1. Comment #434392 by Primate on November 24, 2009 at 3:41 am

I approve!

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2. Comment #434394 by alessamendes on November 24, 2009 at 3:52 am

*applause*

This is great news!

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3. Comment #434398 by NewEnglandBob on November 24, 2009 at 4:12 am

Go Elmo!

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4. Comment #434399 by Ania on November 24, 2009 at 4:24 am

finally

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5. Comment #434400 by anthonzi on November 24, 2009 at 4:33 am

Wut about cookie monster?

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6. Comment #434404 by SaintStephen on November 24, 2009 at 4:46 am

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7. Comment #434407 by lastgreekstanding on November 24, 2009 at 5:23 am

Wut about cookie monster?

Neutered.

So, what's the story with "Bert and Ernie"? Are they or aren't they?


Edit:

Shows such as Sesame Street are part of the problem. There's a whole world out there to explore and discover, and we're told to sit a child in front of TV to learn?

Einstein never watched Sesame Street!

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8. Comment #434413 by jonjermey on November 24, 2009 at 6:30 am

"So, what's the story with "Bert and Ernie"? Are they or aren't they?"

Don't ask, don't tell...

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9. Comment #434416 by lastgreekstanding on November 24, 2009 at 6:44 am

"So, what's the story with "Bert and Ernie"? Are they or aren't they?"

Don't ask, don't tell...

A wise policy . . .

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10. Comment #434418 by megacephalanthropus on November 24, 2009 at 6:47 am

Elmo wants to find out more about the origin of species by means of natural selection!

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11. Comment #434432 by Shiva on November 24, 2009 at 8:44 am

Good news!

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12. Comment #434441 by PMartin on November 24, 2009 at 9:03 am

Wow. This must be - oh, it's on the tip of my tongue - ah! I remember. LEADERSHIP.

Side note: hey, a robot that can scoop up and throw rocks! Dead handy for women talking to men they aren't married to and inquisitive kids. Now that's innovation! Only 200 dollars for years of trouble-free divine vengeance. With optional mini-guillotine.

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13. Comment #434451 by cyberguy on November 24, 2009 at 10:35 am

"a robot that scooped up and tossed rocks".

Must be the latest in Islamic science!

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14. Comment #434454 by Aztek on November 24, 2009 at 10:54 am

This message is approved by Aztek.

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15. Comment #434492 by Bweahns on November 24, 2009 at 2:25 pm

Now I'm not saying this is more socialist mind implantation from Obama but isn't it interesting that Elmo is the mouth piece of this re-educatiom. Elmo is red, who else is read? Oh that's right, Communists. We don't need these wishy washy do nothing initiatives, we need to lower taxes and start focusing on real issues.

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16. Comment #434499 by aquilacane on November 24, 2009 at 2:47 pm

Must have been a big comittee to pass on the Count for math.

EDIT:
Shit, I have the pefect sketch but no scanner at work.

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17. Comment #434503 by Meph on November 24, 2009 at 2:52 pm

Lower taxes so that we can't fund the schools?

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18. Comment #434505 by SaintStephen on November 24, 2009 at 2:59 pm

“Scientists and engineers ought to stand side by side with athletes and entertainers as role models, and here at the White House, we’re going to lead by example. We’re going to show young people how cool science can be.”

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19. Comment #434541 by bethe123 on November 24, 2009 at 4:42 pm

Sure, science and math can be made to be "cool"...but where will US students go to learn about it? Sesame Street?

US high school teachers typically are very poorly trained in math and science.


It's nice to see Obama promote science and math, but he should forget about Sally Ride and Big Bird, and instead emulate the Finnish education system.

Finnish kids outscore the rest of the world on academic tests.
Why?
They have the best teachers.

In Finland, a teacher is held in the same esteem as doctor or lawyer -- and they get paid accordingly...How many US teachers make what a doctor does? In Finland, you also have to have a masters degree in pedagogy just to teach in elementary school. Schools are very competitive. A single teaching position will have many, many applicants. And many of the best students plan to become teachers.

