Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990 TAG: 9005300022
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARGARET CAMLIN NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Long
The boys stopped talking at the sound of crunching Doritos on the screen.
Commercials are a small, but controversial, part of the 12-minute "Channel One" news show, which is broadcast mornings and afternoons at the vocational school during clean-up time.
After a Dentyne chewing gum commercial, Monday's show popped a question in a mini-quiz about whose ideas framed the foundation for the Soviet economy.
"Karl Marx," responded one of the auto mechanics students in a matter-of-fact voice.
Minutes later, when the answer flashed on screen, the boy's class-mate said "I can't believe you got that right, man."
Channel One's two minutes of commercials have generated strong opposition from groups across the nation, from the American Federation of Teachers to the National PTA. And the boards of education in several states, including California, New York and North Carolina have banned it.
But in Giles County, a few TV ads are no big deal.
"You can walk down the hallways of schools and see more commercials," said Forest Fowler, principal of the school. "Every student is a walking billboard with T-shirts and Reeboks and designer jeans."
To Fowler, the biggest and most obvious benefit of Channel One is the bounty of free Magnavox televisions and video cassette recorders that come with it.
The school system is receiving about $50,000 worth of equipment from Whittle Communications of Knoxville, Tenn., in exchange for guaranteeing that 90 percent of students will watch Channel One every day.
As long as Channel One plays every day, the televisions and video cassette recorders can be used for any other purpose.
The vocational school was the first in Giles County to show the news program.
Narrows students are not yet watching the show during school hours. The equipment arrived too late to make it worthwhile to rearrange the schedule this school year. So it is now played early in the morning as students arrive.
Narrows High School got 13 televisions, two video cassette recorders and a satellite dish. Whittle technicians installed the equipment and wired the buildings. Giles High School is next.
Principal Kurt Harrup would not allow a reporter to watch the show with students and talk to them about it.
"I don't want their opinions overshadowing what good it's going to be in the long run," he said. Watching the show is purely voluntary until next year, he said, so students have not seen it regularly enough to give it a fair critique.
Next year, Narrows students will watch the show every morning at 8:35. To avoid stealing time from instruction, Harrup came up with an extra 12 minutes by trimming one minute from the transition time between classes and by starting school five minutes early.
"I like the whole program because I have a strong feeling that too many students today do not . . . tune in to what's happening in the world," he said. "Most students don't take the time to read the newspapers. It's a good use of time."
Harrup is equally excited about another Whittle program called the "Classroom Channel," an array of in-depth educational programs.
The Classroom Channel's May selection includes a profile of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, narrated by actor Raymond Burr.
It also includes programs on the earth and its origins, the Japanese language, and advanced concepts in math and science.
The Channel One news show, as well, can be taped in the mornings and shown later in the day if teachers desire, Harrup said.
Whittle produces a monthly detailed listing of each day's program so teachers can plan. But last Monday's news show did not correspond with any program listed in the May guide.
Over the course of two days, a reporter telephoned Whittle offices to find out why. All of Whittle's toll-free telephone lines were answered with prerecorded messages. The reporter left several messages that were not returned.
Judy Ray, who chairs Narrows High School's social studies department, has watched the news show every morning since it started two weeks ago. Although she thinks it will be a good news show, she was concerned last week because the program seemed a little shallow, she said.
Monday morning's program on Soviet history, however, was particularly good, she said. Whether teachers will want to use their Classroom Channel programs is open to question.
"It will depend on the quality," Ray said. "If the quality is there, most of us will figure out ways to use it."
School Principal Fowler thinks the news show is accurate and provides good analyses. He says the maps that accompany stories to help students' understand geography.
Fowler said he is surprised that his students have taken such a liking to Channel One - although he says they'd never admit to it.
Fowler was right on target. One teen-ager said the commercials were the most interesting part and that the program put him to sleep.
Students who want to watch the program can return to a classroom where it's broadcast during clean-up time in labs and shops.
"It's voluntary. They could just as easily stay in their labs," Fowler said. "It's filling a void, but it's filling a void with something good."
At least one auto mechanics student agreed: "It makes the time go by faster," he said.
After a month of Channel One, the vocational students are continuing to return to classroom to watch it, Fowler said, "and that's what's surprising me."
by CNB