Well . . . I dunno about "canned input" stunting imagination. It depends on what's in the can. Granted, the vast majority of TV is crap, but when I was a kid, some of the PBS, Discovery Channel, and History Channel programs (e.g., Nova) would have really fed my imagination had they been available. I used to listen to American School on the Air on the radio (science, exploration, Alan Lomax, all kinds of good stuff). I listened to my share of The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet, too, but I was the kind of kid who read the encyclopedia for kicks.

TV is (can be, if supervised) a great tool for education and imagination. Kids are omnivorous, and you have to point them in the right direction. But I think just using the TV as a baby-sitter verges on child abuse.

Don Firth