SOL 3/12 Reality Overload

  12 of 31 for the Slice of Life Challenge from Two Writing Teachers
I am an avid TV watcher.  Most often, I have Food Network or TLC on.  TV has always been a companion. It is extra noise in the background as I work on whatever I am doing.  Lately, instead of plot lines to move watchers, networks have cashed in on the reality craze.  It is interesting to me that everything on is some sort of a reality show,  Want to find love?  Join 24 other women on the Bachelor and you may have a shot..  Can you take random ingredients and create a restaurant quality meal in 10 minutes?  Food Network is your place.  Can you survive on a desert island?  Survivor is your game.  Need to lose a few pounds?  The Biggest Loser is for you.

I have to wonder if these shows have convinced people that everything is a competition of some sort.  Everything is a game. Even with my lesson plans at school, I've noticed that kids expect to be entertained.  They want competition or act like they don't care.  They can't be bothered with taking notes or working on problems unless there is something in it for them.  What is in it for them?  Education?  Knowledge?  Power in knowing that they are improving themselves?  Instead of teaching and improving young minds, I sometimes feel like I am a circus ringmaster and am constantly in the middle of a three ring circus.  My own reality show I guess.  Only there is no million dollar paycheck at the end of the day.  Are we as teachers helping our children in a world of reality and competition?  I don't really know the answer. I guess I will have to see how the show ends.

Comments

  1. BethMarch 12, 2013 at 8:43 PM

    I do get the sense that kids expect to be entertained constantly. We often talk about how they want a dog and pony show to stay "engaged." Yet we strive to show them how you can be "entertained" by a good book,entranced by nature, engrossed by struggling to find the right words as a writer. Our challenge is never ending.

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