Reality Television

Reality Television

October 25, 2018

Michael Earnshaw

@mearnshaw158

This is the true story, of one principal, chosen to pick up his kids from an arcade filming a reality television show.  

When my friend texted me that she was at the arcade with my kids after school, and they were filming a reality show there, I can’t lie, I was little excited! I’ve never been on television before, and how cool would it be to see me in the background? Of course, the drive over had more traffic than usual, and the texts kept coming in, “Hurry up, just signed the waivers.” “Uh-oh, they’re about to start.  They may have locked the doors!”  

I made it and got in! We happened to be seated at a table that was directly in the shot. Two of the cast were at a table having a deep conversation. My friend and I chatted, I don’t even remember about what, and kept glancing at the filming going on. My son was playing a game, nonstop, and not using any tokens, which boggled my mind. My daughter sat hunched over the seat of a racing game, staring at the cast and crew. It was obvious she was trying to get into a shot, or just intrigued with what was happening.  

This is when I came to the realization that our kids have a false sense of what reality is. Everything about this show was far from reality. Now I’ve known this but seeing it firsthand really drove home the fact. The cast members were told how to enter the arcade. They were filmed six, yes six times, walking in. How can one not stroll into an establishment correctly? The arcade games they were to play, they were already chosen by the crew before the cast arrived. That’s how my son was playing for free. These pre-selected games were set to play for free for the cast. There were about 5 of them. Now I've been an avid gamer since the 80’s, and it would not fly if the games I could play at an arcade were predetermined for me. I was very proud of my son for discovering this loophole and saving us some money.  

The entire vibe of the arcade, which we’ve frequented many times, was awkward. Conversations were not natural, weird silences and pauses, and nobody seemed to know where they could or couldn’t go. The actors didn’t even say, “Excuse me,” let alone acknowledge that any other patrons were there. I left with many thoughts in my head, trying to place them correctly like that perfect game of Tetris.  

Educators, we are the true stars of reality television. We don’t get to redo everything until it is perfect. We are in control of the environment that our kids enter in our schools and classrooms each day. Every day we are performing in front of a live studio audience. We must teach our kids that mistakes are a part of life, that they can learn from them and become stronger, and to fully think out their choices and actions before executing because we do not have an editor or crew making everything look perfect for us.  

Experiencing this has made me more determined to let our kids know that they create their own reality, they are in control of their own future, not a film crew and editors.