"My parents dont let me watch the news": reflections on 11+ interviews I have carried out

[hannaretch]

Over the past few weeks I have been carrying out 11+ interviews with new applicants to our school -independent day school, outside of London, thought of as the most academic school in our town.

I generally talk to the children for 20 minutes about their studies, hobbies etc and ask them to talk about themselves. The aim is to get an idea of who they are and whether they will fit in with the school ethos. We tend to interview almost all applicants as we feel that a good interview will allow us to get a better view of the individual even those with marginal entrance exam results. They get information on the type of questions they are likely to get before the day to allow them to prepare. We also ask them to bring in an item which they then talk about.

One of the standard questions I and others ask is along the lines of do you follow the news? Talk about a current news story/ what do think about Ukraine/ climate change? type thing. Nothing too major but it allows us to get an idea of their awareness of the world. Most are able to answer with basic knowledge and some understanding of the issues and it often leads to good discussions.

I was shocked that two or three of the ones I have interviewed this year stated that they werent allowed to watch the news and had no opinions/ ideas about the issues. Surely watching the news at 6 etc or online or even Newsround is basic preparation for life? (or school interview at least?)

We have huge numbers of depressed teens in this country. Self harming, eating disorders etc. My ds (14) chooses not to watch the news and I don't encourage him.

We talk about current affairs on the school run, I make sure he knows the basics, but I don't go into the gruesome and depressing detail of some of the news programmes. I'd rather my child (and he is still a child) is cheerful and happy. His GCSEs introduce him to enough of the world's realities.

He'll become more aware in the next year or two and that timing is as I'd expect it to be. There's no rush.

I'd rather shelter my child from the horrors of the world where I can and happy to explain where needed.

She asked about the war in Ukraine a few days after it started, I'd intended to talk to her about it once I'd processed what was happening. I understood it was something g she should know but was trying to work out how to explain it all. Turns out they watch newshound at school. No warning to parents that they did this so we could be ready for questions but at least I no longer had to explain it all.

She now has a Ukrainian in her class so they don't show the news so they are not distressed.

I also think comparisons to ww2 or children living in Ukraine are false.

In ww2 children didn't have graphic moving colour films beamed into their living room. They had black and white at the cinema newsreel, or the papers, or radio. It wasn't so in your face.
Children in war zones now have to live through stuff, but may well be getting traumatised by their experiences. We need to inform but not traumatise our children. They may need to know about the war, but not every gory detail.

I do talk with my DD about the strikes, the threat on female spaces, funding of health and education, voting etc.

I don't watch the news myself never mind my children. The reason for this is that is an unending list of misery and fear which is not good for my mental health. And no, it's not "real life", it's all the bad stuff in life. Once upon a time they used to at least have good news tagged into the end, but not anymore.

Also, like many, we're struggling financially, so we can no longer afford a TV licence, so couldn't watch the TV if we wanted to. I don't buy newspapers for a similar reason (cost and it's all "fear sells" and "look at these rich people").

I don't stop my kids looking up the news, but I don't encourage it. They've more than enough to worry about and I didn't know about the horrible stuff going on in the world as a kid, because I was busy playing and being a kid. Why the hell would I want them worrying about the Ukraine rather than being on their swings.

I listen to the radio most days... and the news usually is on during or after dinner.

We discuss current affairs and world news. I think it's important for children to grow up with an awareness of what's going on in the world.

When I was growing up my parents always watched the 6 o'clock news.

I'd rather that than watching you tubers talking endless crap about orbeez and Fortnite

My DD (13) chooses not to watch the news. She loved watching newsround when she was younger, but during Covid hated all the constant talk of deaths and serious illness. She always asked for it to be turned off.
The news hasn't got much better since then. Wars, money worries for people, dog attacks, people going missing. She still asks for it to be turned over and, to be honest, I don't blame her!!
She's very intelligent and with discussions at school and bbc online news, whch she scrolls through and picks and chooses what she wants to read, she's very aware of what's going on in the world.

The post by @Longtalljosie is spot on. How 'news' is gathered and offered up has changed hugely in a relatively short space of time. I would add that news is more separated from commentary these days and that can make the news flow seem more intense when, in reality, we live in times no better or worse than previously.

I also agree with @HighRopes that there may be ways in which the OP could refine the interview question phrasing and process to get a better sense of a student's awareness of the wider world, their own interests and other aspects.

Funnily enough, we never really got on with Junior Week but did get our children to read bits of The Week and use that as the basis for family discussion (and still do). As it happens, I also use MN threads, mostly on these education boards, as the basis for debate with my now teen DC. Not sure how that might have gone down as an answer in a school interview!

I didn't know about the horrible stuff going on in the world as a kid, because I was busy playing and being a kid. Why the hell would I want them worrying about the Ukraine rather than being on their swings.

Surely this is a false dichotomy, there is space for both. In fact I remember being on a roundabout in April 1986 aged 10 discussing our likely radiation dose from Chenobyl with my friends. Of course we all knew about radiation sickness because of the cold war and having read Z for Zachariah. Knowing about stuff and having an informed opinion isn't the same as being terrified. It is right to be anxious about some things, learning to deal with anxiety is a useful life skill.

