re: #392 Fairly Sure I’m Still Obdicut

Mostly, what you get when comparing Chinese stats to US stats is the Chinese statistics from the most urban centers to the entirety of the US. It’s not a good comparison.

This is totally true, but it’s why Chinese education isn’t a good role model: it depends heavily on uncreative, rote learning.

Which is why I brought up children in the US influenced by their Chinese parents. Their stats are in the in US, not China. Parents and discipline have an effect. Rote learning is needed for some things and that practice brings the ability to focus for longer time periods.

I still haven’t understood at all what the connection you think between the two is. Can you explain?

Between Sesame Street and Twitter?

First, the parameters again. It’s not quantified, nor do I care to convince anyone. It’s simply a thought on my part. And again, it was first offered half in jest.

Second, why would we expect you to understand a complicated concept if all I’m doing is putting forth short soundbites? That’s the point.

For close to 45 years, Sesame Street has been an icon of early childhood development and teaching. For the first 20 years it was based on research that that changed. During that time the developers committed their own studies, one in the 80s coming to the conclusion that there was both good and bad to be learned from how Sesame Street taught kid.

After 30 years, the developers made another change in how they presented learning, mostly because they found that the target audience changed from preK-1, to 2-4 year olds. That change was from the short magazine style segments towards an hour program.

My point here is not to diminish the good of Sesame Street, but to point out it has changed over the years based on the changing research it conducted ( I truly don’t believe the way kids brains are wired has changed during that time). During the 45 years it has been on, it has been copied. Not only by shows designed for small kids, but by shows targeting those older and older. After all, kids grow up. TV News has become distilled into short segments pretty much devoid of background content. Look at the success of Fox and how CNN has changed accordingly. It’s all about giving people what they will easily take and digest. To me, Twitter and the short character limit was the next logical step.

After reading about how Sesame Street came into being after watching kids mesmerized by a TV test pattern, I think there’s a difference between what we are naturally wired for and what we are capable of. That’s what it first focused on. Using TV as medium for good. And good it did. I just wonder about the cost.

I’m naturally wired to be happy sitting on a couch watching TV, or sitting in my chair typing on the internet. I’m happy and do well at it.

But that don’t mean that’s what I’m capable of, or what is best for me. On that note…