Some people firmly believe that watching television is perceived as an effective form of acquiring knowledge for young students who should be motivated to receive audio-visual information through this method. I disagree with the view that increasing screen time can yield academic benefits, although some television programs do have educational value for students.
It is true that students can achieve positive outcomes in educational enrichment through television viewing. There is a significant amount of common sense and expertise present in many forms such as news, documentaries and even talk shows, some of which are rather intriguing and eye-catching. While professional knowledge is also imparted at schools, it would be extremely difficult and impractical for students to completely absorb and utilize, as a result of the lack of entertaining content in teaching materials and sufficient interaction between tutors and students. On the contrary, programs are shown in such an intriguing way that they never fail to catch their attention and compel them to devote time and energy to receiving visual information. Thus, students would find it much more efficient to gain academic knowledge and more straightforward to apply it in work and studies.
However, television watching can also interfere with students’ attention and present a dire challenge to their educational attainment, especially if screen time is not controlled. Television programs are exceedingly addictive, such as soap operas, series, and scientific movies, which is a source of distraction for most children. For example, staying at home alone, children lacking self-discipline would be distracted by easy-to-understand dialogues, amusing leading roles and interesting storyline and leave assignments behind. Without the supervision of parents and teachers, these young viewers will immerse themselves in television programs and place less emphasis on their academic achievement, a problem that results in poor grades and causes them to far lag behind their competitors.
Supervision represents a crucial step in effectively addressing the problem. First of all, parents can decide and instruct what their children can watch. Documentaries, for instance, can spread knowledge with regard to technology, history and natural landscapes through visual information to viewers who are not well-educated, while some animated cartoons which lack practical knowledge and are unable to guide students to rise to challenges they encounter in daily and academic life should be controlled. Furthermore, teachers can also greatly improve the efficiency of classes by utilizing video teaching materials since abstract concepts are incorporated into visual information. The advantage of this practice is quite evident in the case of historical movies which present many historic events and figures. They can inform audiences of what happened thousands of years ago and spur the interest of those who have no passion for history when they obtain historical knowledge simply by reading books and listening to oral accounts of different historical periods from teachers.
In conclusion, I firmly believe that watching television has devastating effects on students’ academic development if teachers and parents do not regulate television viewing, although sometimes television can be regarded as a learning resource and a teaching tool.