038 In the age of television, reading books is no

[auroville99]

38.

The issue comparing acquisition of knowledge through either the books or the television is a debatable one. On one hand, in the current age of the television, it is a source of information that is most readily available. On the other hand, books have been the tried and tested learning tool since time immemorial. I would support the view that both television and books can contribute to out learning process, with limitations possessed by each of them.

In recent times, television is definitely the most popular source of entertainment and information. There has been a boom in the popularity of television and it occupies the living room of almost every household. It has become almost essential for life. It is readily available to common man at the comfort of his house. Educational channels like the Discovery Channel and National Geographic do provide a lot of information and knowledge about science. Also it has been shown that audio visual stimuli are retained by our memory for a longer time. So should we not use it for our learning? The eye strain and the ill health associated with watching television for long hours is well known. Some programs may even be harmful to the young viewers whose inquisitive mind is craving for answers to even questions that we take for granted. Further, in the age of commercialization, educational programs are not encouraged. The reason for this is that it would simply not attract as many viewers as some non-sensical TV soap opera filled with glitter and glamour. And of course, from a pragmatic point of view, preparing educational programs on television is a difficult process requiring lot of planning.

Book is a man's best friend. They have been with us since the humans learned writing. They tell us about the history of the past ages. In recent times, the popular contention is that print is dead, but it is not so and never can be so. For recording information, and for retrieval or reference whenever required, books can be a very useful source. It can be used to disseminate information to people around the world. The only inconvenience would be to store and maintain the books- it may seem a daunting task but it is very much possible and can pass on information from one generation to the next. Some of the best literary works such as that of Shakespeare, Wordsworth can be recorded only in books. Even if one tries to make a movie out of it, it would be impossible to capture every move and emotion that the writer originally came up with.

When a new scientific discovery or medical breakthrough is to be explained, books would be definitely a more comprehensive source of information. The details could be very well explained in them. It is a very practical means of exchanging ideas and information among the scientific community. Television also has its place in informing the people about the latest events and live coverage of incidents as they happen. This would help people to keep in touch with the latest happenings around the world.

In conclusion, the recent times has seen a growing popularity in the television as a source of information. True that it serves the need of entertainment more, but nevertheless the audio-visual nature and easy accessibility makes it a very attractive source of information. Books also have its own place as they can be use to pass on knowledge to the future generations without losing the original touch and meaning that the author came up with. It would be best to strike a balance between the two in the quest for knowledge.

[sewwww]

hullo every one, this is my first issue here
hope to hear ur advise

Nowadays parents surprisingly find that their children would rather watch TV than read before bed. The loss of a reading tradition is so drastic since more and more people accept television as their first choice in obtaining information, that it seems to most of us reading is not so important as it once was.
It is undeniable that TV the brainchild of innovation has greatly chaged the world. Being easy-understanding, up-to-time and entertaining, TV has become one of the necessity and the symbol of modern life. People who are not well-enducated may find ¡°National Geography¡± a good school while it¡¯s impossible for them to sit in a class-room; grandnnies may stop doing dishes to watch the breaking news of the Iraqi War, while the publishing of any abstruse editorial should wait another 24-hours; little kids may remember all the names of American Presidents during watching ¡°Who can Win¡± with joys and laughter, while they¡¯re sure to be reluctant to refer to history books. Television really provides us with a good way of learning.
But the flashing learning style is far from impeccable and is impossible to replace book-reading so far. TV tends to be superficial in order to attract more audience who¡¯re simply seeking for fun, so it is not suitable for the distribution of profound thoughts and flawless analysis. TV also tends to abuse its freedom by displaying whatever contents it wants. Thus younsters are often exposed to screen violence, sexuality and vulgar talk shows at night when they are supposed to listen to a good story which will bring them fancy imagination and a sweet dream. And that results in a total ignorance of Anderson and Green with an extreme acquaintance with unworthy soap-opera stars. Furthermore, it¡¯s also a pity if the tradition of reading extincted, for books embodied so many beautiful meanings that can hardly be uttered with words. ¡°Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.¡± It¡¯s hard to imagine anyone who¡¯s able to sense the fragrance of wit when facing a cold iron box instead of holding a newly-printed book with the familiar pleasant scent in your very own hands.
Along as the science progresses emerge a great variety of learning fascilities, TV appears to be old too. These new inventions will serve people well if properly used, but it¡¯s still too early to foretell the future of reading books, for the tradition is still thriving now.

