The Great Imagination Heist by Reynolds Price

In Reynolds Price's Story "The Great Imagination Heist" the media has come to dominate the lives of many of today's youths. Reynolds Price expresses extreme dismay at the media's ever-tightening grasp over the impressionable minds of adolescents. He sincerely feels that the effects of prolonged exposure to television, film, video games, and the Internet are detrimental to the development of a youth's imagination and ability to think freely, without outside influence. The word "heist" indicates …

…world pervaded with endless and continual changes. Naturally, as a highly well-educated man he is going to denounce anything he concludes to be a threat to education as he knows it. However, much of the knowledge we gain today comes from sources other than the classroom. Film, and particularly television, have shortcomings and are not always effective, but they can and do expand our minds and force us to re-evaluate preconceived notions and long-held principles.