Why be so ignorant?

In reading through the article “Girls and Schooling: Their Own Critique” I was absolutely dumbfounded. Hearing some of the absolutely terrible comments that teachers used (i.e. bitch) made me cringe. Obviously these individuals do not feel that their job is one that necessitates professionalism. I graduated in 2000, two years after this study took place. I will say that the students at times can be very insensitive to any sort of feminist issues. Some of the stories recounted in the article were much more dramatic than any I had witnessed; however, there still was a definite ignorance towards any feminist issues. One part of the article that I found particularly interesting was how students blended feminism and homosexuality into one category. I hope that there is more consideration given in several areas to possibly increase awareness about certain feminist issues, as well as raising awareness about different lifestyle decisions. I would hope we are heading in the right direction in teaching students to be educated as opposed to being ignorant about different issues that take place around them.

The Brain Drain

The article “Boob Tube and Children’s Brain Drain” was a good starting point for those who are unaware of some of the negative aspects that watching too much TV can have in the lives of children. It attempts to go through some scientific evidence in the area and bases several of its findings around experiments done in the lab on rats. One particular study found that rats who were subjected to a mindless, isolated environment (such as some TV viewing may create) had a definite negative effect on the brain of these species. I believe that this can easily be compared to TV watching by many of today’s youth. Overall I did find the article quite intriguing and enjoyed reading it. I did however, find a few things that negatively effected my thinking on the subject. The first of which, was that much of the research was largely speculative. For example, there were really no studies that I noticed that were done on an actual child, it was mostly speculation from tests done in labs. Although this research is definitely valid, I would have liked to have seen a bit more “real world” examples. I also found that the article focused on the parents. This broke my confidence slightly. Myself, as a future teacher, really have little say as to the amount of television that my students watch, and subsequently the “brain drain” that takes place. Throughout the article the word “parents” was mentioned a great deal of times. This simply made me realize how the parents are really the ones who can control the amount; even the effect, that television has on their child. Myself as an educator can only hope to instill a few values in which I hopefully will teach my students to think critically about the television that they watch.

Why TV?

In reading through the article “Is Television Harmful for Children?” I was able to draw many conclusions as to the effect (both positive and negative) that TV has on it’s viewers. The author describes many situations in which a TV program can negatively impact a child. I found myself agreeing with many of the points raised related to the negative impacts. TV has become a mainstay in a home. While reading through the article I couldn’t help but think of the movie “The Cable Guy”, starring Jim Carrey. In this movie, the television is dubbed “the babysitter”. When Chip’s (Jim Carrey’s character) mother would leave, she would leave him with the “babysitter”, placing him in front of the television for hours at a time. For those of you who have watched the movie, you will know what this does to Jim Carrey’s character as an adult; basically, he becomes quite socially stunted. Although the movie portrays the negative effects of television in an extreme fashion, I believe the overall concept is true. The time spent in front of a televisions is simply time that could be spent doing other activities that may lend themselves to a more positive outcome. I can remember when I was younger how I simply did not care about TV. I was much happier being outside wearing off some energy. Children in this generation often have to be coaxed into doing these other activities. As the article mentions, TV is the competition for all other activities. In other words, I could play outside; however, would this be as satisfying as watching the newest episode of Family Guy? Although the second part of the article in which the negative effects of television are criticized raises some interesting points, I still believe that the volume of television being consumed by this generations youth needs to be looked into. Is TV related to childhood obesity, violence or bullying? Article two states there may be a connection, however it is often the job of the parents, as well as us as teachers to foster an environment in which these types of situations are recognized as scripted and far from how “the real world” operates.