The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1954-03-26
Just Among Ourselves
Passing Comment considsrsd or lneOnsiasrsfs

with reference only to this world,-are the people
with articles to sell. Where the old cash return is
IN question, the man of the world puts his whole
interest effort, and attention into the business.
He will advertise his wares in the ways which ex-
perience iustifies effective matter how silly,
how nfantile, how outlandish those ways may be.
Manifestly he has learned that one Of the ways
of calling attention TO his is the way of tire.
some and sometimes maddening repetition He will
name the product over and over and again.
And sometimes he will spell it, For instance, one
advertiser Of beer mentions the name of his brew
no less than u times IN the space of single min
ute. Indeed the time is less than minute for it
Is the pause between rounds of televised prize
fight and there are few seconds needed for the
shift from ring to advertisement and back again.
The TV sd names the product nine times, and shows
the name in print twelve times more.
This endless hammering away is meant if it is
meant for anything to fix the of the advertis-
ed goods indelibly in the memory OF prospective
purchasers. And ii must prove effective, else the
canny advertiser would abandon it. And still there
30 many OF these tirelessly named brands that
wonders how the poor bedeviled mind of the
advertisee can hold them all
Modern man has learned. perforce. to encase
himself in a kind OF she'll he lapses into species
Of coma when the ads become nsistent And teach
ers will tell you that the modern pupil.--Who for
the past twenty years so has had 1.-The radio
and the movie eye, has developed the TV
unconsciousness, One disheartened instructor said
recently, Il have been lsborinR under the mis-
taken notion that when explain simple thing
fifteen times the class should begin TO understand
IT, They DON'T
II is foolish Of course to compare the school
boy Of today with the schoolboy of generation or
two past II is unfair to say that the modern child is
oht AL fat
IN the days OF yore. The thing that has changed
through the years is not human ability but the tempo
of living, The old timers, in their school days had
not TO endure endless barrage OF dStractlng and
absorbing things. There was, in the Older day some
opportunity for rep0Se, for thinking for study and
there was, in the home corner or two where
disturbed study could be exercised.
II Is not so today, The modern home is usually
a place OF close quarters. And with radio booming
here. and TN set Pickering there small oppor-
tnity Is given for the quiet application of mind TO
school subjects or TO anything else, for that mat
ter Besides, the radio and ~ are attractive; they
not only disturb attention TO mental work; they in
vite interested attention TO what they have TO say
TO show. The schoolboy Of today has much harder
Job TO do in getting down TO his duties than ever
his father his grandsire had.
And the schoolboy is not deeply interested in
commercials The advertisers often work the
child of pre-sehool age, and through him, the
parents. The schooboy is old enough TO practice
the TV coma; he just doesn't hear what does not
interest him, the advertiser can only hope, by
tnual repetition Of words phrases, to pierce
that state of unconsciousness and make the school
hoy and his elders) at least dmly aware OF the
and desirability Of the advertised goods.
The pity is that the schooboy takes his TV tech
niGue into the classroom He crawls into she'll. IL
the teacher succeeds in awakening interest ia
momentary experience usually he has TO seize that
golden instant for mparting knowledge which the
pupil usually ressts with the dull passivity of
TVewer waiting for the commercial TO pass. And
thus happens that in day which offers splendid
opportunities for effective schooling, the actual
effect is sometimes inferior To that which was
achieved when there were great central schools,
no busSes, no educational gadgetry to make learn
ing convenient and attractive.
This trick of blacking out when uninterestng
things are mentioned is readily learned. taxi
driver viii tell you that although the cabradio is
ncessant in its calls and direetiVes he Just doesn't
hear any of them except those meant for himself.
In the midst of the chatter he Is serene; the noise
does not disturb him; he is hardly aware of il at
all And yet the instant his own number is called
he is alert and attentive. This because he is work
ing for wages; If he were schoolboy he wouldn't
hear his own number, and could only with difficulty
be persuaded that he had one
An old saying was. There are none so blind as
those who will not see In this hour of radio phono
graph, and TV there is need OF saying, There
are none so deaf those who will not listen" We
are developing, If have not already developed
generation of nonlsteners. And this explains, at
least in part the fact that educators with the fin
est equipment to aid their efforts, are unable TO
turn out product marked by ability to write we'll
to speak correctly, to think straight to know the
essentials of history. geography, mathematics.
This also explains at least partly the existence
of snap-courseS and face-savng subjects in modern
high schools But, despite everything the fact re
mains that the advertiser with his hammering
repetitions does somehow manage, if only imper-
fecy, TO make contact with human minds through
the cloud she'll Of self-induced coma. And, as
noticed al the outset, the seller of goods, the
advertiser is the most practical man alive. II seems
that the educator will have TO adopt the method
of the advertising merchant He must abandon the
effort to give rounded complete instruction;
he must devote himself TO short KEY statements
repeated and repeated, not dozens but hundreds
of times
This process, If it is adopted, will not be alto
9ether new to Catholics who explain and defend
their faith For centuries they have been repeating