usually more of a lurker, but this one--I just couldn't leave it alone.

 

[Ern]

Thats awesome! Finally, someone is doing something about that. The parents wont thats for sure. Looks at our society today. When I got junk grades and misbehaved, I got my ass busted. Its not illegal either, any store has the right to refuse service, especially if its a store policy. This guy is FTW!

 

[Wii_Smurf]

Ahem

Score one for the dumb and lazy students of south Dallas! GameStop corporate has put the kibosh on store manager Brandon Scott's policy of selling video games to his underage employees, suspending him while the powers that be are "learning about and evaluating Mr. Scott's concept." We weren't the only to post on Scott's unusual policy and it appears the publicity surrounding his outlook on selling games to kids with good grades got him in hot water with the Man.

Linkage​

 

[Nintendo93]

Pwned.

 

[devitek]

This is an expected outcome. The important thing is that his actions got much-needed attention and could result in changes for the better.

 

[Nintendo93]

I think that's the point--this isn't to please the kids, "stupid" or not. These days, there's no such thing as a kid that's too "stupid" to make good grades. For every disability, for every possible educational handicap, there is some kind of program or group designed to support it to make sure every child has the opportunity to make good grades. Honestly, if there are still kids that are too "stupid" to make it in that system, then there is obviously a much greater problem to resolve.

In my opinion--let me make this clear, my opinion--"stupid" is just an excuse. It's an easy way to justify lazy, an easy way of saying "I don't wanna do this." I have a 24-year-old sister that still lives at home with our parents, has an almost 2-year-old son without a father. She has, for over 10 years, claimed that she is "stupid". She failed out of high school because she is "stupid". She failed out of GED courses...twice...because she is "stupid". She doesn't maintain a job because she is "stupid". She has trouble spelling words and understanding things because she is "stupid". This is always her excuse for everything, that she is too "stupid" to do anything.

About a month ago, our father asked a favor of me. He suspected that she had been using the internet as a means of communicating with the father of her baby and hiding it from him. You see, she has convinced everyone that she cannot find this guy to get child support from him since before their son was born. My role, at dad's request, was to monitor my sister while she is online.

I've been doing this since he requested, and I've noticed a few things. She doesn't appear to have a problem with spelling when she's chatting with friends. She's very quick with her typing, and without many errors--probably less than I've made and corrected just writing this. To make a long story short, she is far less "stupid" than she tries to make everyone believe, and she has definitely been communicating with her baby's daddy. When I say "definitely", I mean she sees him regularly and is trying to maintain an intimate relationship with him.

My point is simple. While "stupid" is common, someone that is truly stupid experiences a very handicapped life. So handicapped, in fact, that they are probably not even capable of playing most video games, and wouldn't be that interested in them in the first place.

Great post.

 

[sagema]

Ok it's time for me to tell another story about my childhood. When I was a kid my friend wasn't allowed to even play video games unless he had high scores from his tests in school. Now of coarse like many, they don't ever acknowledge the fact that human beings think in different ways, and some people just can't comprehend certain things as easily as others. I can dance circles around most in 3d art, but when it comes to math... I suck.

Anyways fast forward to today, my former friend is in jail for doing drugs... again(he's a junkie). His parents were so strict that he eventually sought out the wrong crowd. Like many I grew up with, he was yet another kid who broke under the pressure of extremely strict parenting. Balance, and responsibilty is the key when raising a child. This guy should be fired for trying to assume the role of a parent.

 

[bw!]

are yall trying to make me confused

 

[Psych Out]

This isn't illegal. If Toys-R-Us denies to sell, lets say a Lego set, no one can do anything about it. They can have their own reasons, and may even need persuasion. The manager may get fired, or something, but he can't get sued, at least from parents. I mean, the owner of the GameStop might be a bit mad, but thats a totally different subject from him being sued by parents.

Plus, there are a lot of people who think that video games might be making children nowadays stupid, and perhaps this guy is one of them. I'm sure some of the parents of those children also agree. Is the kid going to go home and say "Mom, I got bad grades but I want this game. Can you get it for me?". That's not going to work (maybe for some of you :|).

