The Evils of Sesame Street

Most of you probably watched Sesame Street growing up. It is one of the longest running shows in television history, as well as one of the longest running experiments in child psychology and education. It was started in 1969 and was one of the first shows to use television to educate children. Last month the first five seasons were released on DVD, and many nostalgic adults eager to share their childhood with their children were shocked to learn that these "early 'Sesame Street' episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child."

How could that be? Have we really gotten so paranoid that we think ancient Sesame Street episodes could actually hurt preschoolers? Sesame Street has been through many controversies, from Ernie and Bert outed as gays, to the more recent revelation that Cookie Monster could be teaching children obesity. It seems like a sad reflection on society that even Sesame Street needs to be labeled as potentially dangerous to children.

I don't know the reasons the company had to issue this warning, but in their defense, Sesame Street has gone through many changes since its creation. It is constantly going through focus groups to improve its teaching capacity as time changes. The Sesame Street from the first season is much different from the Sesame Street of today, and the older episodes are not designed for children today, but for children of the sixties and the seventies.

However, the PR person that made the decision to put a warning on the Sesame Street DVD probably wasn't thinking about the evolution of the show, only about how overprotected parents might react to the old-school Sesame Street. Apparently, the first episode has a segment with a young girl going home with a strange old man to have some cookies. There is no way the producers could do that today, without lawsuit threats from a number of concerned parents.

This warning label reflects how hyper-concerned our society has become. Sesame Street was created to entertain kids as well as adults, so parents could be engaged in their children's education. Parent reinforcement of education is an important aspect of learning, either real-life or televised. These DVDs give parents the opportunity to tell their kids why they shouldn't go home with strangers, or just eat cookies all the time, even though those things once happened on Sesame Street. The warning label isn't necessary, and parents should be involved enough to teach their kids the difference between right and wrong.