Rosewood
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I just went on line to the Sesame Workshop web site to see if I could find a copy of their "mission statement". Surprisingly, I found 2 versions of it - one was pretty much set in stone by Jim Henson's crew back in 1968 and it read as follows:
"[Sesame workshop was founded in 1968 as the "Childrens Television Workshop". Identifying a specific need to help children from low-income familys be prepared for school, The workshops founders shared a common goal - to use T.V. as a tool to help children learn. From this colaboration came Sesame Street.] This program is now one of the greatest educators for young children in the world!" (IMO, that last sentence, today, is rather questionable.)
A more "explanitory" version of it read as follows:
"Year after year for over three decades, Sesame Street has maintained a mission to reach young children in powerful and responsible ways with a view that learning and fun are equally crucial elements of any young child’s education. Within a community of playful and curious Muppets and monsters as well as nurturing adults, Sesame Street fosters a love of learning. We know children are always ready to learn. The question is what are they learning?"
("Thats funny" I thought. "My question to them is "What are THEY teaching?")
They then continued to explain:
"Each episode of Sesame Street is backed by a curriculum, which is founded in years of research and continuous work with educational experts. Through this work with teachers, researchers, parents like you, and information gained from preschoolers themselves Sesame Street continues to evolve, growing with the needs of today’s children and their caregivers.
Many new and innovative segments highlight crucial areas of a whole child curriculum and bring, for example, literacy, math, and Spanish as well as social-emotional topics to life for young viewers."
Those last 2 paragraphs just about blew me away! Where do they get the idea that they are going to acomplish those goals if they are showing only one short clip each episode for the letter and number of the day, and then using the entire remainder of the show to talk about things that are totally beyond the ability to comprehend when it comes to kids in the age groups that they claim they are now trying to cater to. (When they showed "Global Thingy" the other day, my 3 year-old looked up at me with a confused look on her face and said "Mommy, why don't they talk?" It took me over 15 minutes of repeated explaining, in mommy terms, what the message was that they were trying to get across, and I still don't think she was fully able to grasp the concept by the time we were done!) So, again, I say "On guard, Sesame Street! Explain yourself!" I see them "talking the talk", but I still have yet to see them "walk the walk" with these "new and improved shows" they are airing.
Is there anyone out there who agrees with me?
"[Sesame workshop was founded in 1968 as the "Childrens Television Workshop". Identifying a specific need to help children from low-income familys be prepared for school, The workshops founders shared a common goal - to use T.V. as a tool to help children learn. From this colaboration came Sesame Street.] This program is now one of the greatest educators for young children in the world!" (IMO, that last sentence, today, is rather questionable.)
A more "explanitory" version of it read as follows:
"Year after year for over three decades, Sesame Street has maintained a mission to reach young children in powerful and responsible ways with a view that learning and fun are equally crucial elements of any young child’s education. Within a community of playful and curious Muppets and monsters as well as nurturing adults, Sesame Street fosters a love of learning. We know children are always ready to learn. The question is what are they learning?"
("Thats funny" I thought. "My question to them is "What are THEY teaching?")
They then continued to explain:
"Each episode of Sesame Street is backed by a curriculum, which is founded in years of research and continuous work with educational experts. Through this work with teachers, researchers, parents like you, and information gained from preschoolers themselves Sesame Street continues to evolve, growing with the needs of today’s children and their caregivers.
Many new and innovative segments highlight crucial areas of a whole child curriculum and bring, for example, literacy, math, and Spanish as well as social-emotional topics to life for young viewers."
Those last 2 paragraphs just about blew me away! Where do they get the idea that they are going to acomplish those goals if they are showing only one short clip each episode for the letter and number of the day, and then using the entire remainder of the show to talk about things that are totally beyond the ability to comprehend when it comes to kids in the age groups that they claim they are now trying to cater to. (When they showed "Global Thingy" the other day, my 3 year-old looked up at me with a confused look on her face and said "Mommy, why don't they talk?" It took me over 15 minutes of repeated explaining, in mommy terms, what the message was that they were trying to get across, and I still don't think she was fully able to grasp the concept by the time we were done!) So, again, I say "On guard, Sesame Street! Explain yourself!" I see them "talking the talk", but I still have yet to see them "walk the walk" with these "new and improved shows" they are airing.
Is there anyone out there who agrees with me?