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TELEVISION'S EFFECT ON EDUCATION

The Tube Invasion

Many Americans found a new source of entertainment in the 1950s—television. Before long, critics worried that the "boob tube" would have harmful effects on education. In 1950, 3.875 million American households, or 9 percent, owned a television. By 1960 that number had increased to 45.75 million, or 87.1 percent. This dramatic jump led experts in several fields to examine the effect of television on the nation's children.

An Educational Opportunity

Television without doubt increased the amount of information available to children and their parents. Upto-the-minute visual news about the country and the world became readily available. Universities that could afford the high start-up costs could potentially establish production facilities and become the cultural and intellectual beacons. Many predicted great educational opportunities arising from television. McGrath stated, "Through the use of television, educational institutions will be able to bring the greatest teachers, the finest artists, scientists, and philosophers into schools and homes."

Closed Circuits

Television and other audiovisual media became highly valued teaching tools during the 1950s. The movie industry spent millions of dollars tap-ping into the educational market. Sciences, life skills, and social studies all lent themselves to television instruction. Closed-circuit televisions were used in high schools and universities on the principle that they could reach more students with greater amounts of information. By 1955 programs were directed at nursery-school-aged children.

Cheap Tutors

The Federal Communication Commission set aside 82 VHF and 127 UHF channels for the sole purpose of educational television in March 1951. In October 1951 "The Living Blackboard" began broadcasting educational television programs to hospitalized and homebound students in New York. Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) became the first university to offer full-credit courses by television, with courses in literature and psychology. By 1955 thirty-five colleges and universities had such courses in a wide variety of subjects. During a 1953 strike by Baltimore city employees, which closed 107 of the 174 schools, commercial television stations broadcast lessons for the eighty thousand children affected. Television lessons also provided a cheaper alternative for shut-in students than costly private tutors.

The Drawbacks

But some investigations showed startling problems with the home use of televisions. Comparisons between school time and television time were studied at Burdick Junior High School in Stamford, Connecticut, during the spring of 1950. The results revealed that children watched noneducational television twenty-seven hours a week, almost as much time as they spent in school. In 1952 Xavier University found that "poor television habits, lower IQ's, lower parental control, and poorer school achievement tended to be related." Teenage students revealed a preference for television over reading. A particularly disturbing problem was the potential effect of commercials that bombarded children of all ages with pleas to buy a variety of products, shaping tastes and forging attitudes.

A Force to Contend With

The overall effect of television remained unclear at the close of the decade. Positive influences in the school setting could easily be undone by poor viewing habits at home. Yet the "tube" was clearly not going away, and educators would have to decide to use it or oppose it.