In the Classroom
Can You Tell Me How to Get … How to Get to Sesame Street?
By Mary Tamer
It may be the one course on campus where singing the theme
song to a television show is not only allowed, but encouraged,
particularly when the show is Sesame Street and the class is
Growing Up in a Media World.
“I have an overture to get us in the mood,” says Lecturer Joe Blatt, Ed.M.’77, as he clicks his mouse to play a classic Sesame Street clip of Patti LaBelle flanked by a roomful of Muppets, as she soulfully sings her own R&B rendition of the “A, B, C” song.
At once, the students are simultaneously transfixed and transferred; likely back to their own days as preschoolers when Ernie, Bert, and Cookie Monster were counted among their closest friends. Some laugh, some sing along, and all clap enthusiastically when the clip ends. Blatt asks for observations.
“It’s timeless,” says one observer. “It could be now, or it could have been 20 years ago.”
“I still enjoy it,” says Blatt, before opening up the discussion to the larger topic at hand. “But why should we spend a whole session of this class on Sesame Street?”
As students begin to raise hands, Blatt admits the question is a rhetorical one. He has taught this class for several years now, and while the course description does focus on the profound influence of media in the life of today’s children, one could not walk away with a well-rounded view without a close look at Sesame Street, arguably the most influential educational program created for children since its debut in 1969.
As Blatt delves into the specifics of a case study, he mentions that Sesame Street was the first of its genre, an educational show that combines top-notch production talent with a curriculum-based bent geared toward the education of preschool-aged children. The talent of Jim Henson and his Muppets was merged with the educational know-how of many, including a fair share of faculty from the Ed School.
The show was also savvy in its use of well-known names, as yet another clip that includes comedian Rosie O’Donnell, actor John Goodman, singer Garth Brooks, and author/poet Maya Angelou demonstrates.
“You see people from every sector of the entertainment industry,” says Blatt. “Basically, no one says no to Sesame Street.”
And why would they? Sesame Street still pulls in tens of millions of viewers each day and has launched similar programs all over the world. The show has also served as the subject of thousands of research studies which, Blatt says, consistently show that those who watch Sesame Street know more than those who don’t.
“There is some evidence … of long-term learning effects,” says Blatt. Sesame Street fans can credit the show with giving them more positive views of school, he says, higher test scores in high school English and math, as well as better reading habits.
Beyond its cognitive results, the show’s other great strength lies in its pro-social effect, where both the human characters and their Muppet friends model positive and compassionate behavior. In South Africa, where Takalani Sesame airs, one of the show’s main Muppet characters is HIV-positive. Another version geared toward promoting more peaceful relations among Palestinians and Israelis, called Rechov Sum Sum, stopped airing in 2002 as the content was “too divorced from the reality on the ground,” says Blatt.
“But they are going to try again,” he says of the canceled show. “These international interventions in these stressed regions … are really important.”
— Mary Tamer is a freelance writer whose last piece in Ed. looked at alumni who, against the odds, are writing and illustrating children’s books.
About the Article
A version of this article originally appeared in the Winter 2008 issue of Ed., the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Respond to this story with an e-mail to the editor.
illustration by Tim Walker