[Aaron Sarwal]

wow ur essay was like well :
check mine out plz:
though i'm only 14.......
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TOPIC: In the age of television, reading books is not as important as it once was. People can learn as much by watching television as they can by reading books."
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From the time humans first used written communication in the form cave paintings, writing has been a primary medium for preserving and disseminating human thought. With invention of the press, books, written once, copied many times, became the single most important carrier of human intellect.

This was to be the case for many centuries, until, first the radio, and then the television came into existence. For the first time, people had a choice of mediums to learn from. Yet, is it true to say that the box is superior to the books in terms education value?

My firm belief is that this is very true. It is my opinion that due to all the advances in technology, the medium of television has an advantage over books.

Today it is very common in industrialised countries for a household to have at least one television set. In fact, it is so common that it is difficult to imagine a household without TV. This, I strongly believe, shows just how significant television is to us, but we can see that its importance is far greater than just being an object we own if we look at the variety of programmes and valuable content it offers and the purposes it serves in daily life.

I would like to emphasise upon the fact that while books are mostly text with a few pictures thrown in, the television, being and audio visual media, is able to engage two of our senses. Furthermore, the information in a book is static, yet the television is a dynamic array of visual imagery and sounds. Television is capable of showing us events "live", as they unfold in a far flung corner of earth.

I would also like to make my worthy opponent aware that when we read books, we are seeing the world through the eyes of the author. This second hand view is often distorted by the biases and the prejudices of the author, which is not the case with television as we share the experiences of a mechanical device which has no preconceptions and helps us to form our own opinions which further enhance our learning process.

There are a few concepts that are easier to understand when shown on a TV pictorially than in a monotonous book. A picture is normally considered to be worth a 1000 words, but when sound and motion is added to it, I just don’t know the exact number of words it represents (may be a million words or so).

I would also like to add that there are many different types of programmes on television that are useful. The viewer can watch a weather report to prepare for the day. Cartoons and sport provide relaxation and fun. School programmes, documentaries and the news teach us about the world. And advertisements inform us about products and new ideas.

Secondly, the content is relevant because it is realistic and up to date. As TV is a medium that combines moving, colour images and sound, it resembles real life, so the viewers can identify with what they see. Furthermore, modern technology means that the content is up to date, for example, news reports can be broadcasted live and from all over the world. This means that information is available almost anywhere at any time.

We must not forget that by actually viewing the things on television, one can easily grasp the subject. Television with its audio and video aspect can contribute to learning process much more than reading the lines from book and imagining those pictures. One can learn much faster when an experiment from physics or chemistry is shown on television than reading it from book. There are many channels which are educational such as discovery, national geographic, animal planet etc.

As mentioned before, the biggest advantage of television is its ability to show moving images. This can greatly help engineering students. For instance, a television screen can show how the various parts of an internal combustion engine move and interact. This is simply impossible with books.

Critics of television such as my worthy opponent here would argue that viewers especially children are bound to copy what they see on TV but now a days programs such as Oswald which show the main characters of good manners, high morale and developed nature etc. are welcomed if copied by our tint tots.

Further reading of books such as the Ramayana or Mahabharata is a very time consuming and difficult task, but if one watches the TV show, it proves to be less time consuming, easily comprehendible and the viewers can understand the concept. Children who will find the Ramayana boring will take interest and even learn values which are shown and mentioned in the epic.

If the audience can please pay attention to the most agreeable fact that everyone can't afford to go and watch some historical places distributed world wide. So if we see them on TV it is just as if we are looking at them with our own eyes and we'll feel as if we are standing there. My opponent believes that by reading a book we are sure get knowledge but it is my belief that watching TV is better as we get the knowledge in a well presented and interactive manner.

