6. For parents

Round table on children and the mass media

I. OBJECTIVE:

To promote greater awareness of the importance of the mass media in the lives and education of their children.

II. FIRST STAGE: ADVANCE PREPARATION

1. Nominate a committee to prepare the round table, including:

-the Headmaster/Headmistress of the school
-a chaplain
-a chairperson
-a representative of the teaching staff
-parents of pupils, etc.

2. Hold a first meeting to define the tasks of the various members, to make arrangements for the round table and in particular to:

-look for ways to make parents grasp just how much effect the media have on their children, e.g. through surveys among children, parents, teachers (see suggestions below);
-fix the date of the parents' meeting (before the opening of the Centenary year);
-decide on practical issues (possible ordering of relevant publications for families, special projects in school, songs to learn, etc.).

III. SECOND STAGE: IMMEDIATE PREPARATION ⁵

1. The preparatory committee should:

-study the findings of its surveys, etc. and send the results to all families, with a reminder of the date of the parents' meeting;
-decide on who is to lead the discussion, the secretary, etc. and prepare a brief agenda which can later be abandoned if fruitful debate develops on an unlisted theme.

IV. THIRD STAGE: PARENTS' MEETING

The parents should first assess the results of the surveys, after which the meeting could proceed by discussing the points suggested in the section for Adult Groups, below. The Minutes of the Meeting should subsequently be sent to all parents, with a reminder of the date of the anniversary we are celebrating.

V. SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THE PREPARATORY SURVEYS

1. For children

Ask precise questions:

-How many hours a week do you watch TV?
-Which comics/illustrated magazines do you prefer?
-Have you got a camera? a tape recorder? a video camera?
-How many times do you go to the cinema every month?

Leading questions:

Ask them to
-name three songs by a currently fashinable pop singer/song writer;
-name the principal characters of a soap or series they particularly like;
-answer a number of questions about TV programmes they have seen over the last three months.

If the survey is properly handled, it will be possible to obtain a rough idea of the intellectual benefit our children receive from television.

Questions of appraisal:

-What film or programme did you enjoy most in the last three months? Why?
-Which programrne seemed the most objective (explain the word)? Why?
-Which programme did you think was the most useful? Why?
-Which programme was the worst or most unpleasant? Why?
-Was there any programme that seemed untrue to you? Why?
-Were there any that seemed harmful?
-Were there any programmes that helped you to see the goodness in life?

The questions should be stated so that they require only short answers and can be easily evaluated.

2. For parents

Only a few suggestions are offered for this second survey, since it is a much more difficult undertaking. It will only be profitable with a very open and well-disposed group, i.e. of parents of children in the same class who meet frequently to discuss their common problems.

All the same, it is still possible to carry out a very brief enquiry, to check one or two points emerging from the children's replies. The teachers could send the parents a short questionnaire, to be returned in a closed envelope, with questions such as:

-How much time do your children spend in front of the TV every week (not forgetting when the TV is on at mealtimes)?
-What comics and illustrated papers do they read?
-Do they like taking photographs? etc.

And one or two more important questions could also be asked:

-Was there any particular film/TV programme or magazine in the last three months that had a good influence on your children? Which?
-Did you all talk about it afterwards?
-Was it in any way helpful for your children's religious education?

3. For teachers

This is even more difficult but could be very useful. (To avoid any sense of reproof, it should perhaps be mentioned that according to a recent survey carried out in France 75 percent of audiovisual teaching aids are never used.)

Possible questions are:

-Do you ever use audio-visual media in your lessons? Which kind? For what purpose?
-Do you use them to help children to understand the the values in life? What values, and how?
-Do you encourage the children to start viewing the media according to aesthetic, moral and spiritual criteria?

Immediate preparation will always take into account what the Church intends to do with regard to specific events such as the Centenary of the Motion Picture (as in this case), World Communications Day, etc., where its relationship with the mass media is highlighted.