When I was in elementary school we did all of our learning out of books and off of faded dittos. (Snnnnnifffff) We sat at desks in rows not at tables in groups. Once in a great while we got to see an educational movie, the kind that came on the reel and ran through the projector.
If the teacher happened to be in a really good mood because the projector actually worked properly she would run the movie backwards for a minute which we all thought was hilarious.
Don't forget about those exciting film strips.
There were only three TV stations and they signed off at midnight. Once in a while there was an educational show on, mostly The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. There were no VCRs; if you missed a show you had to catch it again in the reruns. No movies to rent and cartoons were only on Saturday mornings. Well there were some on Sunday mornings but they were pretty lame.
Today I'm amazed at what the children know in kindergarten. They tell me about whales, animals, insects, dinosaurs, the list goes on. Where do they learn this? From books but also TV, videos, DVDs etc. These media outlets are a wealth of information. My son Kevin loved to watch the Discovery Channel and History Channel. Television isn't always a bad thing. Sure it should be limited for children and monitored by their parents. There's a lot of shows out there that are not as kid friendly as you think. Another thing, just because its animated doesn't mean its okay for young children, The Simpson's, Family Guy and South Park for example. I've had 5 year olds that knew what being drunk is, getting high is, what gay means and sex. I never knew what any of those were until I was older. I've also had students that absolutely watched no television at all. It was hard for them when their peers talk about Sponge Bob or others. They have no clue. They also didn't have that additional good knowledge that TV watchers had.
Don't forget about those exciting film strips.
There were only three TV stations and they signed off at midnight. Once in a while there was an educational show on, mostly The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. There were no VCRs; if you missed a show you had to catch it again in the reruns. No movies to rent and cartoons were only on Saturday mornings. Well there were some on Sunday mornings but they were pretty lame.
Today I'm amazed at what the children know in kindergarten. They tell me about whales, animals, insects, dinosaurs, the list goes on. Where do they learn this? From books but also TV, videos, DVDs etc. These media outlets are a wealth of information. My son Kevin loved to watch the Discovery Channel and History Channel. Television isn't always a bad thing. Sure it should be limited for children and monitored by their parents. There's a lot of shows out there that are not as kid friendly as you think. Another thing, just because its animated doesn't mean its okay for young children, The Simpson's, Family Guy and South Park for example. I've had 5 year olds that knew what being drunk is, getting high is, what gay means and sex. I never knew what any of those were until I was older. I've also had students that absolutely watched no television at all. It was hard for them when their peers talk about Sponge Bob or others. They have no clue. They also didn't have that additional good knowledge that TV watchers had.
0 comments:
Post a Comment