Ask an expert: Should children be protected from the media?

October 19, 2000
Web posted at: 11:53 AM EDT (1553 GMT)

By Fran Trampiets

Question: Do children need to be protected from the media?

Fran Trampiets teaches graduate courses in media education

Answer: Most media educators consider a protective attitude to be a shortsighted solution to a far-reaching problem. The growing amount of advertising targeted at children, the increasingly explicit sexual material and gratuitous violence, and the glamorized depictions of at-risk behavior are all legitimate cause for alarm. But education, not protection, provides the needed long-term solution to these problems.

By the time a child reaches school age, his or her media usage patterns have already been established, so it’s important that schools help parents as well as children to become more media literate. Conscientious parents certainly want to protect preschoolers from inappropriate material, but that’s only part of their job. Parents must begin teaching children from their earliest years to make smart decisions and to use media wisely. Teachers can then continue the education begun in the home or, as is true in most cases, begin media education in preschool programs and in primary grades.

Developing media literacy skills should begin in the home and should be integrated throughout the curriculum in grades kindergarten through 12. Interested teachers or parents can contact me for information at my email address, trampiet@trinity.udayton.edu

For teaching resources, visit the Center for Media Literacy Web site (listed below).

Fran Trampiets teaches graduate courses in media education at the University of Dayton's School of Education.

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Center for Media Literacy

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