Channel One
There isn’t much in the California schools anymore that can capture the student’s attention. I have an 18-year-old who refuses to return to high school to finish up his degree “because they aren’t teaching anything there.”
State Superintendent of Schools Bill Honig is seeking to block the usage of Channel One, described in an article as “a daily public affairs program for students,” (Dec. 19). I haven’t seen Channel One, but it sounds like a dynamite idea and the principal at San Jose’s East Side Union High School District, mentioned in the article, seems to be high on it, too. The problem, it seems, is two minutes of commercials.
Actually, the whole idea sounds positively relevant. And, it seems to me, that relevancy is what is missing in modern education. I noticed the problem when I was going to high school 30 years ago, and education has become even less relevant today.
So what’s wrong with a couple of minutes of commercials? They see plenty on network television. It seems fairly obvious that the commercials make the programming possible. No commercials, no program. Right? The students might even learn something about the advertising business in the process. That’s relevant, too, in today’s society.
DIANE McBAIN
Los Angeles
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