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TEXT 5. CHILDREN AND TV

Quot;Children and television" is an issue about which teachers and parents are naturally very concerned.

 

1) The two extracts by American authors given below present rather controversial views on the problem. Read them attentively for further discussion:

 

a) There have been more than 2,300 studies and reports on the effects of television on American society. Most of them show that these effects are mainly negative. Researchers have been especially concerned about children. In the past decade, researchers have had children participate in numerous studies. They had children watch television intensively for three weeks. The results showed a drop in the children's creativity. The researchers concluded that television makes the children lose some of their creativity.

Teachers can't get children to pay attention for any length of time because today's children want everything to be as fast and entertaining as TV. Dr Benjamin Spock, an expert in child raising, once complained that he couldn't get his grandchildren to leave the TV set when he wanted to take them to the zoo. Some of today's children are so addicted to TV that nothing else interests them. Parents have to make them turn off the TV and go out to play or read a book. They can't get them to do these traditional childhood activities without having an argu­ment over the TV.

Although most of these studies have shown the negative effects of television, some sociologists argue that television has become a part of our lives. They do not think that parents should make their children limit the amount of TV that they watch to one or two hours a day. They believe that parents should let their children decide for themselves what and how much they want to watch.

 

b) Although most studies show the negative effects of televi­sion, there are also some important positive influences. There are many excellent educational programs, especially for child­ren. Some schools have children watch certain programs in the classroom. They often get them to watch worthwhile programs at home by encouraging them to discuss what they have seen the next day in class. "Sesame Street" is a program that is watched by millions of children around the world. It uses bright colors, fast timing, and humour in order to get children to pay attention. It makes children enjoy learning about the alphabet, reading, and numbers.

Television also exposes children to different people and places. A little girl who had never seen a ballet before watched a famous ballerina on TV. This program got her to decide to become a ballerina herself. TV also increases young people's understanding of other people's views of life. Many people feel that "Roots", a program on the history of black people in the United States, is an example of this. Because viewers of this program became emotionally involved with the characters, "Roots" got some people to think more compassionately about the difficulties of black people in the United States.


Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1992


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UNIT 5. The Influence of mass media | Qualifications: "Healthy Lifestyle Principles" lecturer
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