can books change children.pdf

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This research falls into

three basic

forms:

content

analysis, general effects,

and

overcoming prejudices.

The content

analysis

is

the

most com

mon

type

of

study dealing

with

children's

literature,

possibly because it

is the

easiest to

conduct. Two of

the

most significant studies

in this

area were

performed

by David Cast

1967)

and Alma Homze f

1966).

Cast, investigating

minority

stereotypes

in recent

children's books, came to the con

clusion

that

although the more

objectionable

minority

stereotypes have

disappeared,

stereo

types (meaning an oversimplified, often

in

accurate view) still predominate. For ex

ample,

a

book

may deal with Negro

children,

but there

may be nothing

especially Negro

about them or the problems they face to dis

tinguish them

from

the

average suburban

white

child.

Cast

also noted that while Negro

and Japanese

children are usually

depicted

as

living

within

the

mainstream

of American

life,

Chinese,

Mexican, and Indian children

are depicted as set

apart,

either in Chinatown,

in

the

sleepy adobe pueblo, or on

the

reser

vation.

1

Homze,

in

a

much more extensive sur

vey,

examines children's

literature

from

1920-60 and notes

many

of

the

same

factors

as does Cast,

particularly

that the "middle

class white" child dominates the

field.

She

also finds evidence for

considering

children's

books a

mirror for

changes in American

family

trends over the

40-year

period.

The

more recent books, she

points

out, stress

re

liance on

self-sufficiency

and good relations

with the

peer

group in contrast

to older

books,

which emphasize the

importance of

family

and the need to depend

on

adults for guid

ance.-

The problem

with

content

analyses of

children's

books is

that they represent an

attempt to build

the house

by

working from

David K . Cast. "Minority Americans in Chil

dren's

Literature." E 2-23:

January 1967.

-

Alma Homze.

"Interpersonal

Relations in

Children's Literature."

E

3:

26-

28,

52; January 1966.

the roof down. It is impossible to gauge,

example,

the significance

of a

large or

sm

percentage of Negro characters

in rec

books until we know what

effect

the prese

or

absence

of Negro

characters

will have

children.

Until

we know that, mere

cont

analysis can

provide

little

more than

kno

edge of the books

themselves

and tren

within them. A researcher might just as w

study

the number

of fat characters,

or

c

dren who

wear

red shirts. Yet the

cont

analyses

remain the

best

studies

in

the fi

and certainly

the

ones least

open

to questi

Norine Odland, in

T

tates

the problem

p

fectly

It

is

also possible that, with the soph

cated and

refined

statistical treatments curren

available, work with affective responses

content analyses has

not been

encouraged

approved. It is difficult to

assign a mathemat

score

to a six-year-old's response to

the story

Mike

Milligan. '

1

The content of books

at least,

can

measured

and recorded statistically. The

sponse

of children to books cannot.

Fehl L . Shirley M969)

attempted

to

around

this

dilemma in a study of the

gene

effects

of reading

on concepts,

attitudes, a

behavior. Although the books to which

subjects responded

were not children's bo

(e.g.. B

he methods

of

the

stu

and its findings

are

worth noting.

Shirley asked 420

Arizona high

sch

students

to "report any changes in concep

attitudes, and

behavior

that they

had

exp

enced as

a

result of

reading." 4

Reactions

to

reading ranged

from

"T

Indifferent," who admitted to

never

hav

been influenced

by

any

sort of

reading,

to

'Decision

Maker," who was

influenced

make a specific change in his behav

through

something he had read. The exam

given is

that

of a student who decided to g

: i

Norine Odland.

T

hampaign,

Illinois:

Edu

tional Resources

Information

Center,

1969. p. 2

4

Fehl L.

Shirley.

"Influence of Reading

Concepts,

Attitudes, and

Behavior." J

2:

369-72, 407-13; February 1969.


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ally

with the pro

blem of children

's preju

ces and

re

ading.

They

a

re:

R

H

Tauran's

The Influences

of Readin

g

on the

Attitudes

f Third

Graders Toward

Eskimos 1967),

L

Fish

er's Influ

ence of Read

ing and

Dis

sion on

Attitud

es

of

Fifth

Graders Toward

ican

Indians

1965),

and

Evalene

P

's

Effect of Reading Upon

A

ttitudes

Negro R

ace

19

44).

Of

the

so far as the revie

wer

can

determin

e,

Jackson's study

has appeared

in a jour

e other two are

unpublished doctoral

sertation

s.

