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Scores of millions of Dicks
and Janes and Tommys and
Marys ARE LOOKING! They
are spending more than
a billion and three-quarters
hours every week LOOKING!
And what they are looking at
is the REAL SCHOOL
-
the
primer of life- commercial
television.
by
Vern
L.
farrow
C
HJLDREN
and youth in the United
States watch more than
ninety bit·
/ion
hours of television every
year! A figure our minds can't even
grasp.
This ís the equivalent of 750,000
people watching television five hours
every day for seventy years! Or, it could
represent enough classroom time for
21,750,000 people to complete four
years of college! And remember, this is
just a single year's LOOKlNG time for
our children. Unbelievable? It roay seem
so, but these are facts.
With an investment of that much
time, shouldn't we ask what they are
learning? Shouldn't we take a hard
look
ourselves at the results of the TV
currículum?
Uoderst anding Your Child–
and TV
You need to remember four basic
facts. First, children are learning during
every
waking moment. Second, they
learn a great number of unintended
incidental ideas from the context sur–
rounding any lesson. Third, what they
learn will either be edifying or stunting
to their mental growth. And fourth, the
television industry is not primarily con·
cerned with your child's education! That
should be your concern.
To a very large extent the advertisiog
business dictates programmíng on TV,
and it has only one lesson to teach -
CONSUMPT!ON! 1hat lesson
ÍS
taught by
appealing primarily to human
vanity,
JIIJt,
aod
greed.
It's that simple. There
are few holds barred and children are
not exempt.
LOOK DICKI
LOOKJANEI
H.
Armstrong
Roberts
Advertising meo long ago discovered
that the most effective route to dad's
pocketbook was through his children.
Since then, the commercial exploitation
of children aod youth has become a
multi·billion-dollar business. And no
segment of the exploítation industry ís
so vast or so insidious as the commer–
cialized aspects of TV. But what are its
effects on youngsters?
Nothiog Learoed in Isolation
In educational psychology there is a
well-known principie of learning. It is
called "Complex and Multiple Out–
comes." Briefly stated, this principie says
that we do not learo anything
in
isola–
tion. Although the lesson may be
focused on a single idea, that idea is
presented in a context with other ideas,
attitudes, or behavior patteros. These
are also learned to sorne extent along
with the focal point of the lesson.
Now an experienced teacher will try
to control what is learned. He will
eliminate as much distraction as possible
and present only the idea to be lear:oed.
But unfortunately, the television class·
room is an uncontrolled mixture of
actions and ideas competíng for the
child's attention. As a consequence we
cannot be sure exactly what a child is
learning.
For example, there have been claims
made for the vocabulary-building bene–
fits of commercial television. This would
seern reasonable. Children are exposed
to a tremendous amount of prínted and
spoken language on televisíon. As a
result, you might assume they would
develop larger vocabularies. This appears
to be the case.
But remember, vocabulary - the
essence of Janguage-ís only useful inso–
far as the meaning or ideas are attached
to the words. That's where the rub
comes. What ideas are children learning
along with their TV vocabulary?
One study in which chiJdren from 6
to 12 were asked to write words learned
on TV netted the names of 15 brands
of beer and 13 brands of cigarettes
while one brand of detergent was men–
tioned 110 times!
(Elemental-y Engtish,
March, 1969, p. 303.) Increased vocab·
ulary? Yes, but what is the real
educational value? Other studies have
reported similar results.
However, the utility of the words is
of minor importance. What should con–
cero us more is the meaning the child
attaches to the words.
In
short, does he
really believe the idea that smoking any
ooe of the 13 brands of cigarettes will
really transport hím into sorne spring–
time fairyland of cool babbling brooks
and endless euphoric pleasure? That's
the crucial question, you see, because