Three is the magic number

February 13 2007

Completely off-topic question to my American readers...

How many of you passed a test, completed homework, or otherwise got ahead in school because you watched Saturday morning cartoons?



I took my daughter to a production of "Schoolhouse Rock Live!" on Sunday.  I think the parents enjoyed it more than the kids.

(Answer to my own question: In Mrs. Vinik's fifth grade class, one assignment was to memorize the Preamble to the US Constitution.  I earned double points because I was able to recite it five minutes after the homework was handed out :-))

Ed Brill | Chicago, IL USA Category: Add/View Comments [36]

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  1. 1  Duffbert http://www.twduff.com | 2/13/2007 8:06:08 AM

    And as a side note... growing up, we hated classmates like you... :)

  1. 2  Adam Gartenberg http://www.adamgartenberg.com | 2/13/2007 8:33:34 AM

    Sadly, if it weren't for Saturday morning TV, my knowledge of grammar, US government, and classical music would be severely lacking. And if the title slides on Dudley Do-right started hadn't started to look blurry, I would have gone even longer without realizing I needed glasses.

    My Aunt recently found tapes of the original Schoolhouse Rock episodes at a garage sale and bought them for us. My 5 year old has really been getting into them.

  1. 3  Keith Brooks http://kbmsg.blogspot.com | 2/13/2007 8:49:40 AM

    I think I missed that day at school :-)

    But kids cartoons just don't have the same meanings anymore like they used to.

  1. 4  Carl Tyler http://www.iminstant.com | 2/13/2007 8:58:57 AM

    In England we had Tizwas with the phantom flan flinger and SwapShop :-) No educational content at all, all just stupid fun for kids.

    All together now, 01-811-8055

  1. 5  Rob McDonagh http://www.CaptainOblivious.com | 2/13/2007 9:05:50 AM

    I was in a College (University) political science class and the professor started reciting the Preamble. The class, almost as one, began singing it to him a la Schoolhouse Rock. He was a bit surprised, but the students were only surprised when 2 people didn't know the song.

    I also learned all the US states as a song (my mother taught it in grade school music class for 40 years), and Battle Hymn of the Republic version of the list of most common prepositions, both of which came in handy on several occasions.

  1. 6  Tim Leach  | 2/13/2007 9:25:38 AM

    Who else used to watch "3-2-1 Contact" ???

    I used to love that show. I remember impressing my physics teacher one day by already knowing that speed = distance/time, which I learnt from watching 3-2-1 Contact.

    { Link }

    They don't make nostalgia like they used to !

  1. 7  Chris Miller http://www.IdoNotes.com | 2/13/2007 9:36:44 AM

    How do you think I was able to toss out how a bill became a law in a conversation once. All due to that little guy (I mean rolled parchment) named Bill

  1. 8  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 2/13/2007 9:46:55 AM

    Actually I got ahead by having older siblings who were lazy, and I loved to read, so I read their schoolbooks and did their homework for fun. I remember when I was in 2nd grade and my oldest sister was in 8th, I read a book she brought home about a tribe of natives in the Amazon, then wrote a book report for her. I was disappointed that I only got a B.

    Sadly I'm of an age where Schoolhouse Rock was off the air. I grew up with Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, and The Electric Company.

    @4 - Brits also invented Teletubbies, carrying on the torch of pointless children's television. ;-)

    @6 - I remember that vaguely, but it wasn't something we watched very often. Most of my teachers didn't consider TV a valuable learning tool, only Mrs. Lawrence in 1st grade and Mrs. Shuttle in 2nd.

  1. 9  Richard Schwartz http://www.rhs.com/poweroftheschwartz | 2/13/2007 10:15:17 AM

    My younger daughter is rehearsing for a local production of Schoolhouse Rock right now. At the top of her folder of materials is the preamble.

  1. 10  Kevin Mort  | 2/13/2007 10:42:16 AM

    Absolutely, I know I learned from those spots and still quote them today. Schoolhouse Rock, well...rocks! We have the box set which comes in one of those blue denim-like binders. : )

    K.

  1. 11  John Head http://www.johndavidhead.com | 2/13/2007 10:44:56 AM

    Conjuntion Junction was the best of all of them:

    { Link }

    And, here is what you can buy for home viewing and listening pleasure:

    { Link }

    "Conjuntion Junction, whats your function?"

