I have an explanation for the lack of knowledge about the more modern terms that I don't think many will agree with me on (and I often have doubts about myself). I think students don't watch as much television as we often assume (or maybe than we did as students). Maybe this isn't true everywhere but today it seems TVs are more likely to be used as monitors for game systems or DVD players than as broadcast tools that might be used to inform people of current events.
I seriously believe that I might watch more cable TV than most of my students. When I hear them talking about things, it seldom involves TV shows (unless they are on DVD box sets). Just the other day, some students were giving a presentation on non-verbal communication. They showed the video of the Cingular commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GQBABkFI34 where the family yells nice things at each other ("I raised you to speak to me like that" and "you never hated me and you never will") with the sound down and asked them what was going on. Then they played it with the sound up and showed them the inconsistency between the two. I could tell from the reaction that most students in the class had never seen it. It was hard to avoid in my house when it was playing regularly and it was just another small piece of evidence (I don't give much credence to self-report) that many of my students don't watch much TV. I remember watching late night television back in college which, at least during the monologues, would reference the news of the day. You don't have to read books or even newspapers to have heard the basic current events terminology of the day. All you need to do is watch a TV news broadcast, however briefly, to see most of these terms used repeatedly. I don't think today's students aren't reading for pleasure enough to learn these new terms -- they're just not watching enough TV. Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Professor of Psychology John Brown University 2000 W. University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (479) 524-7295 http://www.jbu.edu/academics/hss/faculty/rfroman.asp "Pete, it's a fool that looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart." - Ulysses Everett McGill -----Original Message----- From: Pollak, Edward [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 7:13 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re:[tips] Am I expecting too much? Suicide bomber is a pretty self-obvious term. But don't bet your life that they'd know what an IED is, Chris. I just had a student in my office asking for suggestions/source for a paper on "psychological warfare" (for a writing class). The conversation drifted to "water boarding." She'd never heard of that. Besides, "Kamikaze" is more than ancient history. It's entered the English lexicon as general term. It's no more "ancient history" than is the word, "vandal." Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Department of Psychology West Chester University of Pennsylvania West Chester, PA 19383 Office Hours: Mon. 12 - 2 p.m. & 3 - 4 p.m. Tuesdays & Thursdays 8 - 9:00 a.m. & 12:30 - 2 p.m. & by appointment. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/epollak/home.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, bluegrass fiddler and herpetoculturist...... in approximate order of importance. Subject: Re: Am I expecting too much? From: "Christopher D. Green" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 11:24:44 -0500 X-Message-Number: 15 Pollak, Edward wrote: > > > A few weeks ago I gave an exam in animal behavior and asked a question > about "Kamikaze sperm." One student asked what species a Kamikaze was. > I then asked the next 4 students entering my office if they'd ever > heard the word , "kamikaze." The first three had never heard the word. > I'm convinced that the problem is that most students no longer read > for pleasure. Really? I bet if you ask them what a "suicide bomber" or an "IED" is, they'd have a pretty good idea (which is the rough equivalent in modern terms). Kamikazes are ancient history to today's student. *We* know what they were because they were a stock figure in many popular movies of our generations (asnd some of us may be old enough to remember them a mews items). But now they are as arcane as a hoplite phalanx or a Viking berserk. Chris --- ---
