Mass Appeal
Expanding the Scope of Positive
Media to Inspire Care-acter
By Elaine Parke
Founder of the Caring Habit of the Month Adventure
Our educational system now resides in a complex and fast-paced climate called
the
information age. Despite the call to come together as community to instill citizenship
in
our youth, there is a powerful community member that doesn’t attend school
conferences
or sit on community task forces called the mass media.
Media appeals to the young teen group, particularly at the middle level, who
often can
be resistant to values messages delivered by adults in the classroom or at home.
This nonresident can influence youth because they do not perceive the media
as authoritarian.
Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian educator in mass communications who probed mass
media, wrote in his 1967 book “The Medium Is the Message”:
“The family circle has widened. The world pool
of information fathered by electronic media far
surpasses any possible influence mom and
dad can now bring to bear. Character no
longer is shaped by only two earnest, fumbling
experts. Now all the world is the stage.”
Mass media has transformed the dynamics of daily living. Adolescents are being
taught by the media to think in images and sound bites as a result of spending
three
minutes per day in dialogue with parents and three hours in front of television
or Internet
screens. Stability, security, and a sense of caring have been replaced by tension,
incivility, and isolation. It’s no wonder that students can become morally
lost or react with rebellion and violence. Educators and the community need
to build a strategy to engage this powerful non-resident.
Integration is a current educational buzz word. It describes the common use
of materials across educational disciplines, or an integration of social objectives,
like service learning, with educational objectives, like math skills or social
studies. Integrated educational messages and images, simultaneously delivered,
can provoke thought and motivation.
For years, educators have been using various educational media formats to support
learning objectives, but they haven’t used media principles to manage
the overall influence of the messages. There is a BIG difference.
Media can change behaviors and attitudes because when their principles are
applied the messages are consistent and repetitive. Otherwise, media is confusing
and fragmented. Look around a classroom or take a walk around your school. Write
down the three or four main educational messages you see. Are your school’s
visual messages confusing or consistent? Are there definable visual messages?
Media experts believe it takes six imprints of a single message to embed a thought
or idea into long-term memory. Media experts apply repetition and reinforcement
techniques that educators use to teach the alphabet or the multiplication tables–but
the media electronically multiply their messages to teach millions. Relevant
definitions of “medium” from the American Heritage Dictionary are:
1. An agency by which something is accomplished, conveyed, or transferred.
2. A means of mass communication, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, or television.
3. A specific kind of artistic technique or means of expression as determined
by the materials used
or the creative methods involved.
4. A surrounding environment in which something functions and thrives.
STRATEGY
How can educators use media to strengthen student citizenship and character?
Consider the definitions of medium and then apply them to your school. For example,
your classroom walls or hallway walls can be forms of mass communication because
they can be an agency by which something is conveyed or transferred; they can
also be a surrounding environment in which something functions and thrives.
Now mentally take that walk around your school again. Imagine a single citizenship
trait that you want to instill in students, such as Be Responsible. Imagine
that the hallways are lined with similar posters all containing variations of
that same message, or with famous quotes, images of famous people, or artwork
by students–all focused on the idea to Be Responsible.
With a consistent and rotating messaging plan, classroom walls and hallways
will disseminate positive ideas that are consistent and repetitive instead of
confusing and fragmented.
This can’t happen unless there is agreement at a broad level on a consistent
plan of
messages. In the 10 years I have been working to integrate media principles
into community building and character education programming. I have discovered
that the issue of agreement is the key to successful media integration into
education. One interesting point is the suitability of one month as a time frame
for one rotation of one message. Psychologists say it takes approximately 21-30
days to convert a consistent thought or action into habit. This would mean that
a school plan or character and citizenship development would include nine different
messages, one for each month of the school year.
Many schools across America today are implementing citizenship and character
development programs. In most cases, a character development program is selected
or even custom-developed internally. This process encourages the enthusiasm
and involvement of the stakeholders. Think about character development and citizenship
programming in your school.
1. Do you have a program in place or plans to adopt a program? What is your
process?
2. Can you include a broad area of agreement about curriculum and values messages
as one of your goals so expansion and media integration can be facilitated?
3. What are the areas of disagreement that are difficult to overcome?
4. How important are the reasons for different perspectives?
5. Can the disagreements be overcome for the sake of strengthening your program’s
influence on our youth?
6. How can you broaden your group of stakeholders to agree on a common set of
character and citizenship messages that can reach into homes and into our entire
community?
In September 2000, with the generous support of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield,
a two-year pilot model of character development curriculum was completed at
Aliquippa (Pa.) Middle School. This school was selected because it was one of
six high-risk school districts on (then) Governor Tom Ridge’s statewide
Watch List. On a student survey after the program was implemented, one student
commented, “I am now being nice to people I used to be mean to.”
Another said, “I give my teachers more respect.”
No matter what program you implement or what messengers you use, the success
of a character or citizenship program in any school or community will rely primarily
on the caring energy and sincerity driving it. The simplified definition of
good character as adopted by the character education movement sums it all up;
Good character consists of knowing the good, desiring the good and doing the
good–habits of the mind, habits of the heart and habits of action. (Lickona
1991)
Inspiring our students to “desire the good” is the hard part. Without
that, all the knowledge in the world won’t get us there.
Elaine Parke is the Founder and Executive Director of the Non-Profit, Caring
Habit of the Month Adventure as well as a consultant and speaker. As a former
corporate marketing professional, she developed the K-8 Caring Habit year-round
multi-media model to improve overall school performance. Five University and
independent studies have demonstrated that Caring Habits motivates improved
academics and reduces school problems that detract from healthy learning and
teaching environments.
Phone: 866-453-8090 email: caringhabits@zoominternet.net
– Elaine Parke