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INFLUENCE OF HOME VIDEO ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND BEHAVIOUR OF STUDENTS IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

1.0   Introduction

1.1   Background to the Study

Film exhibition began to thrive during the colonial era, with Glover memorial Hall playing host to a range of memorable films viewed by Nigerians in August 1903 (Okon, 2009). According to Okome (1991) in Odejobi (2014) it was the magic of the moment for people to see moving pictures. For many years films continued to be shown in film houses in Lagos, to relieve the monotony of Lagos life through interesting and innocent entertainment” (Opubor and Nwuneli, 2009).

At the inception of film industry, motion picture was developed largely for educational purposes only to have that purpose engulfed in a wave of commercial and entertainment explosion. The advent of globalization as a result of urbanization and civilization such as access to television and cable network programmes have attracted most students to watching of television and they are often distracted by series of cartoons and movie activities (Fehintola & Audu, 2012).

In recent times, home video has remained an instrument of entertainment, information and education and it has taken more than half of other existing entertainment forms, which equally compete for time and attention of the average citizen (Oladunjoye, 2012).

Since the early 20th century, the American film industry dominated the cinema across the world. In early 1910, Griffith, a renowned film director shot the ever first movie in Hollywood titled “in old California” before world war I, film makers gravitated to southern California as the first Hollywood studio was opened in 1911 by the Nestor company. The film making industry was later dominated by the Jews who were immigrants as racial prejudice prevented them from other industries. By the mid 1940’s the film market was making 400 movies a year.

Onokeme (2004) noted that the Nigeria video film has transformed itself into an art, creating its own version of the Nollywood. The motion picture business grew from an estimated turnover of about 2.5 million in 1994 to a 3.4 million in 1999. Larkin (2006) noted that this development resulted in the production of over 600 films a year and this made Nigeria one of the largest film producing nations in the world. Okoye (2003) observed that Ken Mnebue, a resourceful Nigerian entrepreneur pioneered the Nigerian home video by producing “living in Bondage” in 1992. However, Nollywood is arguably the third most vibrant film industry in the world after Hollywood and Bollywood.

With the influx of videos with assorted themes in the market and the uncontrolled nature of sales and rentals parents and children buy or rent films which may have adverse effect on the morals of the entire citizenry. Since much time could be wasted by children in watching some of these videos, there could be serious implications in their behaviour and academic performance. Bride (1980) in Oladunjoye (2012) in a research report estimated that at the age of 18 years, a child spends more time watching the television than any other activity beside sleep. It was also noted that at the first 15 years of the child’s life, he loves watching the screen than going to school. The child is exposed to home video through the television screen and so there is the tendency for the adolescent to be influenced by what he sees. Bride (2000) comments that the media of communication such as home videos are cultural instruments which serve to protect or influence attitude, to motivate, foster the spread of behaviour patterns and bring about social integration. So, a child begins to perceive what he sees in the home video as a pattern of behaviour or culture that is acceptable. Perception and experience contribute to the development of a person’s behaviour. What a child sees is accepted as a norm, he tries to imitate.

Home videos could be said to have both negative and positive influence on the Nigerian child depending on the type of film, the time, and the level of control parents are able to adopt. It is however, clear that a child imitates what he sees hence he must be guided. Onokeme (2004) stated that violence is one of the effects of home video. Children who watch a lot of violent films are prone to violent acts. There is the belief that people often accept the fictional representation in the media for their vivid and demonstrative relay of pictures. The Home-video is popularly considered by many people as a school of violence as it has the ability to hold its audience better than any conventional school. Ekwazi (2001) opined that when children identify themselves with admired aggressive heroes and heroins in the home videos and copy their behaviour, whenever a relevant situation arises, the child is most likely to perceive a particular link between media mediated fantasy and concrete reality.

