Gary E. Knell has served as counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary and Governmental Affairs Committees and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Geographic Foundation Board of Governors and AARP Services, Inc. Knell now serves as president and CEO of Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind the production of Sesame Street and other educational children's programming viewed in 140 countries. On Monday, Nov. 13, he spoke to a packed Chapel audience, following a brief introduction by assistant professor of psychology Jean Burr.
"Today's lecture is brought to you by the letter H." Knell said. From the beginning, it was clear that he wanted his lecture to be interactive and fun, kind of like Sesame Street.
Like everything else, Knell quipped, Sesame Workshop was thought up at a cocktail party in New York City, in the 1960s. Knell painted the decade as "an era of momentous change, complete with a controversial war, political assassinations, race riots and a war on poverty initiated by President Johnson." Head Start, VISTA, PBS and NPR all came out of this time, but television still had only three networks. Children's programming was limited to Saturday morning cartoons, and children were categorically remembering advertising jingles better than programs. The serving telecommunications chairman described television as a "vast wasteland."
In 1969, a team of comedy writers, educators and child development experts met to create a show to help children memorize numbers and letters as opposed to just product names, and help better prepare them for school. Knell showed a video clip with Muppets illustrating how names such as "The Itty Bitty Nitty Gritty Children's Show" and even "Hey Stupid" were suggested, complete with Kermit the Frog asking "do you really think you're going to get this show on the air?" The clip also showed Johnny Cash performing out of Oscar the Grouch's trash can, in an early example of pop culture icons appearing on the show.
Sesame Street was not a "fantasy world made up of goofy purple dinosaurs in suburban settings," but "life on the streets living together with distinct complex personalities." It was banned in Mississippi during its first year due to showing an integrated cast. On the air, characters Louis and Maria got married, had a child who is now in college and were America's first family of Hispanic role models.
Showing integration, notably of Hispanics and blacks, was an important lesson the creators worked into the American programming, and now every time Sesame Street airs in a new country, a specialized team builds a "locally indigenous curriculum" to address each nation's individual issues. In South Africa, where one in nine children have AIDS, an HIV-positive puppet named Kami shows children that you can hug and be friends with someone without becoming sick. In Egypt, 60 percent of the female population is illiterate, so a puppet named Khokha serves as an important role model for girls.
Sesame Workshop frequently uses television and live action films to humanize the other side. Today's Israeli children are facing serious diversity issues, with lines drawn between Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Mizrahi (Arab) Jews, in addition to between Jews, Muslims and Christians. Sesame Street teaches them about where they all come from, and how to get along. On the other side of the fence, a separate program shows Palestinian boys that they can become doctors and lawyers. In Kosovo, Sesame Workshop uses two similar programs to work between Serbs and Albanians.
Knell believes that by using the power of television, maybe in the privacy of living rooms, we can begin to get children thinking differently and making the "generational shift that needs to be made." Through different formats and curriculums, Sesame Street has stood for the same thing for decades. "We are different, but we are the same. Differences are what make our world distinct," he said. In addition, it has always tried to focus on the whole child, by teaching letters, numbers, shapes, social and emotional issues, health issues and hygiene.
Incorporated along with humor, color and music, pop culture references are specific to each country. Pop culture not only helps teach and connect with children, but connects with parents and promotes vital co-viewing. In the U.S., Bruce Springsteen has performed "Born to Add," and Norah Jones has been stood up by the letter Y and sung "Don't know why Y didn't come." Anderson Cooper has parodied CNN, filling in for Oscar the Grouch, popping out of the garbage can to talk with "Walter Cracky" and "Dan Rather-Not." Grey's Anatomy has been alluded to with "Alphabet Memorial Hospital," CSI with "Rhyme Scene-Do Not Cross," Deal or No Deal with "Meal or No Meal" and Dancing with the Stars with "Dancing with Triangles." While children might not understand all of these allusions, they keep things culturally relevant for parents. Knell showed a clip of an episode of "Desperate Houseplants" where a female plant in a window complains that she hasn't been watered in days, until a young man Muppet shows up at the window with a watering can. "Okay we got a few complaints about that last one," Knell admitted, "but no one from Hamilton College."
Sesame Workshop also targets specific audiences in order to further convey messages. The day of the lecture, the Workshop did a special Veteran's Day program for military families, as 7,000 preschool-aged children (the largest number since World War II) now have actively deployed parents. For Knell, redeployment, "redeployment again," and homecoming are huge issues for these families to deal with, especially with the members of National Guard who didn't necessarily sign up for active duty. The organization has consulted with experts and distributed more than 4,000 kits designed to empower soldiers and their families to discuss these serious issues in a "developmentally appropriate way."
Childhood obesity is another particularly important concern for Knell, as the obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool-aged children, and tripled for children between the ages of six and 11. A Sesame Workshop study on Broccoli vs. Chocolate, showed that given the choice in plain packaging, 80 percent picked chocolate, but when a picture of Elmo was put on the broccoli, 50 percent chose broccoli. This proved the power that licensed characters can have on children, and Sesame Workshop has subsequently built a multimedia project called Healthful Habits for Life. In an effort to encourage good eating and exercise habits, the Workshop has enlisted the help of Vanessa Williams, Alicia Keys, the New York Jets and even Joe Torre teaching Elmo that "walking is good for you." Knell added that they are even teaching Cookie Monster that "cookies are a sometimes food," which resulted in Saturday Night Live accusing them of trying to make him a "Pilates monster." According to Knell, Sesame Workshop actually likes that kind of satire, because at the end of that day, some mom in Buffalo can say "look, even Cookie Monster can't have cookies all the time."