Take the example of the Panama Canal: if we read a book about it we’ll get to know about the construction and all that, but if we watch TV we get to know about that in a realistic way.

Another thing that I would like to emphasize is that to read books you have to be a literate, but to watch TV you don't have to be a literate. Even an illiterate can also understand many basic concepts of science through TV and can gain knowledge about them.

However, modern television, and I would like to stress upon it, has a big possibility to be used more and more in education. TV can show almost every process visually, which is sometimes very difficult to describe in book. Moreover on the visual side, watching TV gives possibility to be inside of a picture, and allows the spectator to hear sounds that can be very important for learning. For example, National Geographic can vividly portray the natural animal world, telling the audience how the animals survive in the face of their predators. Carl Sagan's cosmos tells us the wonders of universe which grandeur can only be mesmerised in the form of motion pictures. Usually students can learn better by watching something rather than reading it, and they can remember it better, too. This makes TV a popular education tool.


Finally, TV can be used to enhance many important aspects of everyday life. People seek entertainment and distraction, and TV can give us that in the form of films or cartoons. People want education, information and instruction because they are inquisitive and like to learn. TV gives us these in documentaries or educational programmes, in reports or cultural magazines. People enjoy creativity, and TV gives us that in the work of all the people involved in creating clever film scripts, effective scenery, witty dialogues or magnificent camera shots. TV gives us the world, other cultures, other people, languages and ideas. It introduces us to knowledge.

As we have seen, television offers us a wide range of valuable programmes and content and serves many purposes in our daily lives. Television not only provides many types of programmes with interesting and broad content, but also serves to fulfil our needs in terms of entertainment and knowledge. It is far more than just an object we own. It is an integral and vital medium today, which can contribute positively to the education of society and to people's awareness of others. Since nowadays students are less likely to pick up books then before. So TV becomes a way to obtain information and in some sense, books are less important than before. Thus, I claim, that we can learn more from television than we can from reading books.

- Aaron Sarwal

[Aaron Sarwal]

here is the integrated version:
In the age of television, reading books is not as important as it once was. People can learn as much by watching television as they can by reading books. This is absolutely true in my opinion as well as in the opinion of millions of other users of television world wide. The audience will agree to the unchallengeable fact that life without Television is dull, uninteresting and colourless.

Even my worthy opponent here will agree that since the invention of the printing press books and written language became the single most important carrier of human intellect. But this was only till the invention of the radio and then the television. It was after TV’s invention that humanity had a choice in mediums to learn from.

On one hand were traditional books and on the other hand was a dynamic array of visual imagery and sounds with the ability to engage two of our major senses, the television, definitely a step ahead of books.

The importance of television today can be portrayed by the fact that it is impossible to imagine a household without a TV. Television is an exceedingly useful tool in helping us form our own opinions about things as compared to books where the world is portrayed through the eyes of the author with all his biases and prejudices. Whereas, in the case of television we share the experiences of a mechanical device that has no preconceptions and helps us to form our own opinions.

One can learn much faster when an experiment from physics or chemistry is shown on television than reading it from book which only proves that many scientific concepts are much easily understood when shown on a TV pictorially rather when read from a monotonous book.

The biggest advantage of television is its ability to show moving images. This can greatly help engineering students. For instance, a television can show how the various parts of an internal combustion engine move and interact. This is simply impossible with books. Moreover it has been biologically proven that our brain can understand and retain knowledge better if the source is audio and visual. That is why students can learn better by watching something rather than reading it, and they can remember it better, too. This demonstrates the advantage of TV as a popular educational tool. Nowadays, no seminar is complete with out an audio visual aid, infact the success of the seminar is marked by how effectively audio visual aids were used.

Critics of television argue that children are bound to copy what they see on TV but new programs such as Oswald which show the characters of good manners, high morale and developed nature etc. are welcomed if copied by our tiny tots. Reading books such as the Ramayana or Mahabharata is time consuming and boring task, especially for small children but if one watches the TV show, it proves to be less time consuming, easily comprehendible and the viewers can understand the concept. Children will take interest and even learn moral values such as courage, truthfulness and honesty.

