Are video games useful in teaching? Of course. And in fact there are titles designed to be used in classrooms, to facilitate the work of the teacher. But can Fortnite serve those purposes? Brett Belsky, a teacher from New York, thought so. Their bosses, on the other hand, thought not. And what happened happened.
The story is told by the New York Post. Belsky, a gym teacher at Brooklyn's New York’s Middle School 890, was thinking of new ways to motivate his students, ages 11 and 12. He discarded the "oh, captain, my captain" and, knowing the success of video games among his pupils and the battle royale in particular, he promised them that if they improved their performance in class, he would play Fortnite with them.
As Belsky himself explains, "These children don't stop talking about video games ... so I said to them: 'If you can do this job, maybe I will play against you." So, he told the Post, "I saw his eyebrows rise."
The truth is that the method paid off. Students improved their performance in gym class. Belsky had to keep his promise. And he did. In March of last year, he participated with them in a Fortnite session, after revealing their username on Xbox Live. Of course, the teacher demanded that the kids to play with him ask their parents for permission.
And they all did ... well everyone except one. He first played and then asked his parents for permission. In this case, the order of factors did alter the result. As much as the father of this boy reported what happened to the principal of the school. He was complaining that the gym teacher had played Fortnite with his son.
All of this resulted in an investigation by the New York Department of Education. There was no mercy or understanding, and the New York’s Middle School 890 committee, along with administration representatives, decided to fire Brett Belsky.
After 8 years of working at the same school, the teacher was considered to have failed in his work. Belsky, who at that time had never received a wake-up call, has filed an appeal on the grounds of his unfair dismissal.
'Apex Legends' threatens the king of 'battle royale': its premiere doubled in audience to that of 'Fortnite'
The arrival of Apex Legends this week was announced as that of the battle royale throne seeker. And it seems that the thing is very serious; Fortnite has cause for concern. The Electronic Arts and Respawn title already doubles the Epic video game in audience.
The game is working, at least in its premiere, it will be necessary to see if later, disappointed or not, all will be left. For now, we know that in its first 48 hours on the market Apex Legends had already exceeded two and a half million downloads.
The CEO of Electronic Arts, Andrew Wilson, explained that in less than 48 hours the title had achieved more than 2.5 million unique players, between PS4, Xbox One and PC. Of course, Wilson hoped to quickly hit 3 million, which may have happened by now.
