This chapter was very interesting follow up to the class discussion that we had pertaining to things like sesame street and censorship. It also touched on the National Science Foundation. What’s very interesting about the NSF was that it was started as a reaction to the cold war and the lack of scientific advances made by the United States. Now the NSF is one of the funders of shows on PBS as well as funding many science programs. It is also interesting to note that the US still lags when it comes to Science and Math. Is there a way to fix this problem? Is there a reason why it is problem in the United States Educational System?
While the chapter did not touch much on the GI bill, the GI bill is one of the things that many associate with a growing disparity between the middle class whites and blacks. When African American soldiers came back from the war, they were very limited into the colleges that would accept them. They also were not allowed to buy the same homes that white GI’s could, homes in such developments as Levittown and the like. This lead to much disparity between education and income in further generations.
What’s interesting is the books focus on Sesame Street and it’s idealistic examples. While the book takes a condescending tone when it comes to that. I think it’s one of the things that make Sesame Street enjoyable for children and parents comfortable with them watching it, knowing that at least for an hour their children are protected from all the evils. Sometimes I do believe that sesame street goes to far in its censorship in items such as the Katy Perry skit that they didn’t air last year (http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/sesame-street-pulls-katy-perry-video-from-show/) because her chest was overly bouncy.
