Television could perform a great service in mass education, but there’s no indication its sponsors have anything like this on their minds. —Tallulah Bankhead
Visual media producers regularly screw up how classrooms look and it is time that we as educators demand that the practice ends. Stuck firmly inside the 1950’s, TV classrooms still feature students sitting in rows, teachers behind desks, and alas, even chalkboards. Chalkboards! Think about that. Where do they get chalk anymore?
Looking back, almost any TV show that has had students in school — Room 222 from the 1960’s, Welcome Back Kotter from the 1970’s, The Facts of Life from the 1980’s, Hanging with Mr. Cooper from the 1990’s and even the recent Friday Night Lights –basically shows classrooms that would not be out of place in post-WWII classics like Mr. Peepers or Mr. Novak from the 1950’s.
The more things change, the more they stay the same it seems in TV-ville. Look hard for any type of technology being used in the classrooms portrayed on television today. It’s pretty much not there. Teachers are not using interactive whiteboards — they still jot things on chalkboards. Students are not using tablets, laptops, or even desktop computers (desktop means something entirely different in TV school — it’s something you carve on).
Teachers are still portrayed as the sages on the stages, and students are still stuck in neat rows, only allowed to get up when the bell rings. (Don’t even start me on how teachers are written as either the wise owl or the goofy buffoon. That is another essay.) Television and movie classrooms are not connected to the world, they are not collaborative, and they certainly are not 21st century. They are mid- 20th century at best.
Maybe I’m a geek, but I find it all distressing
Everything we hope and expect our classrooms to be — and our students to be doing — is nowhere to be found on episodic television or in the cinema.
Perhaps I am the only one that has noticed, but as a parent of teenagers who regularly watch Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, it distresses me to see that the media apparently has no clue and are totally satisfied to portray students as disconnected from everyday technology.
Go ahead, search for a computer lab cart or an interactive whiteboard or an iPad in the environments portrayed in Dagrassi High on Nick or Jessie on the Disney Channel. Even the most connected 21st century kid on the planet, iCarly, can only get digitally connected outside of school. School for Carly and her friends is still a place for disconnecting. And one must wonder how the kids from Glee can produce a full-blown musical each week, when the classrooms they sit in have so little technology.
Why is any of this important?
The general public often gets its cues about the world beyond their own experience from what they see portrayed in mass media. If the students in the shows are hip, connected, worldly, and cool, yet the classrooms and teachers are shown in general to be unpleasant and disconnected, then the public forms the opinion that education is disconnected, uncool, and chronically stuck in Mr. Kotter’s class, with the radiators banging.
“What does education look like in the 21st century? It must be similar to what I see on TV. Gee, that looks a lot like when I was in school. Or when grandpa was in school.”
The way the media portrays school shapes public opinion, and that’s particularly important because the everpresent education reform debate is also being played out in the media. Forces for privatization or school choice are saying that schools are failing and the classroom experience in public schools is disconnected from reality. The public, hearing about failing public schools, will look to TV and other media to form an opinion. If they haven’t set foot in a classroom in a while, or their last memory of school is a lecture class from college, then we as educators have lost an important media battle.
That is why I believe we need to ask producers to portray what is really happening in classrooms. While there are still isolated examples of classrooms that haven’t changed much in 50 years, in most classrooms at any level there is technology being used, there are connected students INSIDE the schools, and there is money being spent on modern teaching tools, not chalkboards. So how do we send the message?
Let’s petition the producers
Using the tools that are available I have created an online petition with the ridiculous goal of getting 100,000 people to sign it. The petition asks television producers who portray classrooms in their shows to do so with a more realistic view: include technology — include teachers using 21st century tools and techniques — include students working in teams and small groups — teachers moving around the learning space. Kids in Brooklyn talking to kids live in Sydney? Heck yeah.
I know, 100,000 signatures is a lot. But actually, we all are connected and if we can get a few of our 21st century connected friends involved then perhaps through the power of our PLNs, we can create a more accurate perception of what’s going on in our classrooms today. Let’s make it clear to Hollywood’s writers, producers and creators that education did not stop evolving about the time we landed on the moon. We can change their mode of thinking.
Sign the online petition here.
After you sign, copy the embed codes and share on your site.
Read what others said in the feedback section.
Spread the word.
Surely, all of us working together can make a small, yet important public perception change around the work we do with our students, and the places we do that work.
