Debate 2

Childhood Education Debate

Name

Institution

Childhood Education Debate

The first article that will be discussed in the essay is the article by Marie Louise and Zhongdang. The two wrote a report known as “effects of Sesame Street: A meta-analysis of children’s learning in 15 countries” discusses the semase street program that was introduced as a methodology to improve primary learning for the children aged two to three years. The article is about a study that is to support the need to ensure that the children are exposed to the Semase Street television program that is meant to improve their learning (Mares & Pan, 2013). The study is based on the socio-economic of the society, and according to the article, the opportunity to this program should be given to the children from low-income community although it has become a challenge because the parents fail to afford televisions for the program.

In support of the importance of the Semase Street program to the children in their early educations, the article provides the findings are presented to prove the positive impacts. The results were based on prior research that was conducted on educational television in the United States (Mares & Pan, 2013). The study shows that there were important impacts of the Sesame Street program to children in children aged two to three years responded positively to the television program. The evidence was that portrayed positive scores in math, in reading, school readiness, and receptive vocabulary.

Also, the article supports the motion of educational television through research conducted by Anderson, Huston, and others which involved five hundred and seventy adolescents who had undergone through the program (Mares & Pan, 2013). The study showed that there is a positive relationship between Sesame program and better performance of scientific grades in high school. In addition, the program in early education improved the attitudes towards achievement in the future and spent more time reading during leisure time.

On the other hand, the article “Childhood and Adolescent Television Viewing and Antisocial Behavior in Early Adulthood” by Lindsay Robertson, Robert and McAnally opposed the motion. According to the report, viewing of television by adolescents and children increases antisocial behavior in their adulthood stage. According to the authors of this article, excessive television as an educational approach has negative long-term consequences to the individuals and society (Robertson, et al., 2013). The authors of the article state that the method used assessed one thousand and thirty-seven individuals born in New Zealand, and the individuals were at the intervals of twenty-six years.

A regression analysis was applied for the assessment, and it investigated the connection between the hours of watching television between the five and fifteen years of age and the diagnosis with a personality disorder and criminal conviction. The results of the study according to the article proved that the young individuals who spent more time viewing the television had an antisocial personality disorder and also they have a criminal conviction (Robertson, et al., 2013). The results showed that these results were positive in both genders which portrayed a similarity. The study is an excellent example that even if television may be used as an educational approach in childhood early education, excessive viewing of television resulted in increased rates of antisocial behavior among young adults.

Based on this argument, educational television is a proper approach that can be used to enhance learning among children in early learning. However, it has been proven that excessive viewing has negative impacts on the lives of young adults who develop an antisocial disorder and become aggressive in life. Based on the arguments, it is therefore recommended that the limit for watching television should be one to two hours every day and it should be responsible for watching.

References

Mares, M. L., & Pan, Z. (2013). Effects of Sesame Street: A meta-analysis of children's learning in 15 countries. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 34(3), 140-151.

Robertson, L. A., McAnally, H. M., & Hancox, R. J. (2013). Childhood and adolescent television viewing and antisocial behavior in early adulthood. Pediatrics, 131(3), 439.