  1. 12  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 2/13/2007 10:48:23 AM

    First, I own the Schoolhouse Rock videos. I bought them the DAY they came out on VHS. If I remember correctly, I didn't get the math one, 'cause that was my least favorite growing up. The set is currently on loan to my mother, where they have been frequently viewed by my nieces & nephews when they come to visit her.

    Second, I briefly had a gaming team of gen Xers called [SHR] where each member used a name of a song/cartoon. Few things are funnier than seeing "you have been killed by Interplanet Janet" or "Conjunction Junction kills D34thM0nG3r!! with a crowbar."

    Third, the single funniest Simpsons moment EVAR was this Schoolhouse Rock parody. { Link } Yes, it's safe for work. Yes, you will laugh hysterically.

    Fourth, Don't miss this: { Link } And for that matter, check out all the DVDs & stuff you can get now!

    I am absolutely hands-down convinced that Schoolhouse Rock is one of the best learning tools in American history.

  1. 13  Don McNally http://dmcnally.blogspot.com | 2/13/2007 10:50:10 AM

    I loved Schoolhouse Rock! In fact, I have a poster of the characters hanging in our basement. Bill, Conjunction Junction, that "super guy", they are all there. Can't say I recall that they helped me complete anything but they definitely stuck with me.

    One of my high school math teachers would sing the quadratic formula and that stuck with me too. He also would talk about the Good Cat Freda (Greatest Common Factor). There is something to be said for making education entertaining.

    @8: I don't know how you could have missed it with all of those shows, other than none of them were on ABC, which is where SR aired.

  1. 14  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 2/13/2007 10:59:02 AM

    Amusingly, this relates to what Kathy Sierra is talking about today: { Link }

  1. 15  Mike McGarel  | 2/13/2007 11:14:39 AM

    I'm sure some of my knowledge of history can be attributed to Mr. Peabody, Sherman and the Wayback Machine: { Link }

  1. 16  Alex Wilson  | 2/13/2007 11:42:15 AM

    Talk about a flashback... I remember this very well. I won't say it helped me through school because I was interested in this type of stuff to begin with, but I know many friends that learned from it. Today's cartoons are worthless and rubbish frankly. I miss good wholesome violence like Tom & Jerry, Wiley Coyote & Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd... I could go on and on.

    The interesting thing is that while they were violent, it was not "real". I never tried to act out what I saw. Neither did any of my friends. Nowdays kids try to do what they see... either parents are not giving the kids the right education or the crap is too realistic. Who knows.

    I miss those cute educational bits...

  1. 17  Irv Schor  | 2/13/2007 11:51:09 AM

    @17 My 3 & 4yr. old daughters don't realize it, but I play the Duck Season/Wabbit season routine (Elmer Fudd/Daffy Duck) with them all the time. When they insist on saying 'Yes' after I've said 'No' to something they want, they continually repeat 'Yes'... then after a while, I pull the 'ol switcheroo and say "Yes",... then the say "No" and I say "OK"... Hmmm, if they only knew the source of that!

  1. 18  Carl Tyler http://www.iminstant.com | 2/13/2007 12:20:29 PM

    @16 - Now there's an interesting jump from Schoolhouse rock

  1. 19  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/13/2007 12:21:02 PM

    @16 I really didn't mean for this to be a political thread.

  1. 20  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 2/13/2007 12:24:44 PM

    @16 - If you want the US to adhere to it's principles, what better way would you see than a catchy way to remind kids what those principles actually ARE!? The strongest arguments to get the US out of places like Iraq are that it's UNCONSTITUTIONAL for it to be there.

    Why would a 30-year old reminder of the principles of that constitution make you want to puke? That seems entirely backwards to me. You should be wanting every man, woman and child in the USA to be singing this tune while walking down the street!

    By the way, Ed's intention was nostalgia, not politics. And you can trust that many Americans are damn nostalgic for the days when the Constitution was the first consideration of government decision makers.

  1. 21  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 2/13/2007 12:46:29 PM

    @20 - Doesn't every thread jump the shark at some point?

  1. 22  Richard Schwartz http://www.rhs.com/poweroftheschwartz | 2/13/2007 12:48:48 PM

    @22 Well said. And enough said. Let's not make Ed cut off comments on this thread. Schoolhouse Rock made learning a fun and cool thing for many kids, which is a Very Good Thing (much like a great old book called "1066 And All That".

