Eng. 100 Sum. 179 Hafez, Spr.

98

Directions: You have 45 minutes to read and summarize the following passage. The number of words in the passage is indicated in brackets, at the end of the passage. Your summary should be approximately one third the length of the original text.

Children and Television

Ninety-six percent of American homes have at least one television set which is turned on for an average of six hours each day. During the last three decades television has become a major agent of socialization, often competing with parents, siblings, peers, and teachers. Kenneth Keniston, Chairman of the Carnegie Council on Children has referred to television as the "flickering blue parent occupying more of the waking hours of American children than any other single influence including both parents and schools." Singer and Singer have characterized it as "a member of the family." How much television and what kinds of programs do children watch? The answer depends on many factors, including children's age and season of the year. According to Winick and Winick, school-age children watch television between seventeen and thirty hours a week. For pre-school children it is often as high as fifty hours a week. Nancy Larrick. a reading specialist and children's author, has pointed out that "by the time the child goes to kindergarten he or she will have devoted more hours to watching television than a college student spends in four years of classes ... And by the time the youngster graduates from high school, he or she will have spent roughly 11,000 hours in school compared to more than 22,000 hours in front of television." Children are not just watching so called children's programs. On the contrary, according to figures released by the A. C. Nielsen Company, only 13 percent of television viewing among six to eleven -year-olds occurs on Saturday between eight A.M. and one P.M. when children's programs are being broadcast. The largest portion of their viewing, 33 percent, takes place between eight and eleven P.M. Monday through Saturday, and between seven and eleven P.M. on Sunday when there are more adult programs. Teachers, schools, and parents associations have become increasingly concerned about the effects of television on school performance. Based on their classroom experiences, many teachers have reported mounting incidences of fatigue, tension and aggressive behavior, as well as lessened spontaneity and imagination. So what have schools been doing'? At Kimberton Farms School in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, parents and teachers have been following written guidelines for five years which include no television at all for children through the first grade. Children in second grade through high school are encouraged to watch no television on school nights and to restrict viewing to a total of three to four hours on weekends. According to Harry Blanchard, head of the faculty, "You can observe the effects with some youngsters almost immediately ... Three days after they turn off the set you see a marked improvement in their behavior. They concentrate better, and are more able to follow directions and get along with their neighbors. If they go back to the set, you notice it right away." As Fiske has pointed out, "the success of schools in minimizing the negative effects of television on the children's academic progress depends almost entirely on whether the parents share this goal." Many parents do share this goal and have been working with the Parent-Teacher Association in offering advice on choosing programs, setting time limitations, and helping parents and children develop critical attitudes. One of their publications, PTA Review Guide, periodically reports the collected opinions of 6.000 parents and teachers concerning current television programming. In addition, they have recommended guidelines which include keeping a log of what programs and at what times children watch, helping in the selection of programs, setting reasonable limits, joining children in watching their programs, and asking and answering questions about the positive and negative content of them. As Linda Lombardi has pointed out, "In the 1950s many parents felt they were depriving their children of something important if they didn't give them a TV set. Today, we're beginning to realize we're doing our children a favor when we take the TV set away. . at least for a while every day." (652 words) (Readability: 12)