Excellent teachers, not campaigns, are what is required.

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20. Comment #434553 by DoobyTheCat on November 24, 2009 at 5:19 pm

Wait a minute. Francis Collins is the same guy as the trinity-waterfall-guy?

I have a lot of catching up to do. I am new, three years now, to all of this.

30 years of brainwashing to overcome. UGH!

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21. Comment #434554 by Bonzai on November 24, 2009 at 5:22 pm

bethe,

Yub. In the former Soviet Union, high school math teachers had to study from texts written by the likes of Kolmogorov. In North America, they do a few hours of show and tell in teaching college and are evaluated by people with doctorates in 'education' which they got by doing show and tell.

How about some substance over PR?

BY the way, I don't know about elementary school, but for the senior level, 'pedagogy' is basically bs. I don't know if you can talk about 'pedagogy' in the abstract, apart from what you actually teach. This is like talking about 'management' divorced from what you actually manage. In Japan CEO's in car companies are engineers, here they are MBA's.

The system here is catering for bureaucrats who know how to write reports but lacking in subject expertise, organizations tend to be top heavy with management, they have the money and make the decisions, not the people who actually do the work and with the know hows. Even in schools and universities, administrators, not teachers and researchers, make the highest salaries.

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22. Comment #434585 by zengardener on November 24, 2009 at 6:36 pm

Maybe this will only be PR, but damn it, I like it.

Perhaps if people believe that science and math are cool. we will be able to get funding for more and better teachers as bethe123 suggests.

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23. Comment #434626 by malleron on November 24, 2009 at 8:38 pm

Promoting science and math education won't do squat to improve anything unless Obama also:

* disbands teachers' unions
* repeals No Child Left Behind
* encourages or otherwise positively incentivizes teachers to actually become experts in their subject.
* understands that in a lot of places in the US, teaching is a refuge for the idiots of the population who can't rise above entry level in any other private industry. Granted, there are lots of truly great teachers out there, slaving away in the public system. But they are savagely outnumbered by their coworkers who can barely get basic facts right. Believe it or not, my daughter's 5th grade math teacher (2 years in the profession) actually tried to convince her that there was no symbol for "infinity." Um, what? My daughter's known of that symbol since 2nd grade when I bought her the "Schoolhouse Rock" DVD. Such teachers, abetted by the national teachers' union, make a mockery of the profession. Teaching should be considered a premium career choice for intellectual high-achievers, not a job of last resort for dullards. As one commentor points out, Finland seems to understand this and so they attract the truly best and brightest to the profession, not simply a warm body.

When all of those things happen, I'll start believing we actually have a shot at improving education in this country. Until then, Obama is spewing empty words, just like always.

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24. Comment #434629 by righton on November 24, 2009 at 8:48 pm

malleron,


Couldn't agree with you more!

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25. Comment #434642 by root2squared on November 24, 2009 at 9:46 pm

In Japan CEO's in car companies are engineers, here they are MBA's.

Unless they have a technical/science background, MBAs must be the most overvalued and overpaid professionals, leeching off the technical and scientific achievements of engineers and scientists. The B must stand bullshitting.

Edit: That's also probably why car companies over here keep going bankrupt. Maybe if they actually had capitalism, the auto industry over here would learn a lesson.

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26. Comment #434656 by hiraethog on November 24, 2009 at 10:17 pm

'Math' will never sound right to me. As an Englishman, it should be Maths not Math!.

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27. Comment #434666 by blitz442 on November 24, 2009 at 10:35 pm

Bonzai

In Japan CEO's in car companies are engineers, here they are MBA's.

What is your opinion of the educational value of the MBA? Most of my co-workers and friends have one but I have resisted spending the considerable time and money to get it, mainly because I have seen some their coursework and don't really see the technical value. Lots of group work, class presentations and other fluffy stuff.

I guess the "value" comes from networking with future CFOs, CEOs, etc., and the prestige that comes from having those letters after your name if you earned it from a well-known institution.

I've never been convinced that you can learn much business in an academic setting. It's kind of a bullshit degree.