With

variations, the method u

sed by

of the three inve

stigators wa

s basically

sa

me. The subjects

were

d

ivided into

and

control groups and the

ir

des

toward

the

particular

ethnic

group

questio

n wer

e

recorded

by me

ans of a

naire

.

A

story or stories

dealing

with

ethnic group

wer

e

then read to one or

o

f

the

groups

an

d their

subsequent

were mea

sured with an

other

ques

Significant variations

in methodology

as follows:

1 Workin

g with two matched

groups of

white children

of

junior

high

age.

ck

son read a

story

favorable

to

Negroes

to the

mental

gro

ups. She

did not

read

to the

trol group.

2 Tauran

did not make use of a

co

ntrol

roup. Fa

vorable and

unfavorable stories deal

ing with

Eskimos

wer

e read to two groups

of

third grade classes.

3

Fisher

worked

with

three

g

roups of fifth

graders

. To the first group, six

stories

favorable

to Indians

were rea

d. In the second

group these

stories

were

read and discussed. The third group

acted as

a

cont

rol and stories w

ere

not

read to

t

hem.

Children's

stories

appear

to

have a

posi

tive

effect, at

least

fo

r a

while. Tauran,

Schneyer rep

orts, found t

hat

child

ren's atti

tudes toward Eskim

os were definitel

y shaped

by

the

stories they he

ard. Positive

ini

tial

atti

tudes

were

reinforced b

y

the

positive stories.

This

is in line with Fisher's

finding

.

Favorable stories

about Indians resulted

in

favorable

attitu

des

toward

Indians. Discus

sion of the

stories seemed

to make

the

chil

dren's

attitudes

ev

en more fa

vorable.

J

ackson noted the

same positive r

eaction

to the

favo

rable s

tories. Ho

wever,

unlike

Tauran and Fisher, Jacks

on administe

red

the same

attitude

test ag

ain

two

w

eeks

l

ater.

Whatever favorable attitudes toward

Negroes

the

children had gained

through the sto

ry

were

lost

o

ver that

period.

Afte

r

two

weeks

there

were

no

significant attit

udinal

d

iffer

ences

between the

experiment

al

an

d

control

groups.

S

chneyer's evaluation makes note

of

leading questio

ns in all three

questionnaires

which ma

y

have biase

d the resp

onses, and

raises

certain

d

oubts o

f how effe

ctive

an

instrument the

attitude

test

is, pa

rticularly

when used

as

both

a

pre-

and

post-test.

He

makes

a third general poi

nt which

is

esp

e

cially

significan

t for this

and for future

rese

arch:

One

important

element which needs f

ur

ther explanation i

s

the

influence of

the home,

community, and peer

group

in reinforcing or

opposing

the origina

l attitude.

Th

e three studies

might w

ell

be

exam

ined in

this light,

and also

in light of certain

investigations

of

the effect

of

mass media

(TV

and

m

ovies)

on

childre

n's attitudes,

as

noted

by

Mart

in and L

ois

Hoff

man:

H

immelweit

and associates

offer

the gen

eraliz

ation

that

children are more likel

y to be

influenced by the

media the less complete

their

knowled

ge is from

other sources.

This

vi

ew

would be consistent

with the Peter

son and

Th

urstone experience. While

the point has

not been fully dem

onstrated, it is reasonable to

suppose th

at in value

areas where

th

e parents

have strong, explicitly stated

views,

and where

the parents s

erve as

mo

dels for

their children's

actions, the

media

would

have little eff

ect. The

valu

es an

d

a

ttitudes which should be

most

vulne

rable

to

media

i

nfluence sh

ould be those

con

cerning which the

significant people

in the

c

hild's life have not tak

en a stan

d.

Furthermore,

ch

ildren

in

homes where the parents

do not

interac

t

frequently

wit

h their childr

en

sho

uld

be

m

ore

susceptible to me

dia influence than

J. W. Schne

yer.

Effe

cts of Reading on

Chil

dren's Attitudes.

T

3:

49:

October

1969.


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children

wh

ose relati

onship

with t

heir pa

rents is

m

ore

inte

nse.

With th

ese ideas in m

ind, it

is re

grettab

le

that

the

Taura

n

and Fish

er studies

d

id

not

make

use

of a

n evalua

tion af

ter

a period

of

tim

e. One

mig

ht, how

ever, m

ake cer

tain

hypotheses

in

the

hope

that

they will be

tes

ted in th

e futur

e.

