I'm not sure how the subject came up, but yesterday I ended up arguing in defense of Teletubbies. Let me start by saying I hate children's programming. It is dribble and visual twaddle at best. That said, I have realized in the 11 years that I have been at times forced to watch PBS kids, it has gotten drastically worse.
I was raised on a healthy diet of Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street, both my Parents worked, and while my dad, who worked nights, napped, I got to watch TV. It was not much, but the poor guy needed an hour in the morning to rest while my mom was at work. I was not watching endless hours a day, and he felt like he could trust Mr. Rogers to keep me out of trouble.
Fast Forward 30 years. I try to monitor TV, PBS is generally allowed when there is TV viewing allowed. However, the quality is awful. Back to Teletubbies, sure it was bad, but at least they didn't try to indoctrinate, to promote a certain agenda. It was like a bad fairy tale. Cute, distracting, showing kids playing nicely and at best teaching a few good character traits.
The "new" shows all have something to push. Take for example a newer show, Sid the Science Kid( my eldest calls it Sid the stupid kid, but that is not polite!). Hmm, Science is good, right? Sure, if that is what the show was about. Science is the package for a few other views. The school class is full of racial stereotypes, and one big cliche. The show has promoted the H1N1 vaccinate, CFL light-bulbs and hybrid cars. Okay, why does my 5 year old need to know about these other than to yell at me that our Honda is not a hybrid?!
I'll take silly colored aliens over preachy issue-laden science any day!
No comments:
Post a Comment