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Saturday, July 27, 2019

Televised education in AOTD

In the book, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, the author discusses education substantially throughout the novel. In chapter 10 specifically, he lists compares many differences between the education at school and education learnt through television. In one example, he explains that in shows, education and learning is amusing and fun, opposed to how subjects are taught at an actual school. This could get children to believe in a false statement, that school is enjoyable and amusing like characters portray in the shows.

I was intrigued about this and pondered at my own childhood, and remembered that shows on the TV didn't change a thing about me and my thoughts about school. I never really thought about the differences between education on TV and in real life, but I can confidently say that watching amusing shows didn't change my perception on school. This raised my question; Have you ever believed that school should be more exciting, fun, or amusing? Do you think it came from watching the zealous, vibrant shows on TV?   
-Phillip Chan

2 comments:

  1. I, too, have never in my life made a correlation between television and school. Television hasn't been a huge part of my life, which is possibly a reason, but I have also never had any reason to assume that there was any connection between the two. I have viewed television as a separate and distinct entity, one whose purpose was to provide entertainment, not teach. School, on the other hand, was viewed not as its purpose being entertainment, but rather its purpose was to teach.

    I have thought school should be more exciting and fun before, haven't we all? We have all thought that school is a drag, its boring, and we have all experienced wishing for it to be a little more fun. However, I do not think this comes from amusing or entertaining aspects of TV at all, rather I believe that we were simply looking for ways to make a chore better. As such, I do not believe television has played an active role in my views of school. However, it is possible that it has contributed to a society in which we look for ways to entertain ourselves in all circumstances.

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  2. From an early age I have learned to distinguish the fantasies of television from the realities of life, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect the same entertainment to cross over into school.

    Over time though this perception would cease, but it's interesting to look back on with the information presented in AOTD.

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