ADVICE TO STUDENTS: TURN OFF THE TV
‘ APPEALING DISTRACTION’
They don’t call it the “idiot box” for nothing.
Television is one of the main distractions preventing Canadian children from completing their homework, says a new survey.
Children who are behind in their schoolwork are more likely to have a TV in their room (50%) compared with those who don’t (33%), according to a joint Kumon/ survey released yesterday.
“It’s quite an appealing distraction for them,’’ says Donna McGhie-Richmond, an educational specialist in Edmonton with Kumon Math and Reading Centres.
Television surpassed video games (36%) as a distraction to kids who demonstrated poor performance in school.
The poll surveyed 1,000 parents of school-aged children across Canada, looking at the relationship between homework habits, homework environment and academic performance.
The impact of TV on kids’ homework habits didn’t surprise Charles Ungerleider, the director of research for the Canadian Council on Learning, and a professor at the University of British Columbia who lectures on the sociology of education.
Mr. Ungerleider says common sense suggests children need to do their homework in a quiet place free of distractions and with good light.
Paul Shaker, the dean of education at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University, says typically television is “a lovely pleasure,” but doesn’t have much long-term benefit.
“ An extremely organized young person could watch lots of television and do their homework very well, but on average that wouldn’t be the typical situation. It isn’t television per se, but it’s symptomatic of how their time is being used,’’ Mr. Shaker says.
Last spring, author Steven Johnson suggested in a lengthy New York Times Magazine
article entitled Watching TV Makes You Smarter that the entertainment industry is increasing the “cognitive complexity of its products.”
Mr. Johnson, the author of Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter, argues much current television layers every scene in a “thick network of affiliations” and shows like The Simpsons require viewers to exercise the parts of their brain that “ map social networks, that fill in missing information, that connect multiple narrative threads.”
Ms. McGhie-Richmond agrees television can have a positive influence on children and it brings the world to living rooms or — in the case of some children, to bedrooms — but she says it still detracts from their focus when they’re trying to complete their homework.
With reluctant students, some parents might be forced to unplug the television. “ That might seem fairly drastic, but perhaps for some families that might be the case,’’ Ms. McGhie- Richmond says.
Nearly nine out of 10 children (88%) ahead of their grade level stick to set homework routines compared with nearly six out of 10 ( 59%) who are behind.
While it might be a challenge for kids who are behind in their schoolwork to change their habits, “the bottom line is they need to establish a routine,” Ms. McGhie-Richmond says.
Parents can help by setting a regular time for homework, taking an interest in what their children are doing, and keeping distractions to a minimum.
“ We should make an appointment for homework,” Ms. McGhie-Richmond says. “It’s not a negotiable thing.”