Mario Marsicano
The Late Movies: Educational Programming
by Mario Marsicano - May 13, 2009 - 10:00 PM

Today’s 5pm Quiz on Schoolhouse Rock was very cool. Those short Saturday morning cartoons made learning fun, and they’re also the reason I can still recite the preamble, word for word. Let’s continue the educational programming theme with today’s videos.

I mentioned it, so I may as well post it. Come on and sing along. We the people…

From The Electric Company…it’s a word, it’s a plan, it’s Letterman!

And another Electric Company classic. Morgan Freeman is Easy Reader.

I always get a kick out of this one. James Earl Jones counts to ten on Sesame Street.

And one of the trippier Sesame Street clips out there. This one teaches children how to count to twelve.

Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?

Remember Zoom? We’re gonna zooma zomma zoom zoom zoom. I had a crush on Bernadette.

Have you ever seen this video of Mr Rogers speaking at a Senate hearing on PBS funding? It’s pretty amazing – $20 million worth of amazing.

This clip of Ricky Gervais talking to Elmo is pretty funny.

And MadTV‘s Schoolhouse Rock parody, “Public School House Rock,” looks at the state of school lunches.

« Previous Post   -   Next Post »
Click here to get a Risk-Free issue of mental_floss magazine
Comments (10)

  1. Is the narrator for Letterman Joan Rivers?

    posted by sarah mac on 5-13-2009 at 10:37 pm

  2. Yep – In some episodes, Letterman himself is voiced by Gene Wilder and the Spellbinder is voiced by Zero Mostel!

    Hey – how can you have an entire series of education videos in a post and not mention Tom Lehrer even once?

    posted by gmsc on 5-14-2009 at 2:43 am

  3. Just to tell you how universal American culture is. I remember them and I live in Australia!!!

    posted by Rick on 5-14-2009 at 3:56 am

  4. - I was totally groovin’ along to the “Eleven Twelve” song.
    – “Zoom” is one of the things that makes me love Boston.
    – Do I really need to explain the sheer awesomeness that is Mr. Rogers?

    posted by scamps on 5-14-2009 at 8:33 am

  5. I bought the Schoolhouse Rock DVDs and CDs the moment they all became available just after my daughter was born.

    I use them in the classroom all the time.

    I also remember sitting in high school and taking an American History test when all the sudden one person starts slightly humming the Preamble and just about everyone chimed in. I think we all did well on that part of the test.

    posted by Karen on 5-14-2009 at 8:47 am

  6. I remember all of these so well! And I can still do Bernadette’s “magical” arm trick!

    But I wish you’d included Fargo North, Decoder.

    posted by loripop on 5-14-2009 at 11:26 am

  7. I can still remember the Zoom Address.

    Box 350
    Boston MA 02134

    posted by hannah on 5-14-2009 at 1:24 pm

  8. There two kinds of educational in films: there are films, though purely entertainment, that are culturally a must see, like anyone need to know who Shakespeare or George Washington was.
    And then there’s films for the sake of educating. These should also be entertaining, or else, what is the point using them to replace ex-cathedra teaching? However, if these latter videos were further optimised mnemonically they would really fly (in the face of the educational establishment though).

    posted by Franz on 5-14-2009 at 4:47 pm

  9. I just found this Sesame Street clip introducing viewers to ‘the Letter L’ and Opera…

    posted by AMY on 5-14-2009 at 9:41 pm

  10. Yep; I too know the entire Preamble thanx to SchoolHouse Rock. And have the ZOOM address permanently impressed into my brain.

    But there’s a few of my favs missing from your list:

    Silent E. (yep, Tom Lehrer); Who can turn a man, into a mane…

    Interjections, for excitement, and emotion, Hallelujah!

    And while I don’t know how educational it is, The Plumber was and is still one of my all time favorite:. Its-the-plumber-I’ve-come-to-fix-the-sink *clunk*

    And yeah, all of them are on Youtube. How do I know for sure? I play them for my 4 year old all the time *grin* and, of course, for me as well…

    posted by Alli on 5-14-2009 at 10:05 pm

Comment

commenting policy