 

[[DT]]

Ok it's time for me to tell another story about my childhood. When I was a kid my friend wasn't allowed to even play video games unless he had high scores from his tests in school. Now of coarse like many, they don't ever acknowledge the fact that human beings think in different ways, and some people just can't comprehend certain things as easily as others. I can dance circles around most in 3d art, but when it comes to math... I suck.

Anyways fast forward to today, my former friend is in jail for doing drugs... again(he's a junkie). His parents were so strict that he eventually sought out the wrong crowd. Like many I grew up with, he was yet another kid who broke under the pressure of extremely strict parenting. Balance, and responsibilty is the key when raising a child. This guy should be fired for trying to assume the role of a parent.

No Videogames == Life in Prison

Excellent.

 

[devitek]

Ok it's time for me to tell another story about my childhood. When I was a kid my friend wasn't allowed to even play video games unless he had high scores from his tests in school. Now of coarse like many, they don't ever acknowledge the fact that human beings think in different ways, and some people just can't comprehend certain things as easily as others. I can dance circles around most in 3d art, but when it comes to math... I suck.

Anyways fast forward to today, my former friend is in jail for doing drugs... again(he's a junkie). His parents were so strict that he eventually sought out the wrong crowd. Like many I grew up with, he was yet another kid who broke under the pressure of extremely strict parenting. Balance, and responsibilty is the key when raising a child. This guy should be fired for trying to assume the role of a parent.

Sure, I'd agree that there is a fine line between extreme parenting and strict parenting. I'd also say that the latter is perfectly fine, if that's what works for you as a parent and it's working for the child. Extreme parenting, however, usually results in the situation you describe above.

In no way am I saying that parents should push that hard. If you have a kid that just struggles, the first thing you should do is find out why. After that, you see if there is anything you can do to help, or if there is a program or group that can help. If you deplete your options, as a parent, to help your child learn and maintain decent grades, and your child is still failing, then you just have to drop your expectations. At that point, however, you probably have a child that fits what I described earlier and they probably would struggle just as much with video games as they would at school.

Also, expecting A's from a child that is just not capable is ludicrous. My daughter is exceptional, and I expect those types of scores from her. I don't push her to an extreme--I just make sure she gets her homework done every night and that she understands her coursework. If she wasn't capable, then B's or C's would be fine, too...just not anything lower.

 

[JasonG75]

I have a 14 year old and an 11 year old. Neither gets near a video game until homework is done. Anything lower than a 'C' on the report card, and they lose the use of any of the game systems until the teacher sends me a note saying the child is back to acceptable school performance.

As a parent I don't care if they like it or not. Games are not going to help them become productive members of society.

I find it really rather sad that this store manager feels he needs to take matters into his own hands because there are so many parents that don't care about their kids' lives. (Or are just tired of fighting, so they give up)

 

[devitek]

I totally agree. The responsibility really shouldn't rely on a store manager at a local GameStop. Honestly, it doesn't. The fact that he recognized a problem and took a stand? That, to me, speaks very highly to his character. It's very, very sad that parents aren't making these decisions for their children, and this man doesn't have the right to make the decision for them. The bottom line is this: Someone needs to make the decision. If the parents won't do it, then I (once again) applaud this man for trying. His method may not actually solve the problem, but it will raise awareness...

 

[mn777saint]

Sad to say...

The "its Not MY fault" or "Blame someone elese" or "I can't Handle Resposibillity"....Sad to say Parents are ever increasinlgy not taking responsability for there own Kids...

will we ever learn?

 

[blueovalboy7]

Great posts devitek. Like you said, it isn't too much to ask of a child to get grades they are capable of, not expecting straight A's from every kid, but then you have consider what the store manager considers to be satisfactory. What if C's are all that some of these kids can get, but his benchmark is B's what then? I believe you already said this, but it really falls on the parents, they need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for their kids and help them attain the grades they're capable of. Also I think their parents should be the ones going to buy the games for the kids, even if it is their money. Who knows what they'll end up with if they're buying games for themselves, because I know that there are people who don't care how old kids are and will sell them anything they want.