Adieza (2004) also noted that most home videos depict sexually related behaviour and when children watch such movies, they are sexually aroused especially the adolescent and this could often lead to such anti-social vices as sexual addiction, lesbianism and homosexuality. There are the long-term and short-term effects of home video especially as it affects the behaviour of the child. Traits such as hostility may be the effect of watching films with violent content. This can stimulate aggressive thought and feelings. Adesanya (2004) believes that viewing violent programme can alter children’s behaviour such as making the child afraid, worried and suspicious. It can also increase the child’s tendency for aggressive behaviour.

Pornographic films have untold negative effects on the child as it escalates his sexual urge and he tends to venture into experimentation. The most dangerous is the fact that home videos take children’s time as noted by Adesanya (2004), thereby depriving them of maximum concentration on their school work such as revision of notes, assignments and even domestic chores. They prefer to remain glued to the screen rather than participate actively in home chores. In Most Nigerian homes, the best form of entertainment is watching films. Most home video have a time duration of one hour, thirty minutes and some two hours, so there is a high risk of obesity. Okoye (2003) however, advised that the home video may not be as toxic as most people may see it. It depends on the modernization put into it. Some home video could be educative.

In Nigeria, television is a product of globalization which is an important source of educational enlightenment (Naigles & Mayeaux, 2000). Television provides better, sophisticated, diverse information and education. It is also a source of entertainment. This aided the explosion of films in the country. Hence, motion picture showed definite signs of becoming significant in the entertainment industry leading to an explosion in the number of film goers. It was also recorded that over the past 20 years, in the United States of America, children have been participants in what is called, a “mass media explosion”. In 2000 97% of American homes with children had television sets, 97% had a video cassette recorder, and 89% had a personal computer or other video game-capable equipment (Federal trade Commission, 2000). As a result, children spend a larger part of their time consuming all forms of media; more than half of this time is spent watching television, movies, or videos (Roberts, Foehr, Rideout, & Brodie, 2009). Thus, television was seen as a distraction during teaching/learning process which has become a common daily occurrence among secondary school students across the nation (Fehintola and Audu, 2012). In fact, television has been variously criticized for negative impact on academic performance of secondary school students. For instance, Gentile and Anderson (2003); Shin (2004) cited in Burgess, Stermerand and Burgess (2012) expressed concern that television viewing might begin to compete for academic time and eventually decrease school performance.

Another point that aided the explosion of film goers is the depressed economy and parents’ desire to make ends meet. Many families were turn apart leaving the care of their children to the grannies while they went in search of greener pastures. They do not bother to check up their children’s performance in schools. This encourages truancy in children. Little time is devoted to their studies since they are left alone to make decisions on their own. They neglect their homework and are not prepared in class (A common sense media Research study, 2012). In support of this idea, Sharif, Wills, and Sergeant (2010) asserted that time spent on media use could simply displace time spent doing other activities that promote academic performance, such as doing homework or reading books. The after math of this could be seen in the high rate of failure recorded for them both at internal and external examinations.

Films were made for the viewing pleasure of Nigerians with messages to inspire, motivate, reprove, and correct anomalies especially in the political and social systems, to eschew violence and all forms of evil. Home video viewing, however, provides an accessible domestic venue that extends the movie market to diverse mainstream audiences in cities and rural villages. Televisions are now common, and the homes of television owners often become crowded with extended family and friends gathered for an evening of watching movies. It is worthy of note that people as well as students have a more lasting impression of what they see and experience and less difficulty in recalling. Home video has remained an instrument of entertainment, information and education. To corroborate this assertion, Omojuwa, Timothy, and Obiekezie (2009) opined that general audience programmes are not deliberately designed for instruction but for entertainment. Hence, the use of film for academic instructions could affect school performance positively in acquisition and retention but there is no gain saying that the type of home video films currently produced in Nigeria are not educational and therefore, not motivating and beneficial to academic performance of secondary school students.

Based on this background, the researcher embarked on the study of home video and the Nigerian child and its implications on academic performance and behaviour of secondary school students in Education District II, Lagos state.

