I ran across this article again today and thought I’d share
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/08/our-push-for-passion-and-why-it-harms-kids/?_r=0
Do you think BS helps facilitate and nurture exploration?
Loved this article…
I love this too!
There needs to be a similar article about what to do when your kid actually has a passion, but it’s just for playing video games. (and no, I haven’t been able to get him interested in coding, which I think is the only “acceptable” outlet for a video game addiction)
There are kids who are competitive gamers in esports leagues who win big prizes to pay for college.
http://fortune.com/2016/02/04/play-video-games-to-win-college-tuition/
RPI has a game design BS degree.
http://www.hass.rpi.edu/pl/bs-degree-games-simulation-arts-science
Our neighbor has a freshman in that program.
Not sure if S17 would want it. He was not interested when he took an afterschool game design class in 4th grade. He designed a game where the player rides a horse and shoots bananas using a pretty limited GUI app.
Me three! I have one “passionless” (not counting Minecraft) and one that is torn to pieces by “passions.” The sad part is that in the latter case none of the adults - coaches and teachers - are willing to make concessions and encourage well-roundedness. Like vultures vying for a piece of this poor kid, they all are competing for 100% of her time and energy, forcing her to choose between activities and ridding her with guilt. Yeah, that was overly dramatic. But it makes me sad and angry nevertheless.
@soxmom There, I found this list.
http://successfulstudent.org/27-best-video-game-colleges-2015/
DS won’t be interested in creating games per se but will be happy to beta-test all of students’ creations.
Vacakid has read all about playing video games for cash and thinks this is how he is financing college. I say if he does not put down the controller he won’t be going to college. On the bright side, one of his reasons for applying to BS was to limit his video game time.
@soxmom – I also have a gamer S17 (we actually watched the ESPN2 ESport tournament referenced in the Fortune article). Despite attending computer game design camp (iD Tech) since he was 8, he has zero interest in actually doing gaming design or programming (my suggestion of coding was just as successful as yours) – probably the only engineering majors he is sure that he doesn’t want. His preferred online game is played by the equivalent of club teams on college campuses, so no chance of getting on the teams that might actually win money (unless one plays professionally on the international circuit – fortunately, not my son’s dream). And yes, I am the enabler that bought him the gaming laptop of death and offered to take him to the international championship semifinals in Chicago next fall (they coincide with his 18th birthday).
I also struggle with the – “how is he going to show his personality on his app and in his essays” issue. He hates talking about himself, is unwilling to discuss anything remotely personal, and his humor tends toward the dry and snarky (his gamer tag is a variation on “godofsarcasm”). Hoping his GC can guide him through it and come up with something genuine and not totally generic.
You guys are all giving me hope – at least I’m not the only one! This kid in question is my youngest, only in 5th grade. I despair of him ever getting interested in something like, oh, I don’t know, READING. Or making an effort on anything school related that doesn’t involve PE or recess. Luckily the private day school he’s at now does go through 12th grade, so at least we’re relatively certain that he’ll be able to get a high school diploma. All bets off after that.
@soxmom Welcome to the underachiever club! My 5th grader will be graduating in car racing. They don’t require too much reading for that, just basic symbol recognition, mostly pictograms.
I took DS to NYC last summer so he could meet some friends and attend a live League of Legends finals tournament. He and his friends play but not at a level to be competitive. He and some friends just put in a request to do an independent project in the spring designing a video game. DS2 has been watching YouTube videos of people creating things in minecraft.
I found out my boys know a lot of esoteric vocabulary. I ask where did they learn them?
Pokemons or videogames based on mythology and ancient history. Characters, weapons, locations, etc have SAT vocab.
They are also very good at strategic problem solving not just at mindless shooting. Hopefully it will “translate” into real life problem solving someday.
S19 has been developing ‘leadership’ skills when going on a raid (I don’t know what that is) with a team of 4-6 and leading them in battles where the other members are much older in 40s? and they don’t believe DS’s age as his voice is much low.
If only Common App could be put on Wii/PS4/Xbox. 
S17 had made into finals and held world ranking in Minecraft Spleef World cup for two years couple years ago, but since then both boys retired from Minecraft.
Pokemon got my ds interested in linguistics back in grade school! He loved figuring out where the names were derived from.
DS2 would happily spend the entire day watching YouTube videos about other people playing Minecraft. I don’t get it. Sometimes on weekends I come downstairs and he’s playing a videogame on his laptop, watching YouTube videos on his iPad right next to the laptop screen, and texting friends on his iTouch. Maybe he should be an air traffic controller when he grows up.
@soxmom You have my kid.
My kids put earbuds and then put on larger headphones over them so that they can hear sounds from two devices, I guess. The third one is on speaker.