EDUCATION WATCH : A TV Guide

Looking for a quick and cost-free fix for poor educational performance? Try pulling the plug on the TV set. That’s a gross exaggeration, of course, but it encapsulates a demonstrable truth. The more television that kids watch, the lower their reading skills and academic achievements are likely to be. Conversely the more time they spend reading, the better they tend to do in school. There’s no need to ask how most kids spend more of their time: TV wins out over reading, hands down.

The latest Education Department report on reading skills, involving 38,000 4th-, 8th- and 12th-grade students in both public and private schools, shows little positive change from earlier years. One-quarter of fourth graders say they watch more than six hours of TV a day while 40% of high school seniors watch more than three hours. Two-thirds of 8th and 12th graders read 10 or fewer pages a day. One-third of all students say they never read for pleasure.

It’s no surprise that reading performance by children is higher if they come from homes where parents read, where books are available and where television viewing is held to two hours or less a day. Reading’s importance needs no underscoring; it is the essential skill for education as well as the passkey to a lifetime of pleasure.

There’s more the schools can be doing to encourage students to read and learn. But one thing teachers and administrators can’t do is go into homes and control the hours kids spend staring at the tube. That responsibility, now as always, falls on parents alone.