Reflecting on Childhood Entertainment and It's Uses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llezjMibxp4 (This isn't the clip I watched for the blog, but it's similar. The one I watched is in the first episode of Season Two - the Classics - on Netflix.)

    While television in its current form is often brain-rotting playing to the lowest common denominator of intelligence, it is not so across the board. In particular, children's television programming is one area that psychologists and programmers have done extensive research on to ensure they are beneficial to kids. For example, when Joan Clooney implemented her idea for an educational program that would begin a learning epidemic among kids and parents alike, called Sesame Street, she tested the educational value of the show and found that it rated higher than any other kids show at the time. The key to this success was the "stickiness factor" or the ability for an idea to stick in someone's brain.
    As I watched an episode of Sesame Street at the age of 20, I could see where this "stickiness factor," which turned out to be an annoyingness factor more than anything, came into play. In particular, one scene that caught my attention was when the puppets were singing a song teaching how to count to three. Each character had three items - food, animals, sports equipment - that they sang "three [items], one, two, three!" Later, as I walked around after the show preparing soup for dinner, I found myself sing-song-counting the spices and cans as I put the ingredients in my crock pot. As silly as this was, I could see how kids might actually learn some useful skills from the show.
   However, when I was a kid I didn't watch much television, especially not Sesame Street. I was very fond of reading and read voraciously, sometimes two or three books a week that were a few levels above my supposed reading level (when I was in elementary school.) My parents read to me every night before I taught myself to read. I gained my extensive vocabulary and love of learning from these books, not from TV. But, I did still enjoy TV for entertainment and watched shows like Arthur or Little Bear when I could. I watched Blue's Clues, too, but I preferred shows with a plot line over overtly educational programs (like Sesame Street.) These shows still had a "stickiness factor" for me as I was invested in the characters, so the lessons they learned - which were often morally educational as well as scholastically educational - stuck with me.
   Years from now, whenever I have kids, I'm hoping to be able to find shows that combine an entertaining plot line with scholastic education (in addition to teaching a love for books) so that while they may think they're watching TV solely for entertainment - through the plot line - they are also learning useful skills such as counting and spelling. But, I still don't believe is using television as the major mechanism for teaching. The most effective way of learning is always through interaction (with text, a peer, a teacher, or an object) and TV is exclusively a one way street as kids cannot actually interact with characters on television. So, while educational television programs can certainly be used as supplemental tools to drill basic knowledge into children's brains, it must be backed up with actual interactive teaching.