Tim Holt
Latest posts by Tim Holt (see all)
- Problem-Based Learning: Our Brains Abhor Cliffhangers - June 6, 2013
- The Ultimate Education Reform: Messy Learning & Problem Solving - April 19, 2013
- Why Problem-Based Learning Is Better - January 10, 2013
As I see it there are 3 facets of this issue. The first is that the high tech classroom is fairly new, less than 5 years in many places. Thus any stories of inspiring teachers that are made into shows are, generally, before the presence of touch boards. So in those cases this wouldn’t be appropriate. Unless it’s the inspiring story of how one teacher made a difference and brought touch boards to their schools.
Secondly, teaching technology has yet to reach ubiquity. There are still schools, tho I think they’re in the minority, that have not opted to spend on technology. However, changing the paradigm could be a good way to reach those last few corners of academia.
Finally, most people writing (and acting in) stories about modern schools are more than 5 years removed from schools so they’ve never seen the modern high-tech school. Now this group I agree needs some education.
Either way I agree with your petition and will support you.
Tim – Way to make a statement! It’s time for Hollywood to do some research and help us show families the benefits of student-driven learning and being connected learners. I’m in! Thanks for a thoughtful post.
Joe,
Agreed that the high tech classroom is fairly recent. However, the media should be cutting edge representation IMHO. The writers write what they know..maybe the Los Angeles USD should have a day when they invite screen writers to visit the schools just to observe.
You second point about ubiquity is true, but if Hollywood portrayed what we envision, then that could hasten the process.
Patti, thanks. Please share the post. I think i still need 99,900 signatures!
If we continue to see only the classrooms of yesterday in TV and movies, then the public, other educational systems, and government will conclude that it is sufficient. Though my district has a 1:1 laptop initiative in HS and is pushing toward some type of more inclusive technology on all levels, we continue to hear that it is ‘a mistake’ to provide our students with tools they need and use on a regular basis outside of school.
In our MS, where I am an instructional technologist, we had less than 5 days in the entire past year where there was ANY technology available for use. Every lab and mobile cart was in use for project-based learning. Do teachers need more training in use of technology? Definitely! With students responding with lightning fast answers, teachers need to do more in-depth planning to keep students engaged.
Shows that focus on project-based learning with technology in the classroom are an important part of the public mindset. Let’s all try to make this happen!
…more an update than a reply. Our school board just approved iPads for all students in grades K-8. Can’t wait to see the changes that fosters. No technology divide! Phenomenal!
I believe educators and teachers need to push to be more innovative and in tune with the times. Personally, I have been finding better ways to teach my 2 sons at home. For example, I have been trying to make education more fun and enjoyable. And so far it has worked. I started using this math and memory system Brainetics (http://www.brainetics.com) and the kids love it. They are more engaged with the “game-like” format. If teachers are able to make education fun and focus on engagement, I believe classrooms could be the innovative and encouraging environments they should be.
haha…Atleast my classroom doesn’t looks like the first photo. I agree that a lot of changes have come in the recent years but still we can’t expect so casual classrooms.
“Stuck firmly inside the 1950s” might also be a bit of a stereotype. Check this education methods video
http://www.safeshare.tv/w/alpdMTYVsZ made around 1953. Note that the methods advocated then would be considered modern (constructivist) now.
When I started teaching in 1997, the school (and district) really started to utilize instructional technology. At that time (IT) was mainly a computer station for the teacher, couple student work stations, and whiteboards. At the turn of the millennium and shortly beyond, the school started adding SmartBoards, LCD projectors, mobile computer labs, and PowerPoint…(everyone and their mother started using PP). Now, there are iPads, touchscreen interactive TVs, various forms of presentation software (other than PP), self-paced math computer labs, etc.
I shake my head often when I see commercials and TV shows that depict today’s classroom with rows (10-13 children), a chalkboard behind the teacher desk, no visible IT in the classroom, dim lighting to accentuate the dark cherry wood wall paneling and floors, and an analog bell that seems to always ring during the middle of the teacher’s instruction.
In my urban-city classroom teaching experience over the past 15 years, I’ve had:
…~35 students in my class sitting in tables strategically placed in the room for collaborative grouping activities
…whiteboards and Smartboards (no chalkboards…do they even make chalk since 2000?)
…regular drywall classrooms with tackboard for plenty of opportunity to post student work…not 19th century dark cherry wood that looks like a court room.
…computer stations to accommodate 6-8 students at a time (Title 1 funding)
…plenty of fluorescent and natural light, unlike the dim dramatic look of Hollywood classrooms
…a digital bell, when rung the students know not to stampede out the door, rather wait for my cue for dismissal.
Anyways, I’m with you on the whole premise that Hollywood is out-of-touch with the 21st century classroom.
That’s my 2 cents 🙂