Kids Who Watch Sesame Street Perform Better in School

[sanantone]

I always knew that Sesame Street was superior to Barney, Teletubbies, and Blue's Clues.
https://abc13.com/education/study-says-k...l/5183686/

[MrBossmanJr]

Hmm, I don't feel like I perform better than most people. What about Mr. Roger's Neighborhood?

[dfrecore]

The wording is kind of funky - "They found that kids with access to the show had improved school performance." (emphasis is mine).

Does having access actually mean they watched it??  I would have read more, but the report was 350 pages, and I'm not up to that.

I will say that my kids watched one single episode of Sesame Street, and hated it because, if you haven't watched it lately - it is NO fun anymore!  They have sucked all the joy out of it, and it didn't appeal to my kids at all.  And they watched all kinds of non-hi-tech shows like Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious George, Blues Clues, Bear in the Big Blue House, etc.  Nothing fancy, but they just didn't like Sesame Street.  Oh yeah, and for all their multiculturalism, they took out the Spanish speaking stuff, which I LOVED as a kid.

[bluebooger]

I would have read more, but the report was 350 pages, and I'm not up to that.

you sound like someone who didn't watch enough Sesame Street as a child 

[sanantone]

The wording is kind of funky - "They found that kids with access to the show had improved school performance." (emphasis is mine).

Does having access actually mean they watched it??  I would have read more, but the report was 350 pages, and I'm not up to that.

I will say that my kids watched one single episode of Sesame Street, and hated it because, if you haven't watched it lately - it is NO fun anymore!  They have sucked all the joy out of it, and it didn't appeal to my kids at all.  And they watched all kinds of non-hi-tech shows like Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious George, Blues Clues, Bear in the Big Blue House, etc.  Nothing fancy, but they just didn't like Sesame Street.  Oh yeah, and for all their multiculturalism, they took out the Spanish speaking stuff, which I LOVED as a kid.

I skipped to the methodology section. You're right in that they looked at access to Sesame Street rather than actual viewership. The cohorts were chosen between  the years of 1959 and 1968 to get groups that were not at the target age and those that were by the time Sesame Street aired in 1969. They avoided looking at who had UHF tuners because that sample would have wealthier children. Instead, they looked at which areas were covered at the time by broadcasters. Based on ratings at the time, it's estimated that about half of the kids who had access to Sesame Street watched it.