Ingls III>Unidad 2. Facts or Opinions?.

Activity 8

By Lucile Tyson

PARAGRAPH 1
Right in the middle of "The Superbowl" our old television set failed us. We had waited
all week for that TV program, and now this! What a disaster!
"What'll we do, Dad?" our ten-year-old son asked. "Will we buy a new TV, or get this
old one fixed?" asked our younger son. Shaking his head, Ron, my husband, turned off
the picture-less set and walked silently into the kitchen.
After the children were in bed, Ron began: "I've been thinking a lot lately about
television and its place in our home. Actually, I'm glad the thing broke. Let's not call in a
TV repair man. Let's get rid of the TV set. What do you think?".

PARAGRAPH 2
Recently the CBS radio network related an interesting story about a teenage girl,
Jennifer, who won the annual Smith-Corona writing contest. What intrigued the CBS
staff was the girl's comment about having no television in her home. In stunned
disbelief, a reporter was sent to interview her. After affirming this fact to the reporter,
she was asked how she felt about it. She enthusiastically replied, "in my friend's homes
everyone has to be quiet for the TV. If you say anything, others in the family shut you
up. I'm glad we don't have TV. I have gotten to know my parents very well and they
know me very well. This comes from communicating extensively with one another.
When I get married, there won't be a TV in my home either."

PARAGRAPH 3
Families who spend hours slumped in front of the tube should be concerned about it
because they have become an audience rather than a family unit. The only
experiences shared are vicarious ones. Watching is not doing.
While working on individual and group projects, our family listens to radio programs
and wholesome tapes. Sometimes we chose a game and turn it into a family
tournament; the first one to win ten games is the champion -- an activity that can go on
for weeks! We do physical fitness activities together. We make regular trips to the local
library as a family to supply ourselves with individual reading material and information
on our current interests and projects. Planning and taking family trips to nearby places
of interest teach history, map-reading, and budgeting of time and expenses.

Ingls III>Unidad 2. Facts or Opinions?. Activity 8

PARAGRAPH 4
Our sons have learned to entertain themselves because there is no TV to do it for
them. They have acquired many skills and developed challenging interests such as:
Stamp and coin collecting, designing and building their own model railroad layout,
building and painting model ships and planes, constructing transistor radios from kits,
making handmade cards and gifts, building things with their father. Currently one son is
learning from library books how to raise brine shrimp to feed his goldfish fresh, high
protein food. Our other son is in the process of building a wind-powered generator that
really works!.
Creative activities forge a tight bond between parents and children through working and
learning together.
PARAGRAPH 5
The California Department of Education recently released results of a survey of sixth
graders and high school seniors that indicate the more a student watches television the
worse he or she does in school. The survey of 530,000 students conducted during the
197980 school year showed that TV viewing affected test scores across all social,
economic, and racial lines.
Schraum, Lyle, and Parker, in their well-known studies of the effects of television
viewing on schoolwork, report "extensive cases of drowsy children the morning after
popular programs, and a tendency to expect to be entertained passively in class as
they are before the TV set".
After watching television, do students find school dull? Studies reveal a very large
number of students say that they do.