EFFECTS of TELEVISION on CHILDREN

                                    EFFECTS of TELEVISION on CHILDREN

                                      

       In recent years, many children have spent a lot of time by watching television. Instead of playing with their friends outside or at home, many children spend most of their time by watching television. They learn many things from what they watch. And, of course, television has both positive and negative effects on children. Negative effects are: Children’s social life is affected in a bad way and there are problems in their both physical and mental health. Positive effects are: Some programs are educational and children can learn lots of things from them and both negative and positive effect is cultural interaction.

       Firstly, as a negative effect, children’s social life is affected in a bad way. If children are not controlled by their parents, while children watch television, they can watch dangerous or harmful programs for them, and thereby they can get some bad habits or they may tend to do those bad habits or negative characteristics of people. These things do not have importance for some people who make these programs and put such bad behaviours or habits to the television programs when children watch television. In some child films, alcohol is showed. However, it is known and proved that alcohol is harmful for people (health). Some advertisements can have such bad things. In this way, children have a slight acquaintance to alcohol and also smoking, drug, etc. If these films (or advertisements) which have harmful things for children are showed in television by television programmers, it should be at late hours at night when many children go to bed.

                                                                    

       Another negative effect of television on children is violence. Some cartoons and films show violent scenes. These things stimulate the children to behave violently to their environment and people. Especially young children is affected easily what they watch or see. Some cartoons, such as Ben Ten, Bakugan, Pokémon, etc., affect children in negative ways. There are many violent scenes in those cartoons. Violence passes through to the children’s behaviours, words, plays. In the article, which is written by Ahu Kaskun and Selen Öztunç, it is stated that:

      Children starting from 3-4 years until the age of 12-13 watch cartoons 1-2 hours per day and as well as when children and young people concerned, they remain under intense bombardment of violence are seen. As a result of some researches it has been determined that children imitate the aggressive behaviours (Akarcalı 1996).
     

     For example, I saw these side effects on my brother. He tended to be nervous and applying some movements to someone while he was playing with his friend. Murder films also affect children’s psychology. In he book called “Children and Television” it was mentioned that by the age of 12, children would have watched about 20.000 murders and about 100.000 other scenes of violence (Lemish 72). According to Lemish:

            In Israel, a 7-year-old boy who his spine was reported to have shouted – “Look how       Superman flies!” – Before jumping out of a window. In Norway a 5-year-old girl was    severely harassed by her friends following the viewing of a particular television series. In the U.S.A., viewing of the Oliver Stone’s movie Natural Born Killers (portraying a series of murders) was blamed for a 15-year-old youth’s murder of his parents. In Thailand, a 9-year-old boy hung himself in imitation of a scene from a popular series that had depicted a killing by the hanging of a victim (71).

       Secondly, in addition to these negative effects, another one is that some health problems about psychology, mental come to existence. Due to watching television so much, children’s eyes, in fact not only children’s but also adults’ eyes, can have impairment and, of course, this is not a good thing for young children. Another problem is obesity. In the presence of television, they want to eat and as a result of this they eat a lot therefore obesity is the case. In the article called “Effect of Television to The Child’s Mental Development”, Paul Smith, also prepares the BBC children’s programs, an interview about the impact of television on children mentions that today, families can’t have enough time to spend with their children and the outside world is also not secure so they provide more technology for their children at homes. As a consequence of this situation, children move less and eat more beyond exposing to more information about almost every topic. As a result, in terms of mental and physical, the number of children being obese is increasing.
                         

      Another thing is some cartoons and films show and teach magic. Especially, children are affected easily from this and they can tend to do magic because their imaginative skills are much more than adults. For example, due to cartoon/s, my 4-year-old brother tried to lift something by moving his hand towards that object.

      Thirdly, different from the negative effects, television has also positive effects on children and for their development. Some child programs teach to children how to draw a picture (e.g. Louie), singing child songs (e.g. Pepee), and making hand-crafts and so on. In one article, it is said that a new study suggests that educational television programs are successful in broadening young children’s knowledge, affecting their racial attitudes and increasing their imaginations, according to a study published today in the November issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (Rupin R. Thakkar, Michelle M. Garrison and Dimitri A. Christakis, 2006).

