Editor's note: Homework is hard, and it's sometimes difficult for even the best of students to remain dedicated to their studies. Mike's an educator, and he suspects that students are spending more time gaming than when he was in school. Is gaming getting in the way of academics? -Jason

As a gamer who's becoming an "adult" with a fledgling career in education, I feel like I'm in a good position to see how various trends are affecting young people today.

In my class, we discussed the rise of advertising as a development of industrialization, and I had my students come up with slogans for their favorite companies or products. I wasn't surprised that many of my young male students used Microsoft or Sony. I also heard how many of my students interact with their peers not on Facebook but on Xbox Live. And it didn't surprise me to learn that the game stealing their attention is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

I wonder, however, if all this gaming is good for my students.

Before you jump down my throat and call me a reactionary, let me explain. In the three U.S. history courses that I teach, four males from each class discussed at length their love for videogames with their peers. These same students seemingly forget that a teacher is in the room when they talk about the hours they've spent playing the game. Many of these same students are performing poorly in class and also aren't turning in their assignments. They claim that they have no time. This trend is unsettling to me as both an educator and a gamer.

Gaming's a great hobby, and I'm sure that I missed a few assignments in school as a result of gaming binges. But I've noticed students increasingly skipping academic work for games. If it was a smaller number of students, I could chalk it up to individual preferences. But the amount of students doing this is much higher than I would've expected. This may be a result of gaming become far more mainstream and less niche than it was 10 years ago in my gaming prime.

I distinctly remember my mother's fear that I would ditch reading for good if I got into videogames, but I was always able to counter that the specific games I was playing were incredibly text heavy and full of words that I often found on vocabulary tests. I also became a heavy reader later in life. I enjoy both gaming and reading immensely. As a young gamer in school, I was unwilling -- and wasn't allowed to permit -- my hobby to interfere with my primary job, which was to get an education. I don't really see the same reaction in my students today.

Many of you will suggest that I use gaming as a cultural reference point in my classes, and I try to do that as much as possible without turning the focus of school to games (a lot of times, the students will try to run you off-topic with inconsequential stuff rather than remain focused on the subject material. Nothing's changed about that).

Gaming's more fun than school. This isn't a revelation, but I'm worried that my struggling students will give in to pleasure rather than continue to work to achieve academically. Am I crazy? Should I blame the parents for not keeping their children actively involved in school work and letting the PlayStation 3 babysit? Or is gaming really hampering the success of some of our students? Please talk with me on this; I really want to hear what you, the most educated game commentators I know of, think about this.

I just wonder if gaming addiction, if we wish to use those words, is becoming something that will hurt our students -- and ultimately, our future.