Abstract:
The purposes of this research were : To study and evaluate the education values in Japanese cartoons on television as perceived by teachers, educators and Children program producers. Research Procedures 1. Title names of the Japanese cartoons broadcasted on television during November 1984 and May 1985 were collected. These Japanese cartoons must consist of at least 20 series or were broad casted for a minimum period of one month. There were 15 title names of the selected Japanese cartoons. 2. Two hundred and two sets of questionnaires constructed from the data obtained from the previous procedure were distributed to 210 Prathom Suksa 3-6 Children in Bangkok Elementary schools. They were asked to identify their favorite cartoon series. 3. According to 202 completed questionnaires returned, eight cartoon series, Doraemon, Ninja-Hatori, Ji-Jee Sannibell, Lupang, Muteking Dr. Slump and Ikkue-sang were selected by the Prothom Suksa 3-6 children. These eight cartoon series were selected as their favorite by at least 60% of the sample. 4. The selected series of each story were video taped to be previewed by 5 children-program producers. 5. A set of questionnaires was constructed. Items in the questionnaires were developed upon recognized evaluation criteria for children literature. 6. The questionnaires were then distributed to be filled by 230 Prathom-Suksa 6 teachers under the Juristiction of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, and by 65 educators in 6 Departments of curriculum Instruction. 7. The questionnaires, together with video-tapes recorded the 8 selected cartoon series were sent to 5 children-program producers. 8. The returned data from the teachers, educators and the television producers were analyzed by means of percentage and presented in descriptive manner. The educational values of the 8 stories were also judged upon the set criteria. Research Findings Most Japanese cartoons broadcasted on television stressed too much fantasies. Children, as the audience got pleasure from viewing them. However, the data showed the least educational values in these cartoons. Thus it is recommended for the television broadcast stations to pay more attention in selecting higher educational quality cartoons, these with more explicit moral values for children. Among the 8 selected stories the teachers, educators agreed upon Ikkue-Sang as presenting more educational values than the rest. Doraemon, Ninja-Hatori, Sammibell and Ji-Jee presented less educational values. And Lupang Muteking,Dr. Slump presented the least educational values, and shouldnt be regarded as children-entertainment any more. The 5 television producers agreed among themselves that Ikkue-Sang presented the most educational values to children. Ninja-Hatori, Doraemon and Sannibell presented lesser educational value in comparing to Ikkue-Sang. Ji-Jee and Muteking presented less educational values. And Dr. Slump and Lupang presented the least educational values, and should be removed from the television programs.