Has Sesame become less educational?

[Mister Fred]

I have to say the show was MUCH, MUCH BETTER than it is now. There is too much stuff such as elmos world that should be cut back on. What happened to all those great clips that taught kids things such as making new paper out of old paper, making apple cider, all the farm clips, the school clips, and many others. There is not enough clips of all the letters & numbers anymore! Where are they. I really miss the numbers clip where the baker falls down at the end. Something has to be done now or I feel the show may get even worse.

 

[sanfranciscogrl]

While watching journey to ernie today, He was hiding in "one of these things is not like the other" and three things were EXACTLY the same, and one was different. i remember that to be harder when i was little... there used to be four different thing and three of them had similarities right? or maybe as i have gotten older i am just too smart for that game....

 

[DTF]

Comments from a woman w/a 4 and 2YO girl who I saw at a lawyers' luncheon today...

Elmo: To her 2YO, "he's god." SHe feels Elmo's World is enough different fromt he rest of SS that they should spin it off on its own, so the rest isn't too bad to her, but could improve.

How Elmo talks: Not bothered by it, says "they try to make it like kids that age (Elmo's age I think she means) talk, except they don't talk that way." (See comment about intelligence level below.) Feels her 2YO talks enough like Cookie MOnster if they made Elmo talk like CM it would be better, but isn't bothered by how Elmo talks. "My kids copy more than just Elmo," she says basically, and have the chance to experience a lot more. So, it's not going to cause them to talk that way.

The show in general: Her 4YO thinks SS is okay in general, but not a great show, her 2YO enjoys it a lot more. Probably her 2YO would say it's a "can't miss," whereas it sounds like the 4YO wouldn't be disappionted if she missed it, but will watch when she can.

On the intelligence level: She feels many of the "experts" in SW have one fatal flaw - they don't have children. I remarked that it's a sign of man's wisdom making one think one knows everything with just book knowledge.
One example she cites is Elmo's talk. She says, as noted above, her 2YO talks like CM, not Elmo. She feels somehow the "experts" got this idea that kids overuse 3rd person when in fact they overuse 1st person; it's not uncommon for her 2YO to slip and say "me want..." when tired, or "I eat I ice cream" when younger. Just like they learn the "-ed" on the ends of all past tense words, then overuse that to runned, sleeped, etc. So, the way Elmo talks is a sign these people somehow don't have kids.

Just some interesting commments I thought I'd post, after bringingt hte subject up and seeing what she thought.

 

[Jessica]

To tell you guys the truth, most early 90 PBS shows have changed A LOT. I mean, take a look at that lump of a Dinosaur they call "Barney". That show has gone from taking place inside a school, to taking place at a school, and having many of the segments, such as songs, exclude the kids and just including the main dino characters in a backdrop.

Basically, children's programming has changed because of all the new technology. Plus, we're not back in the day where all there was was Sesame Street. They have passed those days where there were no shows teaching those lessons and can now pass that up by allowing other shows to teach what they had done in the past. We still see different segments with the letters and numbers, but we don't see enough muppets dealing with it as they did in the past. They haven't lowered the amount, they've just changed it around.

I still say that there is some segments that are not needed in the show like, lets say Journey to Ernie (Well maybe some, but they could put those in segments as they used to). It has no purpose on teaching kids about anything. I think they found that out after the cancellation of Hero Guy. Global Thingy helps kids to be respectful to others.

 

[Camellia]

SS has degraded in quality

so.. is it just me, or does anyone else think the Sesame street show has degraded over the years? Hasn't it become much less eucational? I use to love the show, but it really seams to have degraded.

yes, I watched it almost daily with my one year old from 1985 to about 1991. We tuned in every month or so since then. It's full of "blue screens", Elmo's World, flashy, fad-computer graphics, and "politically correct" "social messages". Not much education about nature, animals, alphabets, words, math, anymore. Oh well, most kids don't like to see that anyway. We are the exception. SS inspired our one year old to start reading at age 14 months, and by age 3, she was reading at third grade level. She finished high school at age 14. So a BIG thank you to JHC, CTW and Sesame Street!
Camellia

 

[mikebennidict]

SS wasn't the only show on. never heard of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood The Electric Company and show like that?

To tell you guys the truth, most early 90 PBS shows have changed A LOT. I mean, take a look at that lump of a Dinosaur they call "Barney". That show has gone from taking place inside a school, to taking place at a school, and having many of the segments, such as songs, exclude the kids and just including the main dino characters in a backdrop.

Basically, children's programming has changed because of all the new technology. Plus, we're not back in the day where all there was was Sesame Street. They have passed those days where there were no shows teaching those lessons and can now pass that up by allowing other shows to teach what they had done in the past. We still see different segments with the letters and numbers, but we don't see enough muppets dealing with it as they did in the past. They haven't lowered the amount, they've just changed it around.

I still say that there is some segments that are not needed in the show like, lets say Journey to Ernie (Well maybe some, but they could put those in segments as they used to). It has no purpose on teaching kids about anything. I think they found that out after the cancellation of Hero Guy. Global Thingy helps kids to be respectful to others.

 

[Jessica]

SS wasn't the only show on. never heard of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood The Electric Company and show like that?

I forgot about those! Thanks. Although, EC wasn't on during the 90's. MRN is considered a hit, but I don't think that many Pre-Schoolers would say they'd rather see a old man with little puppets then little monsters and big birds that live in a street. (At least, I didn't at the time). Of course, there was Lamb Chop's Play Along and others, but I think SS was more of a bigger hit during the 90's.

 

[mikebennidict]

whatever.

 

[ssetta]

Unfortunately, you'd be surprised how many people I've met who were young in the early 90s who liked Barney better than SS. I can't understand why at all. I've always thought SS was much better. Why do you think people liked Barney better??

 

[Mister Fred]

"Mister Rogers Neighborhood is the best"

Barney was not good. Ask Bob Keshan of "CAPTAIN KANGAROO". He was not happy with the current format of programs on television for children. I don't care what anyone says but "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" was the best followed by Sesame Street and so on. If any of you remember Captain Kangaroo, it was on a long time & very educational. When it was on CBS, the captain picked the commercials to use to make sure they were not violent or bad.