Some advice someone told me about why Unpaved is outdated

[ssetta]

I don't exactly agree with this, but this is what someone just told me:

Okay now, you know how much I appreciate the old, classic SS, and think that those old shows have timeless educational values. But what I heard is that kids today actually don't need it like they did all those years ago. I disagreed, responding with, "Well, then, where will they learn all their letters and numbers and everything??" And she said, that all that stuff is taught in preschool, and there are computer software games with all that stuff. You see, Sesame Street was first created back in the 60s, and from what I understand, I don't think preschool was that common. Is that true? And back then, it was really the only learning tool. I even had an English teacher that said that Sesame Street was a bad idea. She happens to not be the only one. When she had kids, she would actually not let them watch it. She didn't like the way that they ask a question, show a scene, and then immediately tell you the answer. That is, they never gave you time to think. And also, in case you didn't know, Sesame Street is not the only preschool educational show to this day, it competes against several others, and it didn't for about 25 years.

As I said before, I don't necessarily agree with this. Does anyone else see what I'm saying, or does anyone else agree?

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

I can understand the argument, but I would have to say I don't agree. Sesame Street has stood the test of time as a valuable show for children. Perhaps children are learning some of its lessons now at an earlier age, but that doesn't detract mightily from its value. Just look at all of us Sesame fans on this forum; we learned our ABCs years ago and still aren't tired of Sesame Street! And some of the other shows of a similar vein may be of value, too, but I don't think any have come close to dethroning the original!
Erin

 

[sstVideo]

It is kind of hard to believe that the pacing of the original 1970's Sesame Street was actually considered too fast by many educators of the time. When you watch the shows in today's media environment they seem to be very slow. A typical film would run 4-5 minutes where today they only run 2-3 or even less. The criticism was that when the Sesame kids got to school they would be disappointed by the lack of pizazz and the straightforward teachings methods that schools were using as compared to Sesame. School wasn't considered lively enough.

In addition to shortened attention spans, mothers and even more importantly, child care providers are concerned about teaching values and social skills as much as they are about the cognitive functions. That's one reason why the new Sesame format includes both the letter and number of the day, as well as street stories.

 

[MuppetQuilter]

Education has always been controversial. There are plenty of different theories on how kids learn and even more variety in teaching methods. Different parents and educators emphasive different things.

There have always been people who dislike Sesame Street and think it is inappropriate to use television to teach, or even to entertain. Sadly, there are also people who assume anything that was around when they were young is dated. Some parents never turn on SST for their kids but let them watch endless hours of Barney and Rug Rats.

As far as preschool and the 60s-- it existed. But preschool is not like public school, with the exception of a few programs like Head Start (programs that are constantly losing funding), parents have to pay tuition to send their kids to preschool. SST came about, at the end of the 60s, to help shorten the gap between poorer kids who didn't have access to preschool and middle class kids who went to preschool and had a stay-at-home parent with time to read endless storybooks and provide lots of one on one attention. Actually, schools had to change their curriculm as SST became popular-- more and more kids were coming to kindergarten knowing their ABCs and numbers so the curriculm had to be advanced (isn't that cool?!).

Today, the needs are different. There are fewer stay-at-home parents and more kids in daycare. Daycare can be a lot like preschool. Lots of kids watch SST in daycare. The older, SST Unpaved, episodes are dated. Most kids have shorter attention spans today (sad but true). Some kids happily watch the older episodes, but that isn't the norm. As SSTVideo said, parents and childcare providers want different things out of a children's television program than they wanted 30 years ago. But bits of the old episodes still pop up in the newer episodes and videos. Stuff like King of Eight continue, in my opinion, to be wonderful teaching/entertaining tools for kids.

 

[ssetta]

No, that's not what he's saying. What he's saying is, and this is actually another view that my English teacher had. Because some kids aren't very good learners, they would get used to the fact that learning was always entertainment. And then, later on, they would want entertainment when they came to school. It's not really a question of being outdated.

 

[Drtooth]

You're beleiving a teacher? No wonder why your teacher hates it. It's taking away jobs. The way I see it, most inner city schools have a lot of Mrs. Krabaple, Ms. Hoover types who care more about finding a lousy job than their kids. How can you teach kids with "pazzaz zzzapap.. whatever" when some don't teach at all?

Not that I'm saying all teachers are like this, but there are so many times when children recieve "busy work" and no real education.

You could easily say the same thing for schoolhouse Rock. You learn through entertainment. How many fans of that show can sing the Bill song by heart? (I personally Don't like the show, the charm is lost on me)

Truth is, young minds are more open to learning when they're being entertained and awake. Now, teachers can bore us to death talking about dates in history, and forcing kids to memorize them, and not tell the stories of induviduals (Walter Cronkite was on Regis and Kelly, saying the same thing to promote the new "Liberty Kids" show)

Of course, they probably didn't like how they were portraied. Remember Prof. Hastings?

 

[ssetta]

I recently heard that's why he was taken off! The kids thought he was really boring! Same thing goes for Herbert Birdsfoot.

 

[Drtooth]

But wasn't he supposed to be boring. Even in the 70's, the kid's didn't get it. They've never had a boring Professor, since they're preparing for preschool.

 

[ssetta]

Now this may be a LITTLE off subject, but I actually noticed that The Disney Channel is no longer airing old episodes of The Mickey Mouse Club and Zorro. Now I'll bet it's for the exact same reason as to why Noggin is getting rid of Sesame Street Unpaved and The Electric Company. That is, because the channel has been completely revamped, and it really doesn't fit their format. And, believe it or not, I don't know that it was that popular, as most of the people who grew up with those shows are in their 50s now! So I actually think that Sesame Street Unpaved and The Electric Company may actually be more popular than those 2 Disney shows. But that kind of tells me that Noggin WILL be doing away with their vintage shows.

 

[roadrat15]

What I always liked about the classic SS was not only did it teach the young 'uns, it sometimes slipped in some classic humor for the 'oldies' to dig. I'm 31 now, and I still cherish the classic skits and songs.I'm only now catching some funny 'gems' I hadn't seen previously.