Learning from Sesame Street

[Gregory Rose]

I love Sesame Street. Before going to pre-school I would watch it and while being fully entertained, I would also be learning from Big Bird and all his friends. It's the shows 40th anniversary this week, which should remind us how teaching is one of the most important parts of our society but unfortunately can sometimes be taken for granted.

When trying to hold teachers and schools accountable within their districts, politicians and policy makers always go for the simple answer, standardized tests. Their argument is that these tests can give them data for them to see which schools are doing well and which ones are not.

Now don't get me wrong, I love data. I would never think of any policy or even try to without looking at some statistics because that would be irresponsible. But what sometimes is forgotten is how one size does not always fit all, and there could be multiple reasons why students may or may not do well on standardized tests.

When students take these tests, they become anxious, nervous, and frustrated over what may happen if they don't do well. Even worse is that by teaching to the tests, it takes away from actual learning from the classroom.

These tests narrow the curriculum to what will be tested. Teachers have to do this because they feel the pressure to make sure their students do well because in the end it will be a reflection on them.

I went to The Beacon School in New York City. It is considered one of the best public schools in the city and it started as a place where students were exempt from taking the New York state regents exams. Now however, they have to take them. So while President George W. Bush was touting immigration reform in his last term in office, there used to be (1999-2000) only two questions on immigration on those regents exams.

The most well known of these standardized tests is the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). After World War 2, soldiers coming back were given tests to see where they should be placed in the job market.

The problem was that the Army Tests were ridiculously slanted, rewa...

But Carl Brigham (the man who invented the SAT and founded the College Board) convinced Princeton University that these tests should be mandatory for students entering college. The test have changed over the years, but the fact of the matter is there is no correlation on how a first year student does in college and the SAT.

Engaging students is hard, Sesame Street has found a great way to do so and should be celebrated for it. Holding teachers feet to the fire is not the best way for students to learn, or for that matter teachers to teach. My prediction is that next year Nancy Pelosi is going to want to reauthorize No Child Left Behind, but eight years after its signing 8.7% of students are still not graduating high school.

In sum, while having all students take a test may seem fair, in reality someone is still getting less. Another lesson that can be learned from Bert and Ernie.

[Dennis St. John]

Excellent viewpoint on a very critical matter. I still remember my favorite teacher, Ms. Mattox. I had her in the third grade. Up until I was in her class, from kindergarten through the second grade, I was an obnoxious little jerk always in trouble and hellbent on disrupting every class at every opportunity. Ms. Mattox turned me completely around and turned me into a serious and successful student. Her "secret" was that she LOVED her students, and I knew that she loved me. I think that's also the "secret" of Sesame Street. It is created by folks who love kids, it provides a sheltered and loving environment for children, and kids thrive in that nurturing milieu. Just because one grows up and attends high school and college doesn't mean that love is no longer important for one to excel.

[Max Entropy]

Seems to me that if you grow up with adults who value education that yo are more likely to do so and do better in school, no matter what it is like. That's a generalization, and of course some kids don't get that message, and some schools fail others who do, but someone has to nourish kids' innate curiosity. I believe that Sesame Street, Zoom, and other PBS kids shows have been doing that, even though there are no numbers that demonstrate their effectiveness that I know of. Still, it's clearly an uphill battle for kids with learning disabilities, or who have parents who have no curiosity left, or whose classrooms are riotous much of the time. So maybe bring PBS productions into struggling classrooms to help teachers cope and to give them ideas how to teach.

[abby0802]

Standardized tests are not good predicators of future performance. Also, performance in schools cannot always be relied upon to demonstrate potential.

[Paul J. Guarino]

Great essay Gregory...Ironically I turned 40 today, was born in Astoria, Queens (the home of Sesame Street studio), and like most of America, grew up on the show. Now, my children are products of Sesame Street as well. Being as my wife is a former schoolteacher, we often debate and discuss various teaching methods, curricula, and testing. I often question our doctrinal system when I see the virtual absence of elementary objectivity in history curricula. Academia controls the doctrinal system and who funds the academics?...grants and government. Can't bite the hands that feed you. So that is one rather large flaw in our education system, which as you stated relies too heavily on standardized testing.
Folks in this country are grateful, as they should be, that our primary education system is essentially free, but at the same time too few are willing to challenge it. As I'm sure you know, our country lags behind almost all of Europe and many Asian countries in terms of juvenile IQ levels and more importantly, knowledge of the world in general. We are probably closer to North Korea than say, Brazil, in the fact that we understand very little about geo-politics for the simple fact that it is not taught with any zeal.
Too often we allow our children to be "educated" by teachers, network news, newspapers, TV, movies, video games. You...that means you, Greg....you absolutely must educate your kids. You must teach them the skill of critical thinking, socratic questioning early, and it will become a continuum. As you implied, you can't simply teach facts to be regurgitated on test day and call that learning. Your questioning of the education system shows you have that all important skill and it is to be comended.

[Brian]

The argument has been made that Sesame Street helps inculcate the short attention span which afflicts many kids. THE single most important thing, more than class size and the other things teachers bitch about, is good teaching. Teachers should major in the subjects they'll teach, not in education. (I taught for 30 years, by the way--full disclosure.) Many teachers say, "I don't teach English; I teach kids." Well, I taught English, which I still find fascinating, and the kids were invited along for the ride. I don't know how to evaluate teachers, and I don't know how to train them to be good, but you know one when you see her/him.