1.2   Statement of the Problem

Nigeria is currently facing serious concerns on the erosion of her culture because television programmes are filled with activities such as rape, assassination, street fights, armed robbery, domestic violence and other forms of immoral behaviours that can cause violence. These television programmes and the music that youths and children are exposed to contain a lot of violent and immoral contents that are eroding the good social values and morals that the country was set on for the general good (Anatsui and Adekanye, 2014).

These youths and children are vulnerable to these programmes that are not well scrutinized and unsupervised. The media constructs a reality for its audiences, and so its audiences eventually adopt symbolic violent world of the media as a reflection of their reality. Negative outcomes have been observed in today’s schools, which appear to be related to too much of the wrong kind of media exposure such as: attention deficit disorder, behavioural problems, faltering academic abilities, language difficulties (which extends to reading comprehension as well as oral expression) and weak problem-solving skills are reported by teachers across the globe. Of course, parents rushed life-styles and societal changes are partially responsible as well. The presence of television in homes has grown rapidly over the years in Nigeria. Parents, who can afford certain luxuries for their children, provide television sets for their children in their rooms and this gives teenagers the opportunity to view programmes without parental supervision (Folarin, 2012).

Ayodeji (2008) reported that in the result of all the assessments, the performance of Nigerian children both at primary and secondary school levels were rated very low. Evidences of poor performance of Nigerian students abound in the yearly results published by West African Examination Council and Nigeria Examination Council. All the results indicate consistent decline in students’ performance in external examinations. The problem has assumed a serious dimension in all levels of the nation’s education system.

All these and more, necessitate the study of home video and the Nigerian child and its implications on academic performance and behavior of secondary school students in Education District II, Lagos state.

1.3   Purpose of the study

The major objective of this study is to examine the influence of home video on academic performance and behaviour of secondary school students. Other specific objectives of this study are to:

i.             Assess the difference between parents and teachers opinion on the influence of home video on students academic performance.

ii.           Determine the difference between parents’ and teachers’ opinion on the influence of home video on students’ behaviour.

1.4   Research Questions

The following questions are to guide the study:

i.             Is there any difference between parents and teachers’ opinion on the influence of home video on students’ academic performance?

ii.           Is there any difference between parents’ and teachers’ opinion on the influence of home video on students’ behaviour?

1.5   Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses are to be tested in the study:

i.             There is no significant difference between parents’ and teachers’ opinion on the influence of home video on students’ academic performance.

ii.           There is no significant difference between parents and teachers’ opinion on the influence of home video on students’ behaviour.

1.6   Significance of the study

This study will be of great importance to parents, students, school administrators, video censor’s Board among others.  The study will sensitize parents on the need to regulate and monitor the type of films which their children watch in order to curb the negative influences of the media on school age children and this will promote their concentration on academic activities.

School administrators will see the need to enforce the teaching of media education in the school system and through this subject, the young ones will begin to respond thoughtfully and critically to media content. It will also enable the kids or the teenagers to imbibe the culture of peace and by this the society will experience a healthy co-existence.

The findings of this study will also enable the National Film and Video Censor’s Board (NFRCB) to ensure that strict rules and regulations on films and Television programmes are put in place especially those films which portray violence, nudity, ritual killings, cultism among others. This will reduce the level of moral decadence prevalent in our society.

Teachers will be motivated to give enough home work to students so that the major part of their leisure time will not be spent on watching television. This will promote private studies and there will be subsequent improved academic achievement.

1.7   Scope of the study

This study covers examination of the influence of home video on academic performance and behaviour of secondary school students in Mushin Lagos Government Area of Lagos State. The study is limited to opinion of parents and teachers on the influence of home video on academic performance and behaviour of secondary school students.

1.8   Operational Definition of Terms

Home video: refers to a system of recording and reproducing moving images using magnetic tape.

Academic performance: It refers to students output at the end of tests and examinations. It shows the level at which students have been able to acquire the various knowledge and skills to which they were exposed.

Behaviour: Refers to individuals’ responses or reaction to the various stimuli in his environment.

Television (TV): Is a compact electronic structure which serves as a transmission device. It is also a communication media which transmits motion pictures.

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