TEACHING IN THE TELEVISION CULTURE
-Judith Scot-Smith Girgus and Cecelia Tichi
1.LITERAL COMPREHENSION :
'Teaching in the television culture' is an essay written by Judith Scot-Smith Girgus and Cecelia Tichi. it advances the idea that television is a good source of entertainment as well as knowledge . it can be used for education purpose .the essay fairly presents the people's reaction towards television in the past and then beautifully presents a new approach of learning or perception.
The essay begins with two statement one 'a song lyrics' and another ' a student's in-class comment'. these remarks may strike in the heart of teachers of english . they may feel horrified by the student's easy assumption that tv be comment their students to read Betsy Byars' anti-tv tale in which Lennie, an eleven years old boy , a son of a single mother has been shown to be lonely and bored character due to his excessive obsession with TV, specially game Shows. He resists mother's directives to read but ultimately a crisis - 'a Rattle snake bite that threatens his life brings a renewed intimate contact with his mother and the policeman who rescues him'. as a result he finds TV people unreal.He realizes that those people who make TV commercial don't know anything about life and they do not come to help him in difficulty. He finds his mom hundred times realer than TV people. this revelation rescues him from the corrective fantasies of television and bring him back into the real world. he immediately switches off television and starts working on his science report .
The concluding scenario of story may gladden the teachers because they are always against television. in the beginning of the TV era, may critics thought that TV was responsible for lowering the quality of students and people in general . They suppose that people would be less educated after a decade or so . the critics did not support when TV was used as a teaching material .
Clearly there were two realms, television and print. people featured TV as childish, low culture, entertainment, frivolity ,contamination , sickness etc. where as book was considered to be the symbol of maturity ,high culture maturity , intellectual engagement , seriousness , purity and health . this battle went on for 40 years . the resolution for this conflict is possible solely through one's maturation. the child held captive by the powerful medium i.e. TV . we ultimately renounce it and embrace book where he grows up. therefore the previous concept that TV causes addiction is wrong concept.
Many contemporary teachers of English protested against the use of TV for educational purposes . they were not happy when TV was brought in the class room as a teaching aid. but in reality, today's students are brought up in the TV culture. they live with TV , in ,and through TV. it has become an integral part of their life . They don't watch TV just passively rather they are TV conscious and don't adopt whatever else is shown on TV . they are not concentrated in one particular program , there are commercial and programs being telecasted alternately with the remote control many stations can be viewed. there is interaction between the real world and TV world. Hence watching TV is a kind of communication phenomenon .
Moreover, a viewer assimilates TV into his emotional life . they attached the programs with their past memory. in the television culture, the viewer's cognitive processes under go a change. while watching TV they can participate in various tasks. they can play with pets, look after brothers and sisters , play board games, make and build things , play with toys, jump and dance, read , do homework while watching TV. By this they get different cluster of thoughts and become more resourceful. therefore TV is no longer a hypnotizing object rather it can be used in constructive way.
2.INTERPRETATION :
This essay might be trying to tell us that TV is not as harmful as people in the past considered it to be. It has become a part of modern life.In modern days it used everywhere and it is not harmful to us rather than we learn many things from it. From TV we can know the new invention in the world, breaking news, play video games, doing homework while watching TV, seeing different types of educational programs.
3.CRITICAL THINKING :
This essay has presented the modern situation realistically. It has put forward the idea of past generation, who considered TV harmful and later on it has beautifully presented a new approach of perception. But is it possible to give concentrate on other activities while watching TV?
4.ASSIMILATION :
Before reading this essay I did not use the TV for the study. But after reading this text I came to know that through TV we are also able to get new knowledge.Tv is very important in modern life. So, I have decided to see more educational programs on Tv.
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