I don’t really hold watching the news up as some kind of good. In fact it used many tactics which are probably bad for people - 24 hour cycles of attention grabbing, don’t turn off content

We do have the radio on and I choose what gets my attention . It is after all the attention economy and what you spend time looking at is making money from it.

I’d rather talk to dc about how to consume media without it dominating too much. Choose how to gain knowledge with things that inform rather than provoke.

My kids in Primary school watched the news every morning - Newsround on iPlayer. 10 minutes, then the teacher would have a discussion about the issues.

Agree that many children are not consuming media or news in the way which we did growing up but getting your "news" from influencers is not a good thing in many cases.

This is a good way to put it too.

I stopped watching TV news a few years ago, because it is so dumbed down & patronising. Radio 4 and decent newspapers are a much better way to get sensible content. But I agree that parents should be encouraging their kids to access it in some form, & discussing it at meals etc. If people think the news is "too frightening" then they've obviously fallen for some of the over -dramatic bulletins as mentioned above, & lost their ability to think critically!

In ww2 children didn't have graphic moving colour films beamed into their living room. They had black and white at the cinema newsreel, or the papers, or radio. It wasn't so in your face.

I think the children in WW2 knew exactly what was going on. Perhaps you should talk to those people, lots of them are still alive. My Uncle would was been 6 in '39 he knows a huge amount about the strategy of the Alllies and the politics of the time. I think they listened to the radio while at school.

I think my kids might be more frightened of doing an interview than watching the news! I guess it's very good preparation for life. Is it a 1-1 interview? Are these kids generally quite confident?

Those would be my children the ! As someone who works very closely with children and young people with MH issues, my children won't be watching the news if I can help it or getting a phone until they're at university! There are other ways in discussing world events.

I don't watch the news around my son as he's only 4. Was listening to it on the radio, lots talk about sexual assault, rape, and an interview about how the police are dangerous. I turned off as he was listening intently at the back of the car. At the age of 11 I would like to think I'd definitely be letting him listen and use it as a talking point/learning opportunity.

What is the school ethos?

I think these types of criteria’s are missing out on some fab kids. I remember my DSs teacher in year 6 told us he wasn’t “grammar school material” and advised us against him doing the 11+ and refused to include him in the little group he had singled out to prep for the 11+
We went for it anyway and he passed. He came out top of his year in his final year and went on to get a 1st in engineering at a top Uni and can talk about anything now to anyone.

Never watched the news with him at that age.

I stopped watching the news during covid. I realised that having that level of negatively in my life wasn't doing me or my family any good.
I was feeling angry with politics , brexit etc.

Now I largely ignore it and my life has improved enormously.

I now just dip in on social media

'Lots of them are still alive' - yes like my parents.

I didn't say people didn't know about it, just it wasn't so graphic and in their face. Colour movies in the living room are more 'there' than just reading or hearing about the news. It's the visual aspect that has a big impact.

When dd was younger we used to get First News, at her request. She first read it at school.

We don't really watch the news on TV. We aren't always home/sat watching tv at that time. I tend to get my news online, as does dh - no news app, websites, etc.

I'm not a huge fan of tv news and would never watch it just before bed, etc, But will read news at other times.

I don't disagree, the images of the starving Ethiopian children I saw on the news age 10 are still razor sharp in my mind. Does the news really contain such alarming images before the watershed ? Most of the footage of Ukraine is ariel views of lines of tanks. Agree some of the images of the Italian hospitals at the start of Covid were alarming, but I think the average yr6 should be able to cope with that.

Since Covid, we have stopped watching the news in our house. The media have a lot to answer for regarding unnecessary scare mongering and bias in stories. We talk about current affairs around the dinner table and encourage debat instead.

I am shocked however, that an 11+ interviewer is being negatively swayed by children who are not watching the news. Given the mental health epidemic sweeping our society which is largely driven by the media, I think taking a step back and discussing events as a family, giving children the freedom to debate issues and come to their own conclusions is, in my opinion, far better than being able to parrot out a biased view of something dependent on what news outlet you watch.

I struggle with children and the news. They obviously need a level of understanding about what’s going on but I don’t watch the news and I find it too unpredictable to let them. Often the news will come on the car radio and all rape, exploitation, stabbings, murder and suicide. Obviously children need to know those things happen in the world but I don’t want daily exposure.

Appreciate this is the 11+ but I’ve got a 6 year old and a 10 year old. One minute we are singing in the car to the radio and 2 secs later it’s the news telling us about children being sexually abused. I turn it off. The kids don’t need to hear it and you never know what’s coming next

We rarely sit and and watch the news tbh but I have the radio on whilst cooking and eating every evening. C4 news if we’re done with everything else by then. My Ds get their news online. Both are politically engaged.

That’s brilliant to hear!

I don’t watch the news, my son never has, we’re much happier for it.