Their attention span went away when Sesame Street came on the scene in the 60’s.
Sesame Street has a lot to do with the deterioration of education, according to a former eng prof. She said students raised with it expect to be entertained in the class. Said she never heard things like “I don’t want to do that it’s boring”, prior.
Kids are hungry for the truth and also are willing to learn to communicate. They enjoy gaining knowledge and knowing. they just need a good environment.
Teachers need to quit whining and teach. Treat kids with respect, discipline them, be willing to be a bossy adult, and concede to never being their friend until they are adults, treat the boys like gents and they will be opening doors by the end of the year, and homework every night no questions asked (except holidays respect their need for a break).
“Their attention span went away when Sesame Street came on the scene in the 60’s”
I absolutely agree completely. So called educational TV programming gave rise to the “edutainment” mindset from toddlerhood. If not being electronically entertained, they are “bored”. And the short segment bursts of images encourage ADD and lack of concentration, even if it is the alphabet dancing about on the screen.
I severely limited our own daughters access to TV, with no NPR programming, and emphasized reading from a young age. Three are early 20 somethings - one is an ER nurse, one is a 3L at a top tier law school and will graduate at just 23 years old (is on law journal - any FReeper lawyers hiring in the NYC area?), one is an Acting BFA major and the high school freshman just received her report card with a 95 average taking all honors/regents courses. This is a total brag and anti TV rant, but it is proof (even if anecdotal) that we are correct about Sesame Street.