Don’t Be Frightened of the “E” Word (Educational)
The word “educational” makes a lot of people cringe. It conjures up images of heaping plates of broccoli, of having to clean your room, or cut the grass. It makes us think of being chained to a school desk, scribbling the same facts over and over again, and being lectured to. In short, it makes people think of things they have to do because they’re good for them, but that they don’t particularly want to do.
We’ve never shied away from the fact that we produce educational materials. We like that learning is built into our stuff, and we’re proud of the fact that our wee readers and viewers grow from what we put out there. We think it’s high time that educational media got the high five it deserves.
Here’s a list of reasons why thinkers, both big and small, should embrace stuff that’s educational:
The notion that education is good for you, but unpalatable, is downright outdated. Many schools now use a play-based model of learning, especially in early years. Entire sections of toy stores are devoted to items that are designed for learning, but still every bit as cool as their “fun” counterparts. Leveled readers feature popular characters from television and movies. Even children’s clothing has ventured into the educational market. If education is “broccoli”, then these days, we’ve definitely learned to serve it up with cheese sauce.*
As often as parents comment on something being too educational, they also complain about the stuff that’s just annoying fluff. We hear about programs being ridiculous and pointless, or toys that only seem to light up and make noise for no apparent reason other than to light up and make noise. Well, there are alternatives that do encourage learning. If kids are offered these alternatives, it’s possible they’ll choose them, even if they do require thought, communication, and creativity. Annoying fluff is only interesting for so long, after all.
Ever wonder why certain topics and subject areas are included in education? Because we need them to be. Sure, curriculum changes, and some things need to be updated to keep with current needs, but for the most part, the knowledge and skills that are promoted through education are useful, in both our childhood years, and later on. To call something “educational”, at least in a pejorative sense, is to make it seem like it can and should be relegated to a few hours a week in a classroom. As far as we’re concerned, if it’s important enough to cover at school, it’s important enough to be part of a child’s daily life.
When we’re little, just about everything is educational in some way, or at least it has the potential to be. Catch your kid with his/her finger up his/her nose? They learn things from that. Are they spending hours in the kiddie pool in the back yard? They’re not just cooling off, they’re learning from that. Do they repeat the same silly song over and over again? There’s learning in that too. This work/play dichotomy we apply to the activities of children is much more a reflection of adult life, and one that even big people can do without.
So, do we need to peel the “educational” label off things? No way. What we need to do is start attaching other labels as well, like “empowering”, “inspiring”, and “captivating”. “Cute”, “funny” and “sweet” can also be thrown into the mix. The sooner we stop seeing being educated as something we have to do, and something that we might actually enjoy doing, the sooner our kids will follow suit, and the better thinkers they’ll become.
*For the record, some of us really like broccoli, even without cheese sauce.
