Telecourses and Holidays and AIDS Barbie… Oh My!
BY: BEATRICE JOHNSON
Staff Writer
Sixty years of The Montage has come and gone, and with that, another story “From the Archives.” In this issue, we’ll be taking a look back 26 years into the past at a time where technology began to play an even bigger role in our daily lives.
The December 8, 1988 issue highlights a variety of issues, including the upcoming holiday season and the impact of technology on education.
Telecourses were courses taught over television, usually using VHS tapes. Telecourses allowed students with less consistent schedules to learn by watching their lectures and then proving their knowledge by completing tests or other activities.
Similarly to virtual classes today, telecourses were not without their flaws or criticisms, as the piece “Telecourses spark heated debate” pointed out.
Professors criticized the high level of maturity and motivation required to get what is expected out of a class, while others praised the accessibility of the classes by allowing students who might not otherwise have been able to take a class.
Additionally, this issue highlighted a new class that teaches about working with synthesizers, music instrument digital interface (MIDI) and other electronic music technology using Mac computers. We can see the themes of these classes reflected in our modern day music classes since modern day musicians continue to utilize MIDI and synthesizers in their music creation.
A piece about the future of technology in the toy industry can be found on the centerspread. The author wrote of the fall of “high technology toys” and the return of traditional toys for the 1988 holiday season.
While this trend didn’t prevail as the toy industry continues to have many successful “fad” toys as the author would call them, the call for an end to “fad” products has continued, with movements like the growing sustainable fashion movement. “Fad” toys are usually toys used to promote new shows or vice versa, as exemplified in this story by Mattel’s Masters of the Universe which promoted the He-Man toy line.
Accompanying this piece can be found an illustration, which shows a myriad of parodies of popular toy brands of the time, including but not limited to the Transfarmer (Transformers), an Attitude Bear (Care Bears), and AIDS Victim Barbie. Some non-gift-related items such as scotch tape, cigarettes, and Sud Z beer all decorate the tree, whose base is a WWII military surplus Jeep tire.
This issue is a sort of snapshot of the time, and gives an interesting insight into the thoughts and ideas of people as they enter a new technological age.
