In this chapter the main focus was on the concepts of media and how these different types of media were influencing the minds of children/teenagers as opposed to the infuence of education. From the previous chapters the creation of the public school was to promote the “American Way” which included good citizenship, a standard education to keep children out of trouble and also to reinforce the importance of serving community through work. Chapter 12 discusses the shift from schools being the dominant force to the growing film, radio/television and comic books industries, where advertisers were more concerned with money than the images they were exposing to children and teenagers. With regard to these industries censorship was a big question. The supporters of government censorship felt that it was the government’s duty to protect society from questionable subject matter that could incite crime, delinquency in schools and disrespect of parents amongst youth and heightened sexual tendancies in teenagers. Those who supported self censorship, ridiculed government’s intervention and argued that questionable subject matter be used to teach lessons in morality, law enforcement and good citizenship. Eventually they came to a somewhat level ground and movies became apart of the shool curriculum to shed light on its greater tendancies to educate than defame society. Parents and teacher committees pushed for codes that would regulate the types of movies shown to children resulting in movie appreciation courses.
Another issue discussed in this chapter was radio broadcasting in which once again PTA’s and other organizations required that advertising material be more child friendly because of their influence on children. These organizations argued that there was a huge decrease in content material for children on air waves and this promoted negative cultural values for American society. Educators, and parents felt the need to speak out because they felt that the media had taken over the job of American mothers and school systems in shaping the minds of children and they feared the negative impact it would have on their future. As a result they also implemented codes that improved the content of the material exposed to children during critical periods. Comic books were also amongst those, grouped as negative for children amongst educators and parents. These books referenced sexuality and crime and supposedly left children horrified with their content, and many were outraged because they wanted a return to the “super-hero” culture where good won over evil and American standards of morality and good citizenship were praised as right. This chapter also discussed the importance of media to targeted children/teenager markets as advertising companies were able to shape the way male/female teens and little children saw themselves and also how they saw themselves in relation to the world. The issues of race were still present as noted in other chapters because minority and immigrant groups were still not considered apart of American culture. The problem was that there was shift as stated in the chapter from a “protected” childhood to a “prepared” childhood” where parents and educators realized the importance of the external environment on their children.
If the composition of movie goers hadn’t shifted to include the middle class, do you think censorship would have been such a big problem (keep in mind the view of working/immigrant children in American society? Do you agree with the concepts of self regulation (where moral lessons/good and evil) are enforced or government censorship (where negative scenes like crime, sexuality, etc) are completely ommitted from public viewing? Is the influence of media as strong as the organizations in the chapter deemed it to be or was it a ploy to continuously control every aspect of “education” and promote the perfect American way?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maeXjey_FGA&feature=related (consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (Trailer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaM9ggQZtgo (Soc 101-Media Influence on Children )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-KwCNOg0qs&feature=related (Marketing to Children)