Co

nsideri

ng

T

auran'

s study,

one

migh

t

expe

ct

the effe

ct of

the stories

to

be qu

ite

long

-lasting

, sin

ce Esk

imos

are a

group with

which few

children

have

an

y

fi

rsthand

conta

ct,

a

nd

one ab

out

which

,

ou

tside

of

Alaska

, there

w

ould

no

t

be s

trong

pare

ntal,

peer

or

c

ommun

ity know

ledge or

fee

ling.

I

n the same

light,

Jac

kson's s

tudy

is

extrem

ely enco

uraging

in tha

t she

was ab

le

to

elicit

a

positive

response

toward Negroes

at

all.

In this

case

one

w

ould

ex

pect p

eer,

par

ental,

an

d comm

unity att

itudes

to

ward

Negr

oes to

be w

ell-defi

ned

and fa

irly rig

id,

effec

tively

dis

couragi

ng d

eviatio

n. Under

these

circum

stance

s, one wo

uld

hard

ly expect

a

si

ngle st

ory

to have a last

ing eff

ect.

Fishe

r's

study raises

an in

terestin

g ques

ti

on.

S

ome hom

es and com

munitie

s,

espe

ciall

y in

the

Far

West, fo

ster negat

ive

atti

tudes

towa

rd Indi

ans, bu

t

conside

ring the

nation

as

a

whole most are probably

indif

fer

ent,

as not

many people

have

di

rect co

tact w

ith Indi

ans

or

k

now ve

ry m

uch a

bo

th

em. A

great

many unfa

vorable

attitu

d

toward

Ind

ians

are

genera

ted by

t

elevisi

and mov

ies.

Fische

r's

study

seems

to sho

that

in

itial attit

udes

can b

e overcom

e

th

rou

the

use of

sele

cted

re

adings

a

nd

a we

planned

discussion program.

A s

in

the ca

of Tau

ran's stud

y,

the quest

ion rem

ains h

o

long c

hildren

retain

the

se new

attitu

des. O

m

ight well

exp

lore the

probl

em of

wheth

or n

ot a

readin

g-discu

ssion

progr

am c

overc

ome an

d correc

t attitud

es

derive

d fro

TV a

nd movies.

Lookin

g

over

the t

otal fie

ld

of

resear

into how

chil

dren's readin

gs

affe

ct

child

re

v

alues,

one

c

an conclu

de that

book

s m

a

significant

part

in

shaping and reshapi

an indiv

idual's th

inking

;

yet the

m

eans

wh

ich the

y do

this and the

t

otal signifi

can

of

their

role

are mat

ters

stil

l

de

termin

lar

gely

b

y the

observ

ers

intui

tion. In ma

case

s childr

en's

re

adings

might

mome

ntar

af

fect their

respon

ses, but

how las

ting th

e

effe

cts are r

emains

to

be

det

ermine

d.

M

artin L

. Hoffm

an and

-

Lois Wlad

is

H

m

an. R

ume 1

New

Yor

k: Rus

sell Sag

e

Foun

dation,

19

p.

342.

Refere

nces

Davi

d

K

. Cas

t. Min

ority Ame

ricans

in Ch

il

dre

n's

Li

terature

.

E

4: 1

2 23;

Ja

nuary 1967.

A

lma H

omze. Inter

personal

Relat

ions

in

C

hildren

's

L

iterature

. E

3:

26-2

8

52:

Janua

ry

1966

.

Evalene P. J

ackson.

Effect

s of Readin

g

Upon

Attitude

s

Toward t

he Negro

Race. L

4: 47-54;

19 44 .

J.

W.

Schneye

r. Effects

of Readin

g on

Chil

dren's

Attitude

s

T

3: 4

9;

Oc

tober 1969

Fehl L.

Shirley

. Influe

nce

of Readi

ng on

A

dolescen

ts.

W

3:

256-6

0;

N

ovembe

r

1968

.

F. L.

Shirley.

Influe

nce

of Reading

on C

on

cept

s, Attitudes

, and

Behav

ior. J

12: 369-7

2 4

07-13;

Fe

bruary

1969.

Also

cit

ed, but una

vailable

for f

irstha

review:

F.

L. F

isher. I

nfluence

of Rea

ding an

d D

cu

ssion o

n

A

ttitudes

of

Fifth Graders

Toward

Am

ican Indian

s. Un

publishe

d disserta

tion, Un

iver

of

California at

Berkeley, 1965.

R

H.

Tau

ran.

The Influen

ces

of Reading

the

Att

itudes

of Th

ird G

raders Tow

ard

Eskim

Unpubl

ished diss

ertation.

Unive

rsity

of Mar

yla

College

Park, 19

67.

E

RIC A

. K IM

MEL

T

2

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