TV Turnoff (the worst) week

POSTED BY: ilovefirefly
UPDATED: Tuesday, April 3, 2007 22:13
VIEWED: 5867
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CAUSAL

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 2:05 AM

FMF, I don't totally disagree with you on the curriculum thing; but I can't say I agree with your reasoning.

I post research--not opinion, mind you--that links television and video game consumption with falling grades and obesity. You say, yeah right, then why'd my kids do so good? You say, it's the curriculum to blame. But on that kind of reasoning, I can just as easily come right back and say, Oh yeah, then how did my siblings and I get straight A's?

So let's all just take a breath a moment. ILOVEFIREFLY has a valid point to be made, and I think it's this: the TV Turnoff folks are a little alarmist. But I think that the experts have a valid point, too: excessive television contributes to poor scholarship and obesity (and by the by, both the obesity issue and the scholarship issue were addressed in my citations).

Basically, I think the problem of argumentation in this thread is this: there is no one problem. There are multiple ones. Take my sister: she was a middle school math teacher. She had a student failing her course. Student's mother calls up and reams my sister for failing her kid (in such an ugly way that she makes my sister cry). Then the student's mother starts circulating a story about how my sister is involved in inappropriate sexual relationships with the students (complete lies). The principle (thank God) stands behind his teacher, but it took the better part of a year to get the thing figured out (and the poor thing just quit after that--too traumatic). So maybe instead of curriculum or TV the real problem is that parents take their kids' word over the teacher's and don't push them or supervise their schooling. Or maybe it's money--the teachers don't make enough money so that has to be why the kids are doing so poor--teaching doesn't attract enough people because the money's so bad. Or maybe it's federal funding to the schools--you get my point. It's not a simple-solution issue, and I think we'll all be better served to address the issue with some clarity. Contra to ILFF, there are scientific studies linking TV to poor grades. So he's not totally right in saying that TV has no impact. In addition, you've got a good point in critiquing the curriculum. But jeez-mony-christmas. What's with all the snark and meanness?

*whew*

/ Rant

Gotta go put this damned soapbox away now...

________________________________________________________________________
Grand High Poobah of the Mythical Land of Iowa, and Keeper of State Secrets

Captain, FFF.net Grammar Police

CAUSAL

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 2:06 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ilovefirefly:
There are some people who are trying to get rid of television and aren't looking at the facts

Which facts?

________________________________________________________________________
Grand High Poobah of the Mythical Land of Iowa, and Keeper of State Secrets

Captain, FFF.net Grammar Police

DEADLOCKVICTIM

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 3:01 AM

ahh, television - we love it - hate it - can't stand to watch and can't turn it off...

one of my favorite tv moments was watching the old Second City late night laugh fest from our neighbors to the north - the great white that is... each week the program started with tv sets being thrown from the windows of a tall building - it was the glorious - the smashing crt's the cracking plastic - i was young, but i knew that one day i too, would fling my tv from the top of an apartment.. and yes, i did, at long last, manage to smash an old b&w zenith (course it didn't work too well anyway, and i had a backup - what? miss my shows...?? no way...)

but tv turn off week - sure, i'm for it - let's make a month..two.... can anyone last a year...?

FUTUREMRSFILLION

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 3:09 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Causal:
FMF, I don't totally disagree with you on the curriculum thing; but I can't say I agree with your reasoning.

I post research--not opinion, mind you--that links television and video game consumption with falling grades and obesity. You say, yeah right, then why'd my kids do so good? You say, it's the curriculum to blame. But on that kind of reasoning, I can just as easily come right back and say, Oh yeah, then how did my siblings and I get straight A's?

So let's all just take a breath a moment. ILOVEFIREFLY has a valid point to be made, and I think it's this: the TV Turnoff folks are a little alarmist. But I think that the experts have a valid point, too: excessive television contributes to poor scholarship and obesity (and by the by, both the obesity issue and the scholarship issue were addressed in my citations).

