Preview

Plato - the Greater Part of the Stories Current Today We Shall Have to Reject

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1177 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Plato - the Greater Part of the Stories Current Today We Shall Have to Reject
"The Greater Part of the Stories Current Today We Shall Have to Reject" The Influence of reading material and television on children's abilities to distinguish between what is true and not true

Throughout time and history, the concerns of many have been made regarding the influence of the media on children and our young people. Although media, its various forms and those who are in control of them have changed throughout as time has progressed, the concerns still are the same. Plato wrote about the influence that poets had on young people of his time in the same way that those who have analyzed this issue today have revealed the effects of literature and television on today's children.

Plato strongly states in his writing "The Greater Part of the Stories Current Today We Shall Have to Reject" that initially we should begin with the children's mind and be more concerned with their appropriate education based on the literature they read as opposed to concerns with the physical aspect of their bodies. He then states that in doing so, "And we shall begin by educating mind and character," "In this education you would include stories, would you not?" As Plato progresses, he references particular poets and writers that have written about wars and gods and the terrible things that had happened to the characters in their writings, and states that these parts of these stories, or the stories as a whole should not be allowed to be read by, to or told to children. He states that "Then it seems that our first business is to supervise the production of stories, and choose only those we think suitable, and reject the rest." Basically, with no holds barred, Plato feels that what is written and put out there for the public reading and review should be edited and controlled. He stated that he felt these writers/poets in particular should be told to censor their writings.

I agree with Plato's objections stated above, however not to the degree where what is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Alison Bechdel demonstrates on “compulsory reading” essay that children should never be pressured on reading books or stories beyond their desire ones, otherwise they develop aversion toward reading. She begins by admitting that she was a hardcore reader when she was young, but that change when her parents give her undesired books to read. Consequently, Bechdel develops a strong aversion toward reading. Furthermore, she loathes reading that anybody suggested her. She becomes an adult with a strong hatred toward reading, however that changes when she founds more compelling books on her parents’ book shelves. Children are naive and skeptical therefore adults should not force them to anything beyond their desire interest…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    From television to magazines the mass media is all around us, silently shaping society. Many people do not realize how much media can influence how they view the world. Children are the most vulnerable to the media’s influence. Through their daily consumption of television, literature, and culture, their cultural lens is being formed. Some influences the media have are unintentional however; many individuals are using the influence of media to shape generations. An example of an individual is the world-renown author Dr. Seuss. This man did more than write books that purely entertained children. When looking into his stories one can find that he addressed a social issue in most of his stories. He used his creative and unusual style of writing to slyly influence the life of children for generations. One of his more blatantly sociological books was The Star-Bellied Sneetches and Other Stories. Later becoming a movie, this story told a tale of seemingly naive creatures that learned tolerance. However, when taking a closer look, one can there is so much more being revealed. In Dr. Seuss’ The Star-Bellied Sneetches and Other Stories he addresses the issue of social stratification and unknowingly reinforces its importance to the flow of a society.…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Plato believes that education is the surest way to an ideal society. In today’s society education is atopic brought up in debates quite frequently because it is important that the youth are educated so they can fill in jobs and run the country when they are older. This does not mean everyone gets an education, for there are many countries where education can not be afforded or is not the best. Yet in today’s school system students are not treated for their full potential.…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Media Chapter 3

