EDUCATION IN THE MEDIA PROJECT
If you've ever seen Dangerous Minds,
if you've read Harry Potter, even if you've thrown away all those
"Back to School" ads in the Sunday paper - but especially if you can
admit ever watching Saved by the Bell, then YOU can do this assignment.
In your spare time…like college students have a
lot of that…in any case, you often find yourself in the role of audience. Of
the hundreds, even thousands of images and messages you receive every day, how
many have anything to do with education, schools or learning?
Are the issues of schools, students, education
or learning evident in popular media? How are these issues portrayed? What
about images or messages that have to do with other, particularly more
controversial or popular, subject matters: race, gender, social class, the
economy, health, wealth and happiness to name a few. Even when the subject is
not specifically focused on these topics, can you somehow interpret them as
having connections to education or educational issues?
Take some time to reflect on the images you
receive. How do you receive these messages? Do you get them from television
shows? Films? Music? How
about from advertising? In a 3 to 5 page paper, you must identify the message,
discuss the medium it was received in, and demonstrate its connections to
historical or contemporary educational issues.
DIRECTIONS YOU CAN TAKE TO WRITE THIS ESSAY:
1- Choose just one
media example (1 TV show or 1 movie, or 1 book; ex, the film "Animal
House") and talk about one or more issues stemming from it (Ex: a.
unflattering portrayal of Greek life; b. stereotyping of college experiences
like sex and alcohol; c. gender issues like women as sexual objects)
OR
2-Choose one
educational issue or theme (Ex. the unflattering and unfair depictions of Greek
life) and talk about several media examples that perpetuate that idea
("Animal House," "PCU," "Revenge of the Nerds 1
through 4", "Legally Blonde")
But remember you should
be focusing on:
WHAT is the message?
HOW is the message being delivered?
WHO is delivering the
message?
WHICH AUDIENCE(S) is/are
being targeted?
Some Examples:
Movies: Never Been Kissed, Mean Girls, Higher
Learning, Stand and Deliver, Old School, Kindergarten Cop, Bring It On,
Heathers, Election
TV
Shows:
Print: Back-to-School ads,
political cartoons, popular magazines.
Books/Plays: Pygmalion, Harry Potter, Catcher in the
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Sample Essay # 3 ***NEW*** (11/9/04)