Basically, I think the problem of argumentation in this thread is this: there is no one problem. There are multiple ones. Take my sister: she was a middle school math teacher. She had a student failing her course. Student's mother calls up and reams my sister for failing her kid (in such an ugly way that she makes my sister cry). Then the student's mother starts circulating a story about how my sister is involved in inappropriate sexual relationships with the students (complete lies). The principle (thank God) stands behind his teacher, but it took the better part of a year to get the thing figured out (and the poor thing just quit after that--too traumatic). So maybe instead of curriculum or TV the real problem is that parents take their kids' word over the teacher's and don't push them or supervise their schooling. Or maybe it's money--the teachers don't make enough money so that has to be why the kids are doing so poor--teaching doesn't attract enough people because the money's so bad. Or maybe it's federal funding to the schools--you get my point. It's not a simple-solution issue, and I think we'll all be better served to address the issue with some clarity. Contra to ILFF, there are scientific studies linking TV to poor grades. So he's not totally right in saying that TV has no impact. In addition, you've got a good point in critiquing the curriculum. But jeez-mony-christmas. What's with all the snark and meanness?

*whew*

/ Rant

Gotta go put this damned soapbox away now...

________________________________________________________________________
Grand High Poobah of the Mythical Land of Iowa, and Keeper of State Secrets

Captain, FFF.net Grammar Police

Snarky snark snark - cause it urks the hell out of me when people blame things on everything except where it belongs - on themselves. Biggest problem in this country? No Personal Responsibility. "The buck stops everywhere else but here" should be the USA motto.

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FORSAKEN original

ILOVEFIREFLY

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 3:20 AM

The experts can't always get things right. i believe Knowledge over health. listen to me having an IQ of 200 off of the discovery channel is a lot better than having your neck snapped in our so called past-time american football

CAUSAL

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 3:22 AM

Just stating a proposition doesn't make that proposition true. I've got some research. What've you got? Other than atrocious grammar, that is?

________________________________________________________________________
Grand High Poobah of the Mythical Land of Iowa, and Keeper of State Secrets

Captain, FFF.net Grammar Police

CAUSAL

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 3:27 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by FutureMrsFIllion:
...it urks the hell out of me when people blame things on everything except where it belongs - on themselves. Biggest problem in this country? No Personal Responsibility. "The buck stops everywhere else but here" should be the USA motto.

No disagreements here. But how well equipped are kids to make sensible decisions? Isn't part of responsible parenting overseeing how much of what kind of media one's children consume? Is not part of it also to oversee their school work? You blame curriculum, and that's legitimate, to an extent. But if we're going to trumpet the doctrine of personal responsibility oughtn't we be taking parents to task for not insuring that their school-aged children are doing their homework instead of watching Bratz?

________________________________________________________________________
Grand High Poobah of the Mythical Land of Iowa, and Keeper of State Secrets

Captain, FFF.net Grammar Police

ILOVEFIREFLY

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 3:32 AM

my atrocious grammar is due to me used to chat rooms on this site oh and by the way im young. I know whether it increases or lowers my grades. And im in the middle of conducting reasarch and according to my grades im probably headed torwards MIT

CAUSAL

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 3:52 AM

Well, no offense ILFF, but your being young doesn't mean that I'm going to take your word over the research of a Stanford professor. Your media consumption habits probably don't affect your grades because you're a responsible student, and a hard worker. Can you say that about all your classmates? You're assuming that because something is true about you, it must be true about everyone. Obviously, that's not the case. In philosophy, we call that the fallacy of hasty generalization. It's a fallacy because although it seems reasonable, it's really not. I'm sorry if you think that TV affects no one--but that's the opinion of one young person. I'm not sure that really stacks up favorably against the opinions against medical professionals.

On the other hand, good for you for keeping your grades up!

Just one more thing: if you honestly think that you can attain a high level of intellectual acheivement from watching the Discovery channel, you've got another think coming. Discovery, like all other television, is in the business of entertainment. They amuse you so you'll watch consistently enough to see the commercials, whence their income derives. If you really want to have a 200 IQ, read books. The first one I'd recommend is Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neal Postman. He takes a critical look at the thinking habits that television promotes as against print media. I think you'll find it very enlightening.

________________________________________________________________________
Grand High Poobah of the Mythical Land of Iowa, and Keeper of State Secrets

Captain, FFF.net Grammar Police

ILOVEFIREFLY

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 4:01 AM

Different medical reports contradict each other i once read something that said that video games lowered your heart rate but due to my science experiment work ive found that the person actually has a heavy increase on the really violent games and action-based ones

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