In the United States, history will be taught using… GTA

📚 Yes, that very same game where you can steal a car, argue with the police, and at the same time understand why riots broke out in Los Angeles in 1992.
The University of Tennessee has officially added Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and San Andreas to its curriculum. Now American history will be studied not only through dry dates and paragraphs but also behind the wheel of a virtual convertible to the soundtrack of the 1980s.

The course is titled “Grand Theft America: U.S. History Since 1980 Through the GTA Video Games.”

What we know:

• As part of the course, students study American history through scenes and missions from the games: Vice City helps to understand the atmosphere of the 1980s, and San Andreas — the social tension and causes of the early 1990s protests.
  The professor demonstrates how virtual reality can reflect systemic social issues better than many documentaries.
• In 2024, the same professor already taught a course based on Red Dead Redemption — and it was a phenomenal success.
  Students admitted that, for the first time, they actually felt the Wild West instead of just memorizing presidents’ names and battle dates.
• According to the professor, Rockstar games convey the spirit of the era better than many textbooks — from street culture to economic contrasts.
  
  
• Next on the professor’s agenda is a course based on GTA VI, which will analyze modern American society, fake news, and the digital age. In his words, “it will be a true anthropology of the digital era.” All this, of course, within the context of American capitalism.

Now, seriously:

Games stopped being just entertainment long ago.
They are new life simulators — filled with intrigue, moral choices, and cultural context.
GTA, Assassin’s Creed, Red Dead Redemption, Detroit: Become Human — these are not mere shooters anymore, but interactive novels that teach us to see history through the eyes of people, not dry numbers.

Today, students are living history instead of merely reading about it.
That’s the strength of modern education — you can understand an era by experiencing it, even in pixels.

So the next time someone says, “What’s the point of those games?” a gamer can calmly reply:
“Have you, by any chance, explored Istanbul yourself? Or at least Renaissance Florence? Because I have.”

🎓 Games are becoming a bridge between past and future, between facts and emotions, between knowledge and experience. And perhaps, they are the very thing that will make education come alive again.