Learning
Television can be a powerful teacher. Watching Sesame Street is an example of how toddlers can learn valuable les- sons about racial harmony, cooperation, kindness, simple arithmetic and the alphabet through an educational television format. Some public television programs stimulate visits to the zoo, libraries, bookstores, museums and other active recreational selungs, and educational videos can cerlainly serve as powerful pro- social teaching devices. The educational value of Sesame Street, has been shown to mprove the reading and learning skills of its viewers. In some disadvantaged settings healthy television habits may actually be a beneficial teaching tool. Still, watching television takes time away from reading and schoolwork. More recent an well-controlled studies show that even 1 h to 2 h of daily unsupervised television viewi y school-aged children has a significant deleterious effect on academic performance, specially reading