While reading Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, chapter 10: Teaching as an Amusing Activity really grasped my attention by explain on how television changed on how we learn in a classroom rather in front of a screen. Throughout the years technology has evolved mostly everything around us to the way we turn on the lights and to having the Internet at our fingertips but mostly the way we are being educated.
Postman explained on how parents embraced these television shows teach their kids at a young age without having to worry on what content would it be promoting and giving them almost a head start before entering into school. It gave these kids and still does, a reason to want to learn due to cute puppets like in "Sesame Street" causing them to sit in front of a screen for hours not wanting to look away, it entertains them while teaching them how to count, learn their colors, etc. Sadly it gives them the wrong impression of what learning is like in school with other kids and teachers who aren't singing a theme song to count. Postman mentions,"Whereas in school, one fails to attended to the teacher at the risk of punishment, no penalties exist for falling to attend to the television screen."(143) This supports how they will fail in school but not by watching these programs, they are both teaching the same curriculum but in two completely different environments. Most of these kids will eventually not socialize with their peers from learning independently at home by watching a television program, which leads to not speaking in class to ask a question or give an answer.
Even though technology has helped us grow its slowly and effetely damaging our youth, at least every kid has some form of technology that they can watch these educational programs on. It's a form of entertainment for their own joy," Mainly, they will have learned that learning is a form of entertainment or, more precisely, that anything worth learning can take the form of an entertainment."(154) Now learning anything in a catchy song or etc. will grasp their attention because its entertaining for their young minds but eventually time will catch up with them when they need to grow out of it.
So after reading this chapter it created a lot of questions about how these educational programs are affecting our education, how far will these children programs take it to get views and keep these kids entertained? Are we growing dependent on information that we receive from a screen or on television?
-Dennise Villa
Hey Dennise! There was a similar post way back when about this. So I'd recommend skimming through all the blogs to avoid some reposts. Just looking out for you <3 !
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, even though educational television may not give penalties to kids who get an answer wrong while watching the program; they still give kids a reason to continue learning. Educational programs (such as "Sesame Street") are usually for kids ranging from ages 0-10, a point where academics aren't that rigorous as higher grade education. Generally around these ages kids are met with entertainment since they're attention span is short (for most), in order to captivate them into the learning activity. Eventually as kids grow up, they themselves will grow out of watching educational programs and begin to mature and focus on more school as it becomes more challenging. These programs that producers use to profit from are mostly a target for smaller children and won't have any affect on them as they mature. To answer your last question, I believe that we are dependent on the information we receive from the media, because that is where most of us get our information from. Most people in the era of television aren't fond of seeking out the truth for themselves so they will believe any article coverage that is favored by many. What is sad about this is that it makes a population vulnerable to be fed all sorts of unreliable information.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that shows such as "Sesame Street" are having kids grow dependent on them or that's their purpose, if they are attached then it's really the parents fault for having them watch T.V. constantly. It's just an example for kids to know what education will be like. Also the school will allow the kids (if they are attached to the shows), to grow away from that and introduce them into a new environment of learning. Not all kid shows are about the education that's given in school, there was a 90's T.V. show that was called Captain Planet that encouraged kids to not only recycle themselves but to remind their parents too. :) Most kids at an early age do watch T.V. to grasp some form of education but they depend on it because they'll learn to grow out of it once they are enrolled in school.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that children become dependent on TV i just think that they become addicted because of the whole idea of television. Seeing images on the screen in such high definition makes a child become excited and want more. However, i think becoming dependent on television is an overstatement. Also, most kids don't really grasp much off the television and more so when things happen around them.
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