Do Television and Other Media Portrayals of Intelligent Youth Cause Damaging Stereotypes? by Sam Ryan
When you think of academically motivated young people you don't usually think of intelligent, everyday kids interested in school. You probably think of Steve Urkel and Screech (stereotypical "nerds" from the popular television shows Family Matters and Saved by the Bell), with huge glasses, wild hair, and no friends. That image affects all kids' attitudes about school and learning.
The media as a whole looks down on intelligent youth, although I will be focusing on television in this essay. Television portrays the gifted as outcasts, people who act in bizarre ways, "nerds," geeks, rather than varied people from all walks of life. The intelligent are usually white boys without many friends. The only girlfriends they have are unattractive ones even stranger than they are. Rare cases of miniorities and girls are stereotyped worse.
Studies have shown that intelligent children view television much more actively than other children and are afraid to look like one of the afforementioned characters or worse. In a recent study of 20,000 children, more respondents chose "druggies" than "brains" as the group they would like to belong to. Half of those who classified themselves as "brains" wished they belonged to another group.
Recognizing the media's power to change perceptions, television programmers and educators are trying to promote greater interest in math and science through the Educational Programming Initiative. Unfortunately, programs in the initiative foster stereotypes, too. Even Saved by the Bell, a grating celebration of cliches with almost no educational value, is included. Some programs with more substance, like Beakman's World, still portray a scientist as a nerdy white man with messy hair. While the Programming Initiative may be a step in the right direction, the stereotyped programs don't fit and never will achieve the objectives laid out for it.
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