You all will agree that everyone can't afford to go and watch historical places distributed world wide. So if we see them on TV it is just as good and we even feel as if we are standing there.

Another thing that I would like to emphasize is that to read books you have to be literate, but to watch TV you don't have to be literate. Even illiterates can understand many basic concepts of science through TV and can gain knowledge about them.

So to sum up, television offers us a wide range of valuable programmes and content. TV can be used to enhance many important aspects of everyday life. People seek entertainment and recreation they want education, information and instruction they need creativity and art, TV can give them all of that in various forms. TV gives us the world, other cultures, other people, languages and ideas. It introduces us to knowledge.

-Aaron Sarwal


REBUTTAL POINTS

*books are successful as they were the unrivalled kings until the invention of television
*television shows violence etc. but it is the choice of the viewer to see what to watch and what not to
*it is a fact that just as we can get non-appropriate matter we can also get banned literature etc.
*TV connects us to the world.
* Science has given us a very powerful object it is unto us how we use it to learn, or earn or just for entreating ourselves the problem doesn’t lies with the instrument but with the user.

[zhanhuilee]

I am sorry Armego, your essay seems not well reasoned, since there are several proposition you advocate unwarrant or not substantiated with analysis or examples. to enhance it, list out more examples or specific reasons for every supporting claim.

[grad2009]

It seems from the reply that it's a awesome writing..so I have tried to write on the same topic.Please please rate it.This is my 2nd essay...

38. "In the age of television, reading books is not as important as it once was. People can learn as much by watching television as they can by reading books."



The habit of reading books is not at all important nowadays for the enrichment of knowledge; rather one can learn as much by watching television. I strongly oppose this view of the speaker. Television, mostly used for the entertainment, is merely enhance our wisdom, on the other hand it is needless to say, books have been used as the primary source of information from the ancient times and even in today.

First and foremost, television industry, combination of many business organizations, broadcasts only those programs which increase their TRP (Television Rating Points) and eventually raise the business. If it would have been a learning media, it could have telecast audio visual tutorials of all subjects, concerned to enhancement of our knowledge in several fields. But the programs are mostly related to entertainment or information about certain events. The category of the program, if one has to draw out, will be like news, movies, sports, and other form of entertainment. However, books are the collection of information, acquired by understanding or visual evidence, to distribute and share knowledge amongst all. So, the habits of reading books will always pertaining to learning or understanding. For example, from our childhood, we learn the basics of language, mathematics, history, geography by reading several books. Academician, at school and college, always suggest referring different books for better understanding and enhancement of our knowledge, instead of watching television for the same.

According to the psychologists, reading is a habit by which we can penetrate deep into the subject because we can control the pace of reading and understanding, whereas, information gathered from television are ephemeral. Moreover, reading loud helps us to memorize effectively. Needless to say, television program are often interrupted by commercial advertisement which breaks our concentration and impede our learning. For example, reading a book of geography to know about landscapes for some hours is always fruitful to enhance our knowledge rather than watching ‘national geography ‘(a particular television channel), which also broadcast programs about the same.



Nevertheless, one would argue that if a book is not good enough to clear the idea of a subject then it will no way be helpful to increase the knowledge, rather, it will inject some misconception about the subject, whereas an audio visual program prepared with well thought to make the subject simple, by using realistic approaches, always will be considered as a worth choice. However, in real world , the number of good audio visual program ,deliberately built for the core understanding of the subject, compared to number of good books are few and hence, can be considered as an exception.





In sum, television provides us information about current affairs, and, admittedly we acquire some scattered knowledge of several fields which is definitely helpful to enhance our wisdom. So, if we concerned about some scattered knowledge and knowledge about current affairs, the speaker is fundamentally correct.

[rockybalboa123]

Amigro,
Yes its very much true that they read hundreds of essay a day..