     Some cartoons, such as Caillou, Pepee, Backyard Science, Anne Shirley, etc, teach lots of things to the children. My brother has learnt quite a few things, knowledge from Caillou, especially about normal life. From Louie, he learnt how to paint some things. Sometimes, he says something and in my opinion he can’t know that knowledge at that age. Then I ask him where he learnt or heard that knowledge. He says generally “from Caillou”. Thanks to the Caillou or some other cartoons he learns a great many things. He learns some songs from Pepee, he memorizes them. In addition to these knowledge, his some behaviours can change or add new behaviour to his life from what he watches. As well as, children learn some things from the television documentaries. They can be about animals, water life, some cities and so on. They can obtain general culture from them.

     Finally, cultural interaction can be seen in children. In cartoons or films are shown different countries. Therefore, children learn different cultures. This can be general culture and difference for them but also it can be dangerous because they can be influenced. Maybe it can be seen differences in their behaviours, words, etc. It is a good thing that they learn and see dissimilar life styles. When they are young, their perspectives come large. However, when they watch a thing which reflects that country’s culture very much, in terms of possibility of starting to forget child’s own culture, it is a dangerous thing and television programs support the globalization and form global culture.
                                                                                   

      According to Lemish, “ Media and mostly television are blamed for being the central mobilizers of the globalization processes, as they serve as a channel for transmitting Western worldviews, including values, cultural tastes, economic and political interests”, and he adds “in contrast to this process or perhaps as a complimentary force, there is the strengthening of the development of self-awareness of local sub-cultures that are striving for recognition and an opportunity to flourish, who demonstrate strong resistance to what they perceive to be a takeover by a super-power Western culture” (214).

       In conclusion, it is seen that television, cartoons affect the children both in bad ways and good ways. As a negative, their social life is influenced, they sometimes watch harmful programs and learn bad habits or things. Their health can be affected adversely in terms of physical and mental. Apart from these, some programs are educational and children learn beneficial knowledge. Finally, in terms of culture, television is both negative and positive effects in children’s lives.

REFERENCES:

okulweb.meb.gov.tr/06/15/386266/TV_2.pdf

http://ilef.ankara.edu.tr/id/bolum.php?bodb=351&alt=1

Blackwell Publishing, 2006

http://www.seattlechildrens.org/media/press-release/2006/11/001531/

BEING A PROSPECTIVE TEACHER

      I have wanted to become a teacher for many years. The reason why  I want to be a teacher has many aims. Because I want to grow good generation up and bring up youth people (also youth brains), and I like teaching. When I become a teacher my desire is to be a very good teacher. You must teach very well, be sophisticated, hard-working, self-sacrificing, respectful and dignity, funny, friendly, disciplined, confident and so on… When I was in high school, I was generally watching my teachers carefully. I thougt I was going to be like this, sometimes I would’t be like this when I became a teacher.

    

                                 

    Some students want a lot of things from their teachers especially in Anatolian high schools. So the teacher have to have different and lots of things. You must tell your lesson  very well and must know how to teach, you must know almost everything not only in your own field but also in other fields. For example; if you are an English teacher, you must know almost everything about English (of course you can’t know everything in your life but after graduated, you can develop yourself as well). In addition to this knowledge it will be beneficial for you to know about philosophy, religion (not only in your own belief), politic, general culture, other than Turkish culture… And the teachers are members of learning communities, they learn by living. They can provide feedback to students, demonstrate flexibility and responsiveness.  

To sum up, being a good teacher is not easy, you need exceed your limits sometimes.

                      v

   Let’s look at being a teacher from other perspective: Becoming a teacher is not so easy as many people think. Some people underestimate the teachers, (or I mean) being a teacher. Especially, in our country, studying education and being a teacher are not so good for some people, unfortunately… We know some difficulties of being a teacher or studying it. Despite these ideas, there are many people including me who like being a teacher. They are teachers growing up and shaping the young people and brains.                        

