This evening I was catching an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants with my young son. The episode started with the boat school teacher coming under review by what was apparently a supervisor. Now, anyone who has a little child at home or a taste for cartoons know this to be a rather silly show. However, there was a line within the opening scene that made me think. The man/fish from the Teacher Accreditation Bureau was condemning Ms. Puff for failing a student numerous times. When Ms. Puff tried to explain, the supervisor simply replied, “We can not blame the students for the incompetence of the teacher.”
I am not sure why this resonated with me. However, I continued to watch the episode with much interest in terms of the perception of what a good teacher is as compared to what a bad teacher is. If you have a few minutes I suggest you watch it…you can even have your kids watch it with you. 🙂
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/09/12/spongebob-attention-span-children-tv-study_n_957849.html
AAAAKKK! Before you recommend that everyone watch the episode, I wanted to alert you to a study about executive function and Sponge Bob. We had a fascinating discussion in my parent ed classroom the week this study was released. For the record, Sponge Bob made his debut on Adult Swim. Food, or chum for thought!
Katy,
That is a really interesting article and I have heard of similar claims before and about numerous cartoon shows. There is certainly some good "chum" for thought!
Thanks!