Chapter 5a. The Image in Reading
People wanting to learn about world affairs, politics, cooking and shopping, for example, used to find all their information from books and later from newspapers. Publishers discovered that pictures helped the sales of both books and newspapers, particularly exciting and colorful pictures. Newspapers began to put a colored photograph on the front page every day, starting a few years ago. Now there are colored pictures in the sports section as well.
As television moved from black and white to color, it attracted more interest too. Now we have images in color, live, from across the world with just a few seconds of delay. Movies as well, have learned to attract a bigger audience if it shows topics such as "galaxies colliding" or "bombs exploding with bodies fly through the air." Viewers are having more difficulty imagining literature or events in their minds because they are spoiled by all the created and live images coming into their homes "all the time" (as a network uses for its expression).
Instead of bucking this trend, Education has been trying to help teachers use the design animators' abilities to make the classroom environment more exciting. Educators could be reactionary and say, "It is important to invent images in your mind. We will just use print and force students to use their imagination. Otherwise, they may loose the ability, the way cinematography is leading us." But they haven't. Students now receive training on computers from age five up. The games, learning exercises, and information are full of film action and animation. Teachers use a large animated or action board to write and erase electronically. It holds the class's attention as if they are robots. This is understandable because they have watched television from infancy and are programmed to look attentively at rapidly moving objects.
Much good has come from the technology sector, and some individuals have been exposed and learned about topics that they would have had no other opportunity to think about. However, I believe wholeheartedly that "spoon feeding" from this same sector has prevented children from inventing their own costumes and their own fantasies, to require entertainment produced by others, to write letters poorly, compose copy unimaginatively, and prefer electronic scripts of all kinds. It may have even led to a reduction in self-esteem. Only a few artists and writers can reach the heights of creativity that the average person is exposed to every single day. When I was a child, in elementary school, we all thought we had the gift.
Dr. Houghton expresses regret that his sons in college are not encouraged to use technology in their term papers. I think that college is a little late to demand that students write beautiful basic prose, but maybe it"s "better late than never!" (This is just an opinon.)
As television moved from black and white to color, it attracted more interest too. Now we have images in color, live, from across the world with just a few seconds of delay. Movies as well, have learned to attract a bigger audience if it shows topics such as "galaxies colliding" or "bombs exploding with bodies fly through the air." Viewers are having more difficulty imagining literature or events in their minds because they are spoiled by all the created and live images coming into their homes "all the time" (as a network uses for its expression).
Instead of bucking this trend, Education has been trying to help teachers use the design animators' abilities to make the classroom environment more exciting. Educators could be reactionary and say, "It is important to invent images in your mind. We will just use print and force students to use their imagination. Otherwise, they may loose the ability, the way cinematography is leading us." But they haven't. Students now receive training on computers from age five up. The games, learning exercises, and information are full of film action and animation. Teachers use a large animated or action board to write and erase electronically. It holds the class's attention as if they are robots. This is understandable because they have watched television from infancy and are programmed to look attentively at rapidly moving objects.
Much good has come from the technology sector, and some individuals have been exposed and learned about topics that they would have had no other opportunity to think about. However, I believe wholeheartedly that "spoon feeding" from this same sector has prevented children from inventing their own costumes and their own fantasies, to require entertainment produced by others, to write letters poorly, compose copy unimaginatively, and prefer electronic scripts of all kinds. It may have even led to a reduction in self-esteem. Only a few artists and writers can reach the heights of creativity that the average person is exposed to every single day. When I was a child, in elementary school, we all thought we had the gift.
Dr. Houghton expresses regret that his sons in college are not encouraged to use technology in their term papers. I think that college is a little late to demand that students write beautiful basic prose, but maybe it"s "better late than never!" (This is just an opinon.)
posted by Cullasaja Capers at
8:44 AM
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