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Chapter 5 covers many examples of why the media treats children as a special audience. Potter first explains that children have a lack of experience and maturation with the media. He underlines the importance of a good elementary education for gaining more experience, being educated, and aware of certain media messages. Children have a lack of maturation which is why Potter clarifies that there are certain things a child can learn at certain ages in their lives. The author emphasizes that cognitive, emotion, and moral development are vital for children from a media literacy perspective. Once the media recognized the impact of certain content portrayed to children had, TV and advertising regulated this explicit content. Potter discusses about…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The main purpose of this article is to convince the reader of the negative consequences of television being watched by our younger generation. Not just the quantity but the quality as well. It is too also show how parents fail to monitor what they allow their children to watch on television. It also shows how their developing minds are absorbing what they see and hear and television and the negative consequences to it.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The thing I learned from this article is that children’s books are very influential in a child mind and t young age. Children are like sponges the information that is given. Singer (2011) state in her article” That old fashion notions that an author simply imparts, by writing words on paper, ideas and information to a porous reader has been replaced with an argument about implied reader who does not absorb a text so much as work to understand (Pg5) From this as we discussed in one of our discussion about mass media and how it have a influence on children perception on women being sexual icons. I look at this like as parents are involved where they can explain what is right or wrong.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    While it might seem difficult to find a common connection between the works in this varied genre, one thing that all of these texts have in common is the desire to better their readers through information. From the folk tales to the religious instruction, each one of the texts has an intellectual tone. There is no collective or specific position found among all of the texts, they all lead to the same idea that children should take in the information, and use it to become better and more intelligent citizens. Looking more closely at three specific works, readers will gain a better understanding of the content found within children's literature, and the ways that authors went about portraying their individual messages. It is also important to…

    • 1900 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Strasburger, Victor C., and Edward Donnerstein. "Children, Adolescents, and the Media: Issues and Solutions." Pediatrics 103.1 (1999): 129-39. Web. 15 Nov.…

    • 3069 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Media vs. Parenting

    • 3109 Words
    • 13 Pages

    This is an argument that should indefinitely point out the major impacts on young children. However this will be examining this topic in a much broader sense that will encompass the media as an entity and not focus only on the negative aspects but also the positive aspects of the media to show that the media is not in all ways bad for children. Media affecting children is increasingly rising, and is becoming a big factor among children's behaviors, but other factors such as parenting will also participate to whether media is harmful to children.…

    • 3109 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    "Media Influence on Youth." Media Influence on Youth. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http:…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Plato's Jeoprody

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages

    This philosopher believed that the goal of education is to produce philosophers that benefit the State.…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Plato's Timaeus

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages

    * Kraut, Richard (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Plato. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. (ISBN: 0-521-43610 9; B395.C28 1992).…

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Plato

    • 1106 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Plato is aware that in order to create a perfect society, he must first begin by educating the mind of youth to shape their character. To have a good society, we must first have good citizens. To have good citizens, children must be well-educated first. To be well-educated, children must be exposed to good material and shielded from the "bad" material. The youth must be taught by the Guardians and exposed to stories of both truth and fiction. The Guardians are the most intelligent and dominant select few people in the Republic who have the power of overseeing, regulating, and creating rules for those within the society. According to Plato, "the true object of education is to teach as to love what is beautiful" (100). While the mind is still simple and easy to mold, Plato states the learning process must first begin with fiction. Plato's idea is that the children in the society are permitted from listening to any stories or viewing any art that does not portray a truthful life. In order for this to happen, the productions of the stories will be supervised and there will be a selection of suitable stories to be told. These…

    • 1106 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    History of Plato

    • 1471 Words
    • 6 Pages

    It is difficult to determine the precise chain of events that led Plato to the intricate web of beliefs that unify metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and politics into a single inquiry. We can be certain, however, that the establishment…

    • 1471 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Media vs. Education

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages

    “Eight-to eighteen-year-olds spend more time with media than in any other activity besides (maybe) sleeping- an average of more than 7 ½ hours a day, seven days a week,” according to the Kaiser Family Foundation Study. This statistic shows how much of an importance the media has on children these days. They spend most of their time in front of some sort of screen; whether it’s a television, phone, iPad, or computer screen, as if it were an unpaid job, absorbing what they see and/or hear. The media today is a great part of children’s lives especially with this generation known as Generation M2. All of the variety of interactions they make with certain types of media, such as watching TV, playing video games, listening to music, tweeting, chatting on AOL and more are the interactions children take part in everyday that offer opportunities to absorb different types of topics. For instance, Black Ops, a video game that revolves around shooting the so called ‘enemies’ refers to the topic of violence, or another example would be Keeping Up With The Kardashians which is a reality television show reflecting not only on the topic of family relationships but also sex. With the understanding of the concept that kids these days are becoming greatly attached to the media it comes to the thought of questioning the affects it has on a child and their education. Is there some sort of relationship between kids’ media use and poor school performance?…

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays