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Gilda · 04-28-2005, 08:21 AM

Obviously media have an influence on us at all ages. I'm closing in on 30 and I was devastated by a tv cop show a couple of nights ago.

Children aren't little adults with less knowledge; their minds work on some fundamentally different levels than do those of teens or adults. They're less able to make distinctions between fiction and reality, especially in early childhood and in the teen years.

Seeing the disrespect that tv children show their parents and elders may plant the seed that such behavior is appropriate. If they haven't been given clear, consistent guidelines, the only way they have of knowing what is and is not acceptable is to test their new knowledge, hence, what is seen as deliberate misbehavior may be little more than the child exploring boundaries. This doesn't excuse the behavior; parants need to react to such exploration by setting those boundries firmly and consistently.

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I've seen this influence first hand. I had a student last year, a preteen boy, who would come to class and start making racist remarks about blacks, using racial epithets, at one point during a discussion shouting "white power" while thrusting a fist in the air, which some of the other boys in class thought was "cool". Repeated detentions, calls home, and a Saturday school had no effect.

The boy's excuse was that he wasn't being racist, he was just repeating a comedy routine from a tv show in which a blind black man, thinking he was white, said these things, which apparently makes it ok for a white kid to say them in school.

It wasn't until we had a conference, during which the boy continued to defend his behavior, saying it wasn't he who was saying these things, it was the guy on the tv show, and he was just repeating them* because they were funny. Mom really didn't believe that he was standing up in class and shouting "white power" and discussing the merits of white supremecist music until he started defending those things in front of her, using the "it's not me, it's the tv show" thing as an excuse. A ban on the show was the ultimate result, resulting in greatly improved, though not completely extinquished (his friends would record the show for him so he could sneak off and watch it).

*This is one of those semantic games students play in which they make a meaningless distinction to defend inappropriate behavior. The basic form is, "It's not A, it's A subcategory B" ie, it's not a hat, it's a beanie, or I'm not saying racist things, I'm repeating them. Most students come to understand quickly that hairsplitting doesn't cut it in my classes.

04-28-2005, 08:21 AM	#32 (permalink)
Gilda 32 flavors and then some Location: Out on a wire.	Obviously media have an influence on us at all ages. I'm closing in on 30 and I was devastated by a tv cop show a couple of nights ago. Children aren't little adults with less knowledge; their minds work on some fundamentally different levels than do those of teens or adults. They're less able to make distinctions between fiction and reality, especially in early childhood and in the teen years. Seeing the disrespect that tv children show their parents and elders may plant the seed that such behavior is appropriate. If they haven't been given clear, consistent guidelines, the only way they have of knowing what is and is not acceptable is to test their new knowledge, hence, what is seen as deliberate misbehavior may be little more than the child exploring boundaries. This doesn't excuse the behavior; parants need to react to such exploration by setting those boundries firmly and consistently. ----------------- I've seen this influence first hand. I had a student last year, a preteen boy, who would come to class and start making racist remarks about blacks, using racial epithets, at one point during a discussion shouting "white power" while thrusting a fist in the air, which some of the other boys in class thought was "cool". Repeated detentions, calls home, and a Saturday school had no effect. The boy's excuse was that he wasn't being racist, he was just repeating a comedy routine from a tv show in which a blind black man, thinking he was white, said these things, which apparently makes it ok for a white kid to say them in school. It wasn't until we had a conference, during which the boy continued to defend his behavior, saying it wasn't he who was saying these things, it was the guy on the tv show, and he was just repeating them* because they were funny. Mom really didn't believe that he was standing up in class and shouting "white power" and discussing the merits of white supremecist music until he started defending those things in front of her, using the "it's not me, it's the tv show" thing as an excuse. A ban on the show was the ultimate result, resulting in greatly improved, though not completely extinquished (his friends would record the show for him so he could sneak off and watch it). *This is one of those semantic games students play in which they make a meaningless distinction to defend inappropriate behavior. The basic form is, "It's not A, it's A subcategory B" ie, it's not a hat, it's a beanie, or I'm not saying racist things, I'm repeating them. Most students come to understand quickly that hairsplitting doesn't cut it in my classes.