TV watching

 

My recent email on how much TV children are watching led my friend Norm Sherman, who was a principal in NYC public schools for decades (he's now retired), to write:

You are right on the money about both TV watching and expectations.

 

Are you familiar with the Rosenthal study and book Pygmalion in the Classroom?  It's a classic study on teachers' expectations.

 

When I was a principal the kids were spending more time watching TV than they did in school. I mounted a major campaign against this and was reasonably successful. At the time, I connected with an educational  TV producer who had done a video on the effects of TV watching on children and their school work and incidents of violence. I was fortunate to have her come to a PTA meeting. I also did things like a "A Month Without TV" and had the kids keep records of what they did with their time.

 

TV, like fire, used wisely is a wonderful tool and leaving children on their own is dangerous.

And I guess I missed a generation -- a friend who's in his early 20s wrote me:

I know your email about TVs in childrens' rooms was for elementary school-age children. I agree with you that for that age group having a TV in their own room is a little unusual; however by the time children get to high school almost everyone had a TV in their room (this is for 1998-2001 in LA County).

 

I think it was partly a maturity issue in being able to handle your responsibilities, but also partly the child's ability to negotiate a TV for their room! Much easier to do as you get older :)