Oregon Trail CD-ROM

Bill Bigelow writes in his article, "On The Road to Cultural Bias: A Critique of the Organ Trail CD-Rom" that the game is culturally bias and insensitive. The Oregon Trail is a computer game that allows students to become members of a family traveling with a wagon train that is crossing the plains in the 1840'a or 1850's.  The players objective is to safely reach the Oregon Territory.  The games intent is to teach students about the details of life for the Oregon travelers.  It involves a simulation of "real" trail life, from supplies needed, types of wagons, hunting and what they ate to historic landmarks.  It is also has the potential to be a teaching resource for teachers. But Bigelow states, "But as much as the game teaches, it mis-teachers more.  In fundamental respects, The Oregon Trail is sexist, racist, culturally insensitive, and contemptuous of the earth.  It imparts bad values and wrong history."  To back up what he believes he uses the example at the beginning of the game.  In the opening sequences, the game requires students to select a profession, the kind of wagon, and the city from which to depart.  Here class is recognized as an issue, for instance, bankers begin with more money than saddle makers. Gender and race are not a choice. He claims that players are only taking on the role of a male-gendered, white pioneer.  His article presents the ways in which the game fails to account for the experiences not only of women but of African-Americans and Native Americans.  For example, the only role the game shows women taking on is that of maintaining a semblance of community under great stress, tending to the ill and where to get firewood or buffalo chips. This is historically inaccurate because women played an important role in the wagon train.  The game also hints at African Americans as being enslaved, but it never explicitly says so.  The game is also historically inaccurate about the roles and attitudes of Native Americans. Bigelow states, "the games superficial sympathy for Native groups masks a profound insensitivity to Indian cultures."  The Oregon Trail never suggests to its simulated pioneers that they should seek permission of Indian nations to travel through their territory, nor does it inform the players that because of the disruptions wrought by the daily intrusions of the westward migration, Plain Indians regular demanded tribute from the travelers.  Therefore, the game makes it seem that the Indians and travelers got along. Overall, Bigelow states, "The simulation begins from no moral or ethical standpoint beyond individual material success; it contains no vision of social or ecological justice and hence, promotes a full litany of sexist, racist and imperialist perspectives as well as exploitive perspectives of the earth."  Although his critique is rather harsh, Bigelow does provide a list of questions that teachers should consider when looking to use CD-Rom's in the classrooms.  He also provides examples for teachers to use to foster a critical computer literacy.  For example, students can engage in role playing where they face a number of Oregon Trail problems.  The students can choose to portray women, men, Indians, African Americans, etc.  As students learn about the social and ecological cost of the Oregon Trail, students can then write critical letters to each of the pioneers they portrayed.  Students can also write and illustrate children's books.  This way students learn the correct information, but in a different way.  

 

When I was a kid I remember playing Oregon Trail and loving it.  I especially liked the beginning part when I got to pick the materials to bring on my trip. I also enjoyed the hunting.  I didn't see the game as a learning experience, I saw it as a fun game to play. I never noticed all of the things that Bigelow pointed out as historically inaccurate.  I can remember asking friends how far they got, if anyone died, or how much buffalo or dear they killed. We never discussed the history of the Oregon Trail or the social or ecological concepts involved.  If we did, I don't remember doing so.  Reading this article has opened my eyes to what the game really teaches kids and it saddens me.  However, because it is fun to play I think it would be interesting to see what would happen if we teach kids about the Oregon Trail first and then have the students pick out the issues or parts of the game that is wrong and misleading.  Could they?  Or would they be like me and think it is just a fun game to play?