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28. Comment #434673 by blitz442 on November 24, 2009 at 10:57 pm

25. Comment #434642 by root2squared

The mostly soft skills that the business manager, marketer, finance manager, the scorekeepers (such as the accountant) bring to the table are all vital to most businesses. The problem is, at least in the states, is that we have far too many people trained in these middle management-type jobs. In fact, we have far too many soft skill workers in general; people whose major skill set seems to involve nothing more than how to appear busy and navigate the politics of the corporate world.

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29. Comment #434682 by blitz442 on November 24, 2009 at 11:15 pm

15. Comment #434492 by Bweahns

Elmo is red, who else is read (sic)? Oh that's right, Communists.

Excellent observation. Elmo was sometimes seen preaching to Oscar the Grouch about how his abject poverty was due to the flaws inherent in any system that has private ownership of the means of production, and how he must rise up against the evil capitalist plutocrats like Snuffy.

But have you considered some other dastardly reds:

The Cincinnati Reds
The beefeaters
Ronald McDonald
Kansas City Chiefs
Coca-Cola
Mars
Liverpool FC
A fire hydrant

Could be a conspiracy by any one of them.

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30. Comment #434748 by njwong on November 25, 2009 at 3:16 am

I just read an interesting op-ed about communism and economics ("An inhuman political system destined to fail" — by Ching Cheong of the Singapore Straits Times).

On communism:

The interplay of four factors sounded the death knell for the communist system.

Politically, communism was inhuman.

As an economic system, it was inefficient.

An inhuman and inefficient system set in motion centrifugal forces leading to social instability.

Unstable societies became vulnerable to external challenges.

On economics:

In his book, “The Economics Of Shortages”, Hungarian economist Janos Kornai argued that the chronic shortages were the result of systemic flaws.

In a “shortage economy” — a term coined by Kornai — long queues to buy limited amounts of food and other necessities are the order of the day. If the item is sold out, the consumer is faced with two options: buy something that is close to what he wants (“forced substitutions”); or postpone the purchase until the item appears (“forced savings”).

An economic system that fails to satisfy the people's demand for daily necessities and to produce sufficient resources for the government is bound to collapse.

I found the above comments by Ching Cheong to be rather interesting.


http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/breaking-views/44519-an-inhuman-political-system-destined-to-fail--ching-cheong

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31. Comment #434972 by Lucas on November 25, 2009 at 4:40 pm

Shows such as Sesame Street are part of the problem. There's a whole world out there to explore and discover, and we're told to sit a child in front of TV to learn?

Having grown up watching Sesame Street, and having done some work with the children's educational television industry, might I humbly suggest that you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Please do some research on the topic before making such ignorant blanket statements. Your impulse against watching TV is understandable, but in misunderstanding the role of Sesame Street you denigrate all the hard work and all the amazing achievements of thousands of talented people over the past 40 years, Joan Ganz Cooney and Jim Henson among them.

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32. Comment #435284 by tlb81 on November 25, 2009 at 11:52 pm

To follow on Lucas' comment:

Yes, in an ideal world, kids would never watch television, and they would always have a friend or family member to spend quality time with them, entertaining them in an education way.

In reality, sometimes kids watch TV. When they do, there is a short list of shows that are educational, that stimulate imagination, etc. Sesame Street, in my humble opinion, is certainly one of them. It's a great place for kids to start to learn to ask lots of questions about the world - an appropriate first step in becoming a full fledged skeptic.

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33. Comment #435328 by lastgreekstanding on November 26, 2009 at 2:03 am

Lucas:

Having grown up watching Sesame Street . . .

It shows, idiot.

. . . and having done some work with the children's educational television industry, might I humbly suggest that you don't know what the fuck you're talking about

Regardless of the progam, putting a child in front of a fucking TV to learn does not constitute a receptive and stimulating environment: It's a complete waste of a child's time.

But then again, how would you know---you're the comic guy, right?

Tell me, what are you going to push next, flashcards?

Idiot.

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34. Comment #435335 by Sciros on November 26, 2009 at 2:54 am

You're the comic guy, right?

