You may not be a Risk player, but my two sons and I love playing the game. We’ve had this game up on the dining room table for two weeks now, playing a few moves whenever all three of us have enough time to sit down together. The boy’s mother, my wife, was in the game for a while, but she lost all her armies last week following a failed offensive thrust. Truthfully, she really wanted to lose so she could go back to watching Pride and Prejudice for the 35th time. It’s probably good to have at least one member of our household who is not vying for world domination.
When I walked past the board this morning, it struck me that if I asked my son’s playmates who is going to win the game that most would quickly jump to the same conclusion. The problem is that they don’t have enough information to make a reasonable guess. Would it change their opinion if they knew that the next player would receive a bonus of 35 armies as he turns in his cards? Would it change their opinion if they knew that a couple of days ago my sons made a pact to team up to bring down Papa for the first time? Would it change their opinion to know that we had modified the rules to suit our family game? Would it change their opinion if they knew that my goal in playing the game was to have fun, not win in the traditional sense?
As an educator, I could want nothing more for my students than for them to look at this board and know that they need more information -- then form and ask the right questions. What if school was a place where students could practice solving problems rather than a place where someone told them all the answers? Would there be less risk for its future if our next generation had the inclination to try to understand a situation before coming to a conclusion?
Such a good point! I have found in my limited experience as a counselor this past year that so many students lack that ability to not only solve problems in the classroom, but in their everyday life outside of the classroom. I think that learning strategies for problem solving could really help these students build skills that would better all aspects of their life. This is a perfect example of why social skills and academic skills do not have to be separated in the classroom.
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