In article , Dwight Stewart
writes:

I do agree there is a problem that must be addressed. But, sadly, I
suspect the root of the problem lies mainly outside the school system.

Agreed!

Television jumps immediately to mind. Television has fed children an almost
continuous message over the last few decades that smart kids are nerds and
dumb kids are cool. With that in mind, there is little reason for kids to
make any real effort in school.

Agreed, and there's more. In general, commercial boradcast TV portrays the
following:

- All sorts of conflicts can be resolved, and goals reached, in less than an
hour or half-hour.

- 'Dad' is usually loud, outspoken, immature, mistaken, and exercises amazingly
poor judgement. But he's lovable and always forgiven. 'Mom' is quieter,
stronger, the solver of problems and 'forgiver' of 'Dad'. The 'kids' (when
present) are a mixture of the two.

- People of all kinds live in spacious, clean, well-organized homes, yet rarely
does anyone need to actually DO anything to keep them that way, or pay for
them.

- (This is my favorite) NOBODY *on* TV spends much time actually *watching* TV.
Particularly children.

--

One real problem with TV is that it is so totally passive. It requires very
little besides one's attention.

And, since Americans seem to prefer the
television industry's freedoms over better educated children, the problem
may never go away.

Driven by the almighty dollar. I recall that when we were kids, there were all
sorts of things that would not be shown on TV. Some of it was ludicrous - we
were supposed to believe that Rob and Laura Petrie slept in twin beds? But a
lot was geared to make TV G-rated.

Cable TV broke those taboos in the '70s by arguing that since cable was not
broadcast and you paid to have it in your home, you retained control. But then
broadcast TV copied cable as much as possible to remain "competitive".

Was all this "smart' or "dumb"?

73 de Jim, N2EY