Television has become such an important factor in our culture that it must be made a part of the educational curriculum if our free and democratic society is to survive. Those who know how to use the television medium are able to brainwash the rest of us easily, for most of us are television illiterates. The development of print literacy, opposed by totalitarian regimes, eventually led to the political revolutions that permitted the emergence of democracy, but print is no longer the major source of information in developed nations. All students in all fields of endeavor should have at least as much exposure to visual literacy courses as they have to print literacy composition and literature courses if they are to function in and contribute effectively to their society. Courses in the mass media should be made a basic aspect of education at all levels, from elementary school through higher education. (Author/PGD)