Kraidy Article Summary

Sesame Street, one of the most popular children’s shows ever, has been educating children for over thirty years. Its multicultural cast is exceptionally contrasting to other media during the 1970s, which is very praiseworthy, according to the Kraidy and his article, “Sunny Days on Sesame Street? Multiculturalism and Resistance Postmodernism”. Kraidy concludes that Sesame Street has multifaceted dialogues that recognizes other races in constructing identity. In other words, Sesame Street promotes “multicultural identification and coexistence” (Kraidy, 2002).

In examining Sesame Street’s validity as a pedagogical tool for teaching children about multiculturalism, Kraidy examines its portrayal of multiculturalism. In doing so, he uses Peter McLaren’s theory of resistance postmodernism, which addresses pedagogy and multiculturalism.

The show was first produced by New York based Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) in 1969. It won 71 Emmys, and broadcasted in 141 countries, including 19 foreign coproductions where different muppets were made to be introduced to these different countries. So popular is the show, it has 11 million viewers in U.S. Sesame Street succeeds to teach children numbers and letters, as well as social commitment. For instance, it educates and promotes awareness to children about multiculturalism in U.S., and cultural and religious tolerance in Israel.

As an educational tool, Sesame Street was found to serve a significant impact on children’s learning. Rice, et al. (1990), studied the relationship between watching television to pass time and learning. They found that Sesame Street was a rich source for developing vocabulary of children ranging from ages three to five. In other studies performed by Salomon, Cook, and Conner, whose studies were similar, they found that Sesame Street is a supplement to children’s education, where best results are detected when exposed to other educational stimuli, age, and support from parents.

Its sociocultural impact also demonstrated positive results. For instance, Children ages four to seven who watched Sesame Street were tested, and results showed that they were more likely to describe others in a more positive way. Moreover, they often resort to prosocial justifications to resolve conflicts. All in all, Sesame Street’s education impact is not only limited to teaching children about numbers and letters, but it also extends to teaching them the important foundation to cultural scaffolding and social interactions.

Postmodernism’s emphasis and acknowledgement of cultural diversity, bringing the emergence of media like Sesame Street which has a multicultural cast. Peter McLaren encourages educators to develop a curriculum that attends to specificity (race/gender/class), but also acknowledges the commonality of all these diverse groups (things they have in common). Resistance Postmodernism encompasses plurality of truth, and “a means of interrogating locality, positionality, and specificity of knowledge” (Kraidy, 2002). Plurality of truth is exemplified in Sesame Street’s episode where a Olivia goes over to Aisha’s house (cross-cultural friendship). Moreover, it is continually re-emphasized throughout the show because all the characters on the show each take part in being a teacher at one point. It also promotes self-esteem by showing that learning and teaching is essential to everybody’s interaction, moreover, it dethrones authority and makes everyone equal. Another episode a narrated by a girl who lives in a small village in China learns stilt dancing from her grandfather offers more insight into foreign culture. These scenes allow children to question their locality, and specificity of knowledge to a culture that is clearly different from theirs such as Chinese.