  1. 23  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 2/13/2007 12:50:44 PM

    @23 - "1066 and All That" What a great title!

  1. 24  Dave Madison  | 2/13/2007 1:03:58 PM

    @1 Yep. Ed would have been known as the curve breaker. :-)

    @21 Not to make this all political, but Nathan, I do find it interesting what people think is unconstitutional and what isn't. For example, many that think the war is unconstitutional have no problem blindly accepting federally funded welfare programs as being constitutional.

  1. 25  Carl Tyler http://www.iminstant.com | 2/13/2007 1:09:11 PM

    @23 1066, that was an important year right? Something to do with tapestry ? :-)

  1. 26  Debbie  | 2/13/2007 1:09:26 PM

    HA! I LOVED Schoolhouse Rock! I bought the DVDs when they came out.

    Ed, like you, we had to write the Preamble, but it was in 8th grade for our Constitution test. The other history class (where my best friend was taking the test) was told to sing quietly. :P Everyone in our class just mouthed the words as we wrote. :)

  1. 27  Kevin Pettitt http://www.lotusguru.com | 2/13/2007 1:15:28 PM

    Ed, thanks for the memory lane trip. I was a pretty big Saturday AM cartoon junkie back in the day, and remember the preamble, conjunction junction, and a few others pretty well. What surprised me when I went to find the lyrics a few years ago was how many songs there actually were (36 in 4 distinct categories - Multiplication, Grammar, Science, and America). Amazon has a ton of related material, but here's the link to the book I found (you can view the TOC online): { Link }

  1. 28  Richard Schwartz http://www.rhs.com/poweroftheschwartz | 2/13/2007 5:30:52 PM

    @26: Right you are, Carl. It's the number of weeks that Carole King's album Tapestry was on Ye Olde Billboard's Top 200 album charts, until the aristocracy got together and put limits on King's album sales, an episode that we all know as The Magna Charta. And I think Halley's comet and some guy named Norman had something to do with it, too. ;-)

  1. 29  Bill Geimer  | 2/13/2007 8:08:40 PM

    Or was 1066 the year of the Norman invasion and conquest of England. Perhaps the foundation of most of the Western world, as it turned out - at least mainly for Austrailia, Canada and the U.S. Which in turn made it possible for there to be Billboard charts in our childhood, and maybe even the "e" at the end of Ms. King's name. Or not.

    @Ed: thanks for the memories.

  1. 30  Richard Schwartz http://www.rhs.com/poweroftheschwartz | 2/13/2007 9:05:20 PM

    Hmmm... @30 Bill, yeah... that might have been it. Especially considering that Tapestry was really only on the charts for 302 weeks ;-)

    @24 Nathan, the full title is actually "1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates"

    The book has its own Wikipedia entry { Link }

  1. 31  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 2/13/2007 10:05:32 PM

    @30 - And who can forget that 1066 was when the Tower of London was started?

  1. 32  Jerry Glover http://www.jerryglover.com | 2/13/2007 11:06:09 PM

    Schoolhouse Rock was great. And every geek has to love educational spots for kids that include concepts like zero/base 10 ("My Hero, Zero") and the duodecimal system ("Little Twelvetoes"). And as Nathan mentioned, _Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks_ is a great tribute album which includes some of the "greatest hits" of the series; highly recommended.

  1. 33  Feliz Canto  | 2/14/2007 2:58:02 AM

    Appologies for my strong remark @16. I have to agree with Nathan @21. Thanks Ed for not moderating me away, people make mistakes. My negative feelings came from the hypocrosy between what's practised and what's preached. But let's hope a new generation will see the importance of these principles again. It's hard to feel/be responsible for the world problems, but the least we can do is teach our children to do the right thing.

  1. 34  Keith Brooks http://kbmsg.blogspot.com | 2/14/2007 12:44:02 PM

    Somewhere in the world Michael Eisner, love him or hate him, deserves credit for making Schoolhouse Rock what it was/is to us all.

    So if he reads this, thank you.

  1. 35  Deleted  | 2/14/2007 12:49:49 PM

    Deleted - no anonymous comments allowed

  1. 36  Jamie Houston  | 2/15/2007 11:00:57 PM

    @2 Dudley Do-right.. he was Canadian ;) We had School House Rock in Canada.. or it might have just been on the US affiliate tv channels. I don't remember as much of the government topics.. as that would have been different for us. But i remember the math and of course (!) conjunction junction.