Thomas R. Giblin

Pouring through this collection of essays and articles about the challenges of incorporating new media and popular culture into literary education is an interesting experience to say the least, if for no other reason than that it was published nearly a half-century ago. On the surface, of course, is the novelty of looking back to watch educators express their concerns about losing students to the distractions of "record machines" and paperback novels. But while some sections may feel a bit more antiquated than others - we won't even get into the article on "Popular Culture and Negro Education" that laments the focus of negro classrooms on oral exchange rather than written assessment - what is even more intriguing is how many of the pieces included in this anthology are still relevant today. Swap out the dated technologies of radios and records with iPods and Smart Phones, and many of the voices in these debates over letting pop culture into the classrooms still have a valid point even now. Essays questioning the wisdom of excluding popular entertainment from classrooms and forcing students to suffer through dense and antiquated classics are still important despite the electronic forms those pop culture vehicles now take, and it is especially eerie while reading a piece from 1970 on discovery of the individual through literature to stumble upon the prediction that "...by the year 2000 it will be possible to place a man under constant surveillance without his ever becoming aware of it." Little could they have guessed that we would become active participants in our own surveillance.

Hindsight also works to expose the sources of our modern fears and concerns, and allows us to question the validity of current biases. Having lived through the crusades against violent films and video games of the eighties and nineties, I was amused that the only two articles that touched on the dangers of exposing children to violence on television were not concerned with fantasy depictions of brutality, but instead the depiction of actual scenes of violence delivered by broadcast news, and that a third one that chastised news organizations for creating scenes of "manufactured outrage" when covering the political protests of the late sixties managed to not only reflect today's concerns regarding biased media, but at the same time expose the author's own bias against sympathetic portrayals of left-wing activism. That isn't the only glimpse of a more conservative approach to the topic at hand - S. I. Hayakawa seems to spend more time defending his actions and media exposure during the student strike at San Francisco State University then reflecting on the role of popular media in education - but the majority of this collection is fairly progressive, if not contextually radical. Media Theory guru Marshall McLuhan is not only mentioned in almost every piece - and almost always positively - he has a section dedicated specifically to exploring his role and influence regarding the subject. Whether the topic is the dangers of news media, bringing news periodical into the classroom, exploring the literature of film, or turning to popular music to teach poetry, there appears to be a uniform agreement among the contributing authors of this collection; that the influence of popular culture and mass media on young students cannot be ignored, but must instead be acknowledged and assimilated. I have no doubt that even five decades removed from this text, modern day teachers will agree.

With over forty unique voices contributing to this discussion, I feel it necessary to point out a few of my favorites:

Wired for Sound: Teaching, Communications, and Technological Culture - Walter J. Ong.

A Recipe for Triggering Relevance - Frank McLaughlin

Modern Media and Teaching: A Raid on the Inarticulate - Roger B. Fransecky

The Gadfly and the Dinosaur - Ted Palmer

Is Literature Dying? - Solomon Simonson

Literature and the Resumption of Self - Edmund J. Farrell

In Defense of Trash - John Rouse… (meer)