Lancer said:
I still don't believe a lot of soccer moms in minivans will be cranking up the ole AM radio for the kiddos.
Then that's perhaps to the detriment of the kiddos.
When I was a kiddo, the first thing my mother would do every morning when she got up to make breakfast and get my brother and me ready for school was turn the radio on to KRLD and its morning news. This happened every morning from when I was in elementary school all the way up to the day I graduated from high school. We didn't even need to look at a clock to see what time it was or to know whether we were running late: KRLD's top of the hour news, the weather, the sports, Alex Burton's daily commentary and such all took place at the exact same time each day. We knew what time it was based on what was on the radio.
I have no idea whether my mother intended for this to be the case or not - but the education it provided me cost her absolutely nothing but was, at the same time, priceless. Sometime during my late elementary school years, it suddenly occurred to me that I had a much greater knowledge of and familiarity with news and current events and the wider world at large than most of the kids I was going to school with - in part, because I listened to the news every morning.
What I learned though osmosis just from listening to those daily newscasts was information and knowledge that was not formally taught in school and would, in fact, be difficult to incorporate into a curriculum. And since all human knowledge is interrelated, what I picked up about the world at large just from listening to the news enabled me to approach and understand that which was formally taught to me in school with a wider and more adult perspective.
It was a wonderful supplement to my education that did not cost my parents a single dime and required zero effort or time investment on their part or mine. It took place while we were doing things that we would have had to do no matter what station the radio was tuned to or whether we listened to the radio or not. It made me a far more well-rounded and knowledgeable kid - which, I have no doubt, enabled me to become a more knowledgeable, well rounded adult than had my mother instead just tuned the radio a station playing the pop music of the time and mindless celebrity oriented gossip.
If you have kids, unless you have the time, interest and ability to home school, one of the best things you can do for their education and intellectual development is simply expose them to worlds that are outside of what they will be taught in school and the pop culture stuff that they will be bombarded with from their classmates, television, etc. Don't present it to them as some sort of "lesson" or something that is "good for them" as that will either intimidate or cause them to want to tune out. YOU engage in the activity - and since the kids have no choice but to be there, they will thereby gain exposure.
One other thing I gained such exposure to as a child and benefited from was music. When I was a child my mother listened to a wide variety of music - everything from mainstream type pop stuff that was popular to adults of her age to various styles and flavors of classical and light classical music. And I was exposed to country music through a friend of my mother's who lived nearby. Later, after I got a record player for my 6th birthday, my mother would bring me random 45s and 33s of various genres that she came across for cheap in garage sales. When I was about 10 or so, I discovered the popular music of the 1920s and 1930s - which I have been enthralled with ever since. But I suspect it was my previous exposure to a wide variety of music that enabled me to be able to appreciate the '20s and '30s stuff and not think it was somehow "strange" for me to enjoy music that was different than what kids my own age listened to.
So that aspect of it alone has been indescribably rewarding to me throughout my entire life. But, later on, I reaped other benefits. When I discovered '20s and '30s music, for a number of years I was so obsessed with it that I had little interest for any other type of music. But as I have grown older I have rediscovered the other music I was exposed to as a child - from light classical/salon type music to the doo-wop type music of the 45s my mother used to bring home from garage sales to an older style of country reminiscent of what my mother's friend used to listen to. And that process of rediscovery and exploration in those areas has also been incredibly rewarding. And, again, all of it was the result of mere passive exposure - not of any sort of "music appreciation" being shoved down my throat.
Indeed, my experience with explicit "music appreciation" had the reverse effect. In third grade, we had a class field trip to the Fair Park Music Hall to see the Dallas Civic Opera perform
Tosca. For
weeks before the actual performance, we had class discussions about what opera was, what
Tosca was, about the story and the background, etc. We had to do
Tosca related art work. The classroom bulletin board was given a
Tosca theme. I was already SICK TO DEATH of
Tosca before we even saw it. And then we had a bus trip to the Music Hall where we had to sit still and not talk for a very long period of time while people in funny costumes loudly sang in a language we didn't understand. As a result of that experience, I hated opera for years afterward - which is a shame.
Shove something down a kid's throat and tell them it is "good" for them and I guarantee you they will not enjoy it
So if you are a "soccer mom" - do the kids you chauffeur around a favor that they may not appreciate until years later: play and listen to something that that is NOT the pop culture type stuff that they are probably already bombarded with. Play different genres and eras of music. Tune into the news. Tune into some of the better talk shows - including, occasionally, ones with viewpoints you don't necessarily agree with. Don't tell them it is "good for them" or that it is for their benefit. Tell them that since it is your vehicle and you are the one who is buying the gas and doing the driving, you are going to listen to what YOU want to listen to. Or, if it will keep the peace better, perhaps take turns in deciding what gets listened to. And if your kids are knowledgeable about the latest celebrity gossip but not about the substantive information and issues that are routinely discussed on AM radio, then their education is severely lacking and it will be detrimental to them in the long run. Your car radio (and CD player/ipod jack) is a great tool to broaden their horizons by osmosis while they are still young enough to be a captive audience.