               

                                                                         KEVSER KARAGÜL 

                                   DEPARTMENT of  FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION

Article: Can Men and Women Be Friends

                                            MEN and WOMEN are DIFFERENT

        Men and women are different humanbeings for many people. Especially, in their talking the difference is observable. For example, after work, a woman wants to talk a lot, and she tells what happened in that day. However, the man doesn't want to talk a lot. According to him, there was nothing to tell in that day. Another example is that little girls play in small groups, and they tell their secrets each other. However, boys make large groups, and there is hierarchy among them. There are differences between women and men in view of talking, thinking, behaviours, etc. Their natures are diverse. Women and men have been created differently. It has been scientifically proved that women need to talk more than men. The number of words that should be spent is more than men’s. Ladies find lots of things, events to talk with other people. We can say that telling what they have in their life has become a must for them.
                     

   Apart from difference of talking, the thinking style is not similar for men and women. Their perspectives toward the events change. It seems that most of the women are more positive than men. Ladies can have a panic toward some situations. Many men can stay calm. I sometimes see this situation in my environment; for instance, the man was more calm than the woman in one situation which I saw. They (men) think what they will do more calmly compared to women. In general, they behave logically, and they consider what is wrong and what is true. Contrary to this, women’s attitudes are usually shaped with emotion. I mean that their behaviours are affected emotionally. Logic is not so important for many women, because women’s characters are emotional and soft. Men’s characters are generally serious, and most of them behave according to the logic.

                

    Men’ and women’s roles in society are also diverse. Their roles are varied and diversed from each other. Their biologic, sociologic and cultural roles are not the same. It can’t even be the same. For instance, many men are brave, ambitious while most women are gentle, nurturant, passive, and so on. When we consider their social roles we can the differences. Men have outer responsibilities while women are inner. In the past, women were sitting at home, and they were doing houseworks while men were working, and they were earning money. Today, this situation has changed. Women also working. However, stil there ar ediverse things in gender roles. Of course, it can be because their natures are different. They should do whatever they can do.

     We can’t be opposed to these differences.

                                                                                                

THE WILD DUCK…

“The Wild Duck” is a drama which we read this semester. I wanted to share with you some information about this play. Actually, it is not very amusing drama. L Before I started reading the piece for the first time, I had expected something different from the act one. I thought that the plot would revolve around the wild duck, but it reversed. Then, I have read the act one and two. To sum up the first two acts, the piece firstly appeared with the speech of two waiters who are Jensen and Pettersen. 

                         

There was a party at Werle’s house and there were many guests. This party was held on the behalf Werle’s son, Gregers. It is understood from the speech by Pettersen that Gregers came to the town after a long while. The speech of Petterson is that “Yes. His son came yesterday. He has never been to town all the years.” The party goes as it is expected guests have fun and talk to each other. On the other side, there was a man whose name Hjalmar Ekdal, who is also a good friend of Gregers Werle. They chat with each other and Gregers learn something unexpected news from him, especially about his father. One of them is that his father helped Hjalmar to get married to Gina Hansen and also set up a studio for him. In addition, the first act ends with a quarrel between Gregers and Werle. 

The second act starts with the family life of Hjalmar. They have a child called Hedwig with Gina, whose eyesight is getting day by day. Then, Gregers come to their house and talk to each other. It is interesting that for the first time it is mentioned about the wild duck in this act. When I totally got rid of the summary part, I want to state my ideas about first two acts. I think this piece is quite strange from both Medea and Macbeth. It is not written in a poetic form, too. It seems to me that almost nearly every speech of the characters hide a secret. I really suspected about the marriage Gina and Werle, for instance. 

                                                                     

Anyway, I really liked the part starting with Hedwig's childish tones because this adds a childish suspense and desire into the piece. She says:” Oh, but, Mother, can’t I read a little more? Just a little?” It seems to me that this child is deprived of something, but what? I questioned every tension, fluctuation between the characters, so I also tried to focus on the inner thoughts of the characters deeply. However, I could say that I did not appreciate that the events were a bit confusing because there were always long speeches between the players and it was hard to understand the background of events unless you followed the dialogues carefully.  

                     

And finally, I have one discussion question. Why did Werle help Gregers set up a studio and get married although he did not want anyone to know this secret event? Maybe the answer could be that he might be making use of Gregers for some reasons and some aims, but what are his aims, why, why, and why? Again there happened many questions. Anyway, when the play has finished, we will uncover the secrets of the play.

And what do you think about this??? ,)

Maybe, you can read this play and find the answer :)

                                                                                                                     Kevser KARAGÜL