Think of the Little Children
Sandra Bullock portrays a character in
the movie Hope
Floats whose life is
altered on a national television show when her best friend reveals that she is
having an affair with Bullock's husband. Her friend, portrayed by Rosanna
Arquette, says she loves her, she'd walk through fire for her. But, she also
loves her husband. So much for friendship! While this is a movie based on
fiction such programing actually does exist. on a U. S. television program in
recent years what one participant revealed to another resulted in his
murder.
Diana and I read recently on news from Brazil of a television program there where the female hostess encourages the participants not only to argue with each other but to actually get into physical altercations. Pictures with the internet news site showed the participants physically hitting each other.
What is disturbing about this is that these programs can be watched by children of all ages. I wonder often as to how they are affecting our children and youth. I had the privilege of working with youth as a teacher. I began teaching in 1966, retiring in 1998. I personally watched a change in the behavior of young people over that span of years. We had no mass murders in the schools when I began teaching. The Columbine High School massacre occurred in April 1999. The minds of our young people have changed and that is due in part to programming which shows adults criticizing one another and humiliating each other in public.
Diana doesn't always like to hear the emphasis which teachers place on the importance of extra-curricular activities. At heart, neither do I. The reason we are cautious about the emphasis is that we know that these activities take children away from the family. We have always placed family first. We felt that it was our responsibility to be the first influence on our son's thinking. However, as a junior and senior high school track coach for ten years I know that activities outside of the classroom do play an important part in the development of young people.
Any coach can attest to the fact that the overwhelming majority of students in their activities are A or B honor roll students. (We'll call these kids, Group A.) The majority of their participants will obtain vocational or academic education beyond high school. There is something else I found out about these youngsters which I think is important. They often stated that they had little or not time to watch television. When the other students (Group B) who were not involved in activities outside the classroom visited about this show or that, the Group A kids would often say they had never seen the programs being discusses. They simply didn't have the time for TV.
I also observed behavioral differences. Group A kids had better interpersonal skills. They were inclined to be more agreeable and much less argumentative. I sensed that the confrontational programming on television influenced how the Group B students viewed life. The programs they watched sanction arguing. They suggest that the way to settle differences is to put each other down, to embarrass and humiliate those with whom you disagree. That is shameful.
It is also shameful that a newspaper would have a letters to the editor policy which allows readers to criticize one another. As the television programs are viewed in our homes, so the newspaper is available in our homes and in our school and public libraries. In these places our young people can read letters where adults criticize one another often causing the target person to be humiliated before the community. What does this teach our young people?
If a child goes out to play and gets his hands dirty his mother or father can wash away the germs after play time. But it is that easy to wash away the in print upon their brains when they see in printed letters crude criticism? Can the rude, bordering on vulgar, sentences be cleaned from their minds? Those letters of criticism sanctioned by some newspapers are shameful.
No doubt editors and publishers who create a policy which states that a person criticized in a letter will be given the opportunity to reply hide behind a guise of fairness. A character of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged says, "I don't like people who say that everything they do is for the sake of others. It's not true."
Is is good for the children?
(written February, 2002)
Diana and I read recently on news from Brazil of a television program there where the female hostess encourages the participants not only to argue with each other but to actually get into physical altercations. Pictures with the internet news site showed the participants physically hitting each other.
What is disturbing about this is that these programs can be watched by children of all ages. I wonder often as to how they are affecting our children and youth. I had the privilege of working with youth as a teacher. I began teaching in 1966, retiring in 1998. I personally watched a change in the behavior of young people over that span of years. We had no mass murders in the schools when I began teaching. The Columbine High School massacre occurred in April 1999. The minds of our young people have changed and that is due in part to programming which shows adults criticizing one another and humiliating each other in public.
Diana doesn't always like to hear the emphasis which teachers place on the importance of extra-curricular activities. At heart, neither do I. The reason we are cautious about the emphasis is that we know that these activities take children away from the family. We have always placed family first. We felt that it was our responsibility to be the first influence on our son's thinking. However, as a junior and senior high school track coach for ten years I know that activities outside of the classroom do play an important part in the development of young people.
Any coach can attest to the fact that the overwhelming majority of students in their activities are A or B honor roll students. (We'll call these kids, Group A.) The majority of their participants will obtain vocational or academic education beyond high school. There is something else I found out about these youngsters which I think is important. They often stated that they had little or not time to watch television. When the other students (Group B) who were not involved in activities outside the classroom visited about this show or that, the Group A kids would often say they had never seen the programs being discusses. They simply didn't have the time for TV.
I also observed behavioral differences. Group A kids had better interpersonal skills. They were inclined to be more agreeable and much less argumentative. I sensed that the confrontational programming on television influenced how the Group B students viewed life. The programs they watched sanction arguing. They suggest that the way to settle differences is to put each other down, to embarrass and humiliate those with whom you disagree. That is shameful.
It is also shameful that a newspaper would have a letters to the editor policy which allows readers to criticize one another. As the television programs are viewed in our homes, so the newspaper is available in our homes and in our school and public libraries. In these places our young people can read letters where adults criticize one another often causing the target person to be humiliated before the community. What does this teach our young people?
If a child goes out to play and gets his hands dirty his mother or father can wash away the germs after play time. But it is that easy to wash away the in print upon their brains when they see in printed letters crude criticism? Can the rude, bordering on vulgar, sentences be cleaned from their minds? Those letters of criticism sanctioned by some newspapers are shameful.
No doubt editors and publishers who create a policy which states that a person criticized in a letter will be given the opportunity to reply hide behind a guise of fairness. A character of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged says, "I don't like people who say that everything they do is for the sake of others. It's not true."
Is is good for the children?
(written February, 2002)
Posted: Mon - January 16, 2006 at 07:02 PM
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In a museum most people spend less than twenty seconds looking at a work of art."
"Art arises from basic needs-a strong need to express and celebrate our everyday events.
In a museum most people spend less than twenty seconds looking at a work of art."
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Published On: Jan 16, 2006 07:02 PM
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Published On: Jan 16, 2006 07:02 PM