ABSTRACT
Over the years, a number of theories have been offered to explain the decline in academic achievement. One of the most prevalent is the attempt to assign substantial blame to heavy television viewing. This chapter addresses that thesis and considers studies by the California State Department of Education, the National Assessment of Educational Progress and other groups, and a discussion of falling Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. In the California survey, children of professionals and semi-professionals, even those that viewed four or more hours a day, did much better than children of the skilled and unskilled, even those that watched little or no television. Despite the significance of the socioeconomic background, the headlines reporting on the California study proclaimed heavy television viewing as the culprit. Even as the controversy about television has continued, the medium has made significant contributions to children's education.
