“Daddy, how can I tell which balloons are red and which are yellow?”

My then  23 month old daughter was watching Sesame Street on TV. And, our TV was just a black and white set. Until that day. When I went out and bought a Kenmore (Sears) color TV, so she would know what the balloon colors were.

She wasn’t alone in her viewing habits. By the time I bought that color TV, Sesame Street had just attained its Bar Mitzva year. It had been educating (entertaining) kids since 1969. And, by the time I was residing in Virginia (1976), more than 1/3 of all American kids under the age of 5 were in its clutches. [This meant that some 50% of all potential viewers were under the spell of Sesame Street.] (Had there been more UHF antennae, the final 1/3 of our American toddlers could have been hooked, too.)

And, you notice I said educating. Because the data is in- and it demonstrates that Sesame Street had provided a plethora of educational opportunities to America’s kids. The research was effected by Melissa Kearney and Phillip Levine (U of Maryland and Wellesley, respectively) in a paper to be published soon in the National Bureau of Economic Research – where they compare the program to a MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses)- those new college type programs on line. Yes, the authors claim that Sesame Street was the original MOOC.

The reason they were able to compare the effects of the program?  Simply because it started out (as did all of Public Broadcasting) on the nether reaches of UHF (UltraHigh Frequency) stations- with their atrocious reception. (Only residents in Boston and New York – WGBH and WNYC, respectively- were able to view these programs on the original spectrum- channels 2 to 13.)

We knew way back when Nixon was president that there were short-term effects. By using census data (1980, educational status in 1990, labor market in 2000), the researchers could extend this analysis.  They easily found out that the kids were ‘school ready’. Moreover. boys, Black children, and the economically disadvantaged were found to have their lives greatly improved. And, that does not reflect the changes in Sesame Street over the years. In the 1970s and 1980s, the program stressed letters, numbers, and cooperation. This curriculum was expanded to add factors what would further extend classroom and life success. (The program did this with the various muppets, like Cookie Monster and his behaviors. And, it also used the key learning process of ‘storytelling’.)

The researchers’ data analysis clearly demonstrates that those who could receive the program way back when were more up-to-date in school. The authors claim a 14% reduction in the chances a child would be left behind- akin to the results obtained from Head Start.

Therein lies the big question- when we have governments cutting back on everything. If Head Start produces results akin to that of Sesame Street- why do we need Head Start? (The authors do claim that Head Start is far more than just an academic “booster shot”- it proffers family support, medical and dental services, and emotional skill development to ‘at-risk’ childen that are not part and parcel of the Sesame Street experience.)

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