マス・コミュニケーションと学校教育

抄録

It should be noted that mass communication has remarkably developedwith different media, and that a large quantity of information acquiredthrough mass media has led us to the change of our daily life. In thissituation, research in the field of mass communication has been conductedmainly on what effects and influences communication activities have uponthe children.
In this article, however, the writers discuss, in terms of school in theflow of mass communication, the problem of re-consideration of the schooleducation, above all, the communication system at school. We can regardthe text books, records, slides, etc. used at school as mass media, includingother typical mass media such as broadcast, newspaper and magazine.Therefore, we can regard school as a system of processing informationacquired through these media.
There are two types of communication in accordance with the characteristicsof media.
One is a “conveying” communication, the other is a “mutual amplifying” one. In a “conveying” communication, the teacher may act as anopinion leader in so-called two-step flow of communication. In a “mutualamplifying” communication, we can say that the teacher has more characteristicsas a tutor to the pupils or the students. In these communicationsystems at school, antra-personal communication, personal communication, and mass communication interact dynamically.
In other words, this is a dialogic process between “his own individual” world and “commonly owned” world. Therefore, in learning and instructionprocess, we may find two flows, that is, the flow from “homogeneous” to “individual” and the flow from “individual” to “homogeneous.” Theformer corresponds to a “conveying” communication, and the latter toa “mutual amplifying” one.
It has been proposed that by modifying some parts of the recordedmaterials, we can make good use of the audio-visual teaching aids, especiallytelevision films. This proposal surely hits the mark in the caseof a “conveying” communication, but a “mutual amplifying” communicationwill not always allow us to do this kind of modification. In thisrespect, we need to consider seriously this problem since it seems reasonableto suppose that the aspect of school as a “mutual amplifying” communicationsystem will be emphasized and be significant in school educationin future. Otherwise, the existence of school itself might be endangered.