THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996 TAG: 9601310047
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TAMARA STANLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
AFTER FOUR DAYS of no boob tube, a classroom of second-graders in Camden, N.C., crunched popcorn, slurped Pepsi and licked the middles out of sandwich cookies.
With their eyes on a cartoon playing above their heads, they celebrated the last day of ``Unplugged Week,'' during which 21 7-and 8-year-olds at Grandy Primary School pledged not to watch TV.
One of their slogans: ``Don't watch it. Do it.''
``Unplugged Week,'' which ended Friday, began as a dare by their teacher, Susan Ferguson, whose family participated in The Virginian-Pilot's month-long ``Pull the Plug Challenge'' (See related story).
``When I said I was doin' it, they didn't believe it,'' Ferguson said. ``Then it became, `Well, if we (her family) can do it for a month, then you can do it for a week.''
Out of sympathy for their teacher, and for extra credit and a popcorn party, they took on the challenge.
For most, it was easy. It was fun. They'd do it again.
``I didn't think it was such a big deal,'' said one.
``I'd do it for another week,'' shouted another.
``I'd do it for a year!''
``I'd do it for a hundred years!''
It felt just that long for others, although their ``Unplugged Week'' was really four days.
``It was hard,'' said 7-year-old Kelly Gregory while she doodled. ``Every day when I get home I watch TV, for 6 hours. One time I cut it on but didn't look at it and then I cut it off real fast.''
Keri Spivey, 8, wiggled the denim bow in her hair when she shook her head and admitted she didn't think she'd make it.
``When I couldn't watch the first day, I said, `This is easy.' The third day I felt like I couldn't do it. But I thought, `One more day.' Next time I'll try it for six days.''
One thing kept Stuart Lannon, a sandy-blonde, wide-eyed 7-year-old who wants to be lawyer, unplugged.
``Popcorn. Me love popcorn. I'll never give up a day of popcorn. I thought it was a pretty good deal for that.''
To fulfill their slogan of ``Minds Off the Tube,'' they drafted a list of activities from reading and writing letters, to shining shoes, helping to cook dinner and exercising.
They wrote and colored daily diaries, and drew posters. Stories titled ``The Night the TV Blew Up'' decorated the classroom entrance.
The only TV they could watch was the news as part of ``family time.'' Newspaper scavenger hunts kept them informed, along with providing social studies lessons.
At the end of the week, they tallied and graphed the results. Before ``Unplugged Week'' the students averaged 6 hours of TV watching a day.
During ``Unplugged Week'' the kids watched an average of 18 minutes a day. Even with the rest of their families glued to TV sets, most of Ferguson's ``kids'' said they didn't get tempted to sneak a peek.
Ferguson said her class gave a great effort, considering how important television is in their lives. Rural Camden offers few diversions for energetic 8-year-olds. TV is recreation.
``Being a rural community, these kids can't just go out to the mall and hang,'' she said. ``There's really not much else to do. Some watch all day long.''
Now that the experiment is over, 7-year-old Ricky Madeira couldn't be happier. A dedicated TV watcher, Ricky was so desperate he watched the news.
He hates the news.
``Nothin' else to do,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/The Virginian-Pilot
Teacher Susan Ferguson's class at Grandy Primary School in Camden,
N.C., survived ``Unplugged Week.''
by CNB