Lucas is the comic guy? I thought I was the comic guy :-(

As far as I can tell, Sesame Street and other educational TV programs are most certainly not part of the problem when it comes to education. I have to side with Lucas et al. on this.

I also don't see how a typical educational TV program is any less stimulating than a non-interactive lesson in a classroom (most lessons are non-interactive). And there's interactive bits in TV programs as well (sing-alongs, programs that allow the child to answer a question in his/her head before the answer is displayed on the screen, etc.). LGS I think you need to make a better case for your position that all TV programs are a "complete waste of time" for children.

I submit that they are no less engaging mentally than books, pictures, and so forth. And not everything can be learned by "going outside" in any case.

We even watched educational TV programs in school, and they were great, and they worked.

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35. Comment #435336 by lastgreekstanding on November 26, 2009 at 3:02 am

Lucas is the comic guy? I thought I was the comic guy :-(

I stand corrected. :)

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36. Comment #435338 by lastgreekstanding on November 26, 2009 at 3:09 am

Hey, Sciros, I only caught the first two paragraphs of your post---I guess you added the other paragraphs later.

Fair enough, I'll state my case. I'll post tomorrow.

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37. Comment #435672 by lastgreekstanding on November 27, 2009 at 7:18 am

Before I [Richard Feynman] was born, my father told my mother, "If it's a boy, he's going to be a scientist." (*)

I was in the delivery room when my daughter was born. As I held her in my arms for the first time, I turned around to everyone in the room---doctors, nurses, orderlies,and especially my wife---and said, "She's going to be a doctor."

What can I say . . . I, my wife, we love our child. She turned 5 last week. Just the other day, on our way home from the market, she asked, "Daddy, I have a hypothesis. If the sky becomes cloudy, it's going to rain." Yeah, you read it correctly---she used the word "hypothesis." She can even define it, too: "It's an idea that can be tested." [Big smile] I had introduced the word to her a few weeks before. It was time. She's . . . very inquisitive, always exploring, discovering, always wanting to know why: "Why, daddy, does it get dark so soon now?" "Why do we have to eat?" . . .

Are we extraordinary parents? No. From the day our daughter was born, we simply provided---and continue to provide---our child with a healthful and loving environment---an environment that encourages both mental and physical health: interacting and socializing with family and friends, playing outside as much as possible, having responsibilities. In short, there's a wondrous world out there for children to behold. Why should I stick my child in front of the idiot box? What's so interactive about a child staring into space? Where's the intuition?

Now we come to Sesame Street. Educational programming for kids? Really? Do they still show the short, hasty segments? "The Spanish word of the day is 'casa'." Seriously, what kind of learning is that? Sure, a kid may learn some Spanish words, but ask that same kid to conjugate a Spanish verb (let alone to form a complete sentence) and he/she will have no clue as to what you're talking about. Damn! My 5-year-old is fluent in 3 languages; she effortlessly conjugates Greek verbs. She just turned 5, remember. I am not saying I'm a language expert, but it's amazing what a child can achieve with a little interaction with the REAL world.

Oh, and one more thing . . . this counting Sesame Street style, by having children memorize the numbers in counting order---"one, two, three"---is not, by the way, very helpful in the understanding of numbers. Numbers should be introduced as adjectives---"one piggy, two piggies," etc., not nouns. I just thought I'd let you know lest you decide to do more work in the "children's educational television industry."

Sesame Street? No thanks. I'd rather have my kid watch a hockey game. Go, Habs, go.

LGS I think you need to make a better case for your position that all TV programs are a "complete waste of time" for children.

Sciros . . . if you have the time, check online the latest scientific studies on TV viewing aimed at children.

Just an hour a day of "educational" television amounts to hundreds of hours in a year. That's a lot of hours. Think of all the books that could be read, together as a family, if the television were turned off.


This post has been brought to you by McDonald's, proud supporter of Sesame Street.




(*) From Richard Feynman's "What Do You Care What Other People Think?"; Chapter 1: "The Making of a Scientist"

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