During the 1950’s, when groups of people in the field of education wanted rules to censor certain parts of media, it probably didn’t seem too drastic back then as it would if people in education tried to push for such in 2011. With that being said, I do think it is a tad bit far-fetched. In class last week, I brought up the idea of amending the constitution for the purpose of expanding their rights to infringe on our freedoms. While I do think that certain areas should allow for more government control/regulation, the area of the media is not one which I think should be pushed.
The first major issue of course, is that if the government has the ability to censor what is in the media, they also obtain the right to censor anything in the media, so anything that would be put in the media which would be considered anti-government, the government could (hypothetically speaking) censor it. The purpose of the constitution was to prevent the government from over-expanding their ability to control aspects of our life. It was for the protection of the individual. When in class, I spoke about the government banning certain foods from school cafeterias. This again, is in the interest and to protect the individual. With the expansion of government into media, as stated earlier, they have they would have the ability to censor as they please (not saying they would, but the option is available), therefore creating a system which in fact may harm the individual. While teachers didn’t want the influence of the media to take control of the students mind, it just seemed a tad bit drastic but also a reasonable stance (at the time) to take when assimilating to the new technology that had been put onto the market.
My question is, in today’s society, does the media have an influence over the average student, and if so, does it also affect their behavior in the classroom and/or the teachers ability to teach the rest of the class?
