Sesame Street Media Reaction Paper
Sesame Street – Media Reaction Paper
Television, movies, newspapers and many other media outlets provide a variety of views on cultural diversity in America. Thousands of channels of programming are available through our cable providers and satellite services. With all of these channels available, it is not very easy to find a show, whether it be a news outlet or a simple TV show for pure entertainment, that truly displays diversity in America without placing people into stereotypes. Sesame Street, a children’s educational program, shows an unbiased view on diversity by America’s standards. Sesame Street aired on televisions across America in 1969 (PBS Independent Lens, 2008). The program was introduced around the era of civil rights movements, so Sesame Street was pioneering a new way to show America’s children what it truly meant to be different from one another. Sesame Street was proud to encompass a multi-racial cast in an urban environment (PBS Independent Lens, 2008). At the time, this type of programming was slightly controversial because of the mix-raced cast. With that said, it was very important at the time to introduce a cultural diverse world to the nation’s children. One of the goals of Sesame Street was to teach children in the urban environment, much like the settings in the show. The show was created and aimed to teach our young, preschool Americans crucial elements in a child’s beginning curriculum, such as self-esteem, literacy, math and other general topics (PBS Kids, 2008). In addition to contributing to the general knowledge and education, Sesame Street is famous for teaching children about diversity in a positive way. Children are not born to be prejudice or discriminatory, these are behaviors of which are learned and taught by the people that are around to influence the child (Winograd, 2007). A goal for Sesame Street, according to Gary Knell, president of Sesame Workshop, is to teach children about respect and tolerance to
Television, movies, newspapers and many other media outlets provide a variety of views on cultural diversity in America. Thousands of channels of programming are available through our cable providers and satellite services. With all of these channels available, it is not very easy to find a show, whether it be a news outlet or a simple TV show for pure entertainment, that truly displays diversity in America without placing people into stereotypes. Sesame Street, a children’s educational program, shows an unbiased view on diversity by America’s standards. Sesame Street aired on televisions across America in 1969 (PBS Independent Lens, 2008). The program was introduced around the era of civil rights movements, so Sesame Street was pioneering a new way to show America’s children what it truly meant to be different from one another. Sesame Street was proud to encompass a multi-racial cast in an urban environment (PBS Independent Lens, 2008). At the time, this type of programming was slightly controversial because of the mix-raced cast. With that said, it was very important at the time to introduce a cultural diverse world to the nation’s children. One of the goals of Sesame Street was to teach children in the urban environment, much like the settings in the show. The show was created and aimed to teach our young, preschool Americans crucial elements in a child’s beginning curriculum, such as self-esteem, literacy, math and other general topics (PBS Kids, 2008). In addition to contributing to the general knowledge and education, Sesame Street is famous for teaching children about diversity in a positive way. Children are not born to be prejudice or discriminatory, these are behaviors of which are learned and taught by the people that are around to influence the child (Winograd, 2007). A goal for Sesame Street, according to Gary Knell, president of Sesame Workshop, is to teach children about respect and tolerance to
References: PBS Independent Lens (2008). The world according to Sesame Street. Retrieved November 23, 2008, from http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/worldaccordingtosesamestreet/film.html PBS Kids (2008). Sesame Street caregivers - About the show. Retrieved November 23, 2008, from http://pbskids.org/sesame/caregivers/index.html Salyer, Kirsten. (2008, May 20). 'Sesame Street ' actress talks politics, diversity. The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved from http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2008/05/20/Campus/sesame.Street.Actress.Talks.Politics.Diversity-3373682.shtml Winograd, Ben. (2007, April 30). 'Sesame Street ' returns to Israel. Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/AR2007043000066.html