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I basically grew up on the "Schoolhouse Rock" cartoon skits, shown every Saturday morning like clockwork, amongst "Looney Tunes" et al. Sometimes the teacher showed it in class, on those cart-mounted TV's with a VCR underneath it. (My username says it all, doesn't it? )
I found it just as fun as the cartoons I got up on Saturday mornings for, and I actually learned from it. It talked to kids on their level without being patronizing or underestimating their intelligence, and even used bits of dark humor occasionally. It's like the writers assumed their audience would be smart enough to understand it. It was like "Sesame Street" in a more lively cartoon form, a far cry from today's educational shows for kids, that are crap, politicized, or both.
Do kids still watch old recordings of "Schoolhouse Rock"? Do teachers, at least Millennial age and older, still show it in their classrooms? Knowledgeable minds, please share with inquiring minds. And here are some links for nostalgia's sake.
When my kids were in elementary and middle school, some teachers did use it and the kids loved it. In fact the middle school music teacher used that for the annual recital. The kids dressed up in schoolhouse rock costumes and did all the classic episodes from it. I'm just a Bill; Interplanet Janet; Conjunction Junction, etc.
They did a School House Rock makeover with contemporary bands (well, contemporary in 2006). It was called "School House Rock Rocks!" We had it on a CD that we listened to in the car when my daughter was little (she's still a kid, just an older kid in high school).
Wow, goods replies so far. I'm pleased to hear that "Schoolhouse Rock" is still relevant. I think it should be used more often than it is. The teachings are easy to understand and apolitical, the songs are catchy, the videos are fun to watch, and it's cult classic that deserves to be kept alive.
I would hope so, but I'm guessing the "We The People" one will be claimed to be racist by certain groups. I think they need to get updated to be even more educational....
'I'm just a bill' is a good candidate.
I'm just a bill on capitol hill.....proposed by lobbyists and corporate interests to enhance our market strength and conduct massive PR (propaganda) campaigns to tell the people how great we are and how we're going to "Help" you when in reality we are here to enrich ourselves and the politicians we bribed to get it prioritized on the agenda and passed EVEN though your representative didn't read it. Oh, and the best part would be showing the kids how a simple bill for an issue gets many "riders' attached to enhance other reps who then keep making the bill grow "FATTER" in volume.
The current 'stimulus' relief bill to Americans would another great example. Why is anything else attached to it when it is being creating under the auspices of 'emergency relief' during a pandemic? Educating children on the chicanery would be good for the body politic.
Occasionally I will have random moments when "conjunction junction" triggers some errant singing but it would probably be updated to show a central American caravan coming north. I vote for a sex education honeypot bribery blackmail version with Rep Eric Swalwell singing Ricky Martin's She Bangs (like William Hung of American Idol infamy), in honor of Fang Fang. Sort of like how certain studios make children's movies for adults too.
There are lots of updated takes on School House Rock. I loved it so much! Nowadays there is Flocabulary, GoNoodle, and lots of youtube educations channels with these types of things. The newer ones are probably more appealing and relatable to kids today.
I would hope so, but I'm guessing the "We The People" one will be claimed to be racist by certain groups. I think they need to get updated to be even more educational....
Highly unlikely.
I am very familiar with that piece (It's THE PREAMBLE, not WE THE PEOPLE). It juxtaposes scenes from the early Republic with contemporary scenes (ie, the 1970s). In the early depictions, only white men are depicted debating and voting, though a little girl is shown trying to vote but unable to reach the ballot box. In the contemporary scenes, the scenes are racially mixed. A woman votes. And a black hand is shown affirming the Constitution.
This isn't theoretical. Schoolhouse Rock is available for streaming on Disney+. You can buy the DVD. My wife, an elementary schoolteacher, uses the videos. So where are the cries of 'Racism!'?
If anything, Schoolhouse went out of its way to avoid offending ... racists. The America Rock season featured a whole lot of American history. The Declaration of Independence. The Revolution and subsequent creation of the Republic. The territorial growth of the United States. Immigration. Women's suffrage. But what does it ignore entirely? The Civil War. As I noted above, the series most certainly contrasted the past with the (then) present. But it also bent over backwards to avoid overtly triggering those still fuming over the recent dismantling of Jim Crow.
Occasionally I will have random moments when "conjunction junction" triggers some errant singing but it would probably be updated to show a central American caravan coming north.
Speaking of "Conjunction Junction", several years ago, Norfolk Southern Railroad used an adaptation of that video to advertise it freight rail services. I presume they leveraged the Millennials' nostalgia factor. They probably got a license to use it, which I liked, since I'm a railfan. The original "Schoolhouse Rock" video had a lot of train imagery too. I don't know how "Conjunction Junction" will fit in with the caravan, though, since the caravan'ers traveled mostly on foot or on road vehicles; trains don't really fit in there. Besides, some things are best left in their original form, rather than get updated with the "woke" agenda.
January 6th. There’s no song to explain this ****.
I don't think we should be bringing up THAT here. It's the Education forum, and we're discussing a quaint educational show, not a political cluster**** [sex]. Let's leave THAT to the P&OC forum. And I speak as someone who posts pretty frequently there.
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