In this day and age, reaching children is all about using all pipelines that children can access. Knell's perspective is that "you can put negative portrayals of people and dumbing-down on these pipelines, or you can put content that inspires people." Sesame Street was downloaded 17 million times on Sprout last month, and it is now looking at satellite radio and V-Cast radio with Verizon. On YouTube, two million people have downloaded a clip with singer Chris Brown dancing and singing with Elmo about how to read signs, and Sesame Street became the #1 podcast in the U.S. in the second week of November.
Now that pre-school entertainment has become such an "overcrowded marketplace," Knell and his comrades are looking ahead to try and find what's next. For children age six to nine, they are going to relaunch the Electric Company, the 1970s show aimed at the same demographic that launched the careers of Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby. Sesame Workshop is going to use hip-hop as a foundation, and continue to segue into video games, the web and portable entertainment. Sesame Workshop is going to help children create user-generated content and songs and work with organizations like the Boys and Girls Club to spread these new capabilities. The organization believes "media can be a partner in promoting literacy, as opposed to being a part of the problem," and has dedicated the new Joan Ganz Cooney Center at its offices to address America's current literacy crisis.
In closing, Knell metaphorically suggested that Sesame Workshop has "helped design the kitchen," but it is their partners around the world who "need to decide what to cook for dinner." Children around the world need to develop 21st century skills, and Knell offered that "someone in this room can figure out how to use media to make a difference. He concluded his presentation with a film called The World According to Sesame Street, which offered a tour of various local broadcasts throughout the world and their characters, and ended with a simple message: "There are 1.8 billion children in the world -- 1.8 billion reasons to keep on working."
-- by Mariam Ballout '10
"Today's lecture is brought to you by the letter H." Knell said. From the beginning, it was clear that he wanted his lecture to be interactive and fun, kind of like Sesame Street.
Like everything else, Knell quipped, Sesame Workshop was thought up at a cocktail party in New York City, in the 1960s. Knell painted the decade as "an era of momentous change, complete with a controversial war, political assassinations, race riots and a war on poverty initiated by President Johnson." Head Start, VISTA, PBS and NPR all came out of this time, but television still had only three networks. Children's programming was limited to Saturday morning cartoons, and children were categorically remembering advertising jingles better than programs. The serving telecommunications chairman described television as a "vast wasteland."
In 1969, a team of comedy writers, educators and child development experts met to create a show to help children memorize numbers and letters as opposed to just product names, and help better prepare them for school. Knell showed a video clip with Muppets illustrating how names such as "The Itty Bitty Nitty Gritty Children's Show" and even "Hey Stupid" were suggested, complete with Kermit the Frog asking "do you really think you're going to get this show on the air?" The clip also showed Johnny Cash performing out of Oscar the Grouch's trash can, in an early example of pop culture icons appearing on the show.
Sesame Street was not a "fantasy world made up of goofy purple dinosaurs in suburban settings," but "life on the streets living together with distinct complex personalities." It was banned in Mississippi during its first year due to showing an integrated cast. On the air, characters Louis and Maria got married, had a child who is now in college and were America's first family of Hispanic role models.
Showing integration, notably of Hispanics and blacks, was an important lesson the creators worked into the American programming, and now every time Sesame Street airs in a new country, a specialized team builds a "locally indigenous curriculum" to address each nation's individual issues. In South Africa, where one in nine children have AIDS, an HIV-positive puppet named Kami shows children that you can hug and be friends with someone without becoming sick. In Egypt, 60 percent of the female population is illiterate, so a puppet named Khokha serves as an important role model for girls.
Sesame Workshop frequently uses television and live action films to humanize the other side. Today's Israeli children are facing serious diversity issues, with lines drawn between Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Mizrahi (Arab) Jews, in addition to between Jews, Muslims and Christians. Sesame Street teaches them about where they all come from, and how to get along. On the other side of the fence, a separate program shows Palestinian boys that they can become doctors and lawyers. In Kosovo, Sesame Workshop uses two similar programs to work between Serbs and Albanians.
Knell believes that by using the power of television, maybe in the privacy of living rooms, we can begin to get children thinking differently and making the "generational shift that needs to be made." Through different formats and curriculums, Sesame Street has stood for the same thing for decades. "We are different, but we are the same. Differences are what make our world distinct," he said. In addition, it has always tried to focus on the whole child, by teaching letters, numbers, shapes, social and emotional issues, health issues and hygiene.
Incorporated along with humor, color and music, pop culture references are specific to each country. Pop culture not only helps teach and connect with children, but connects with parents and promotes vital co-viewing. In the U.S., Bruce Springsteen has performed "Born to Add," and Norah Jones has been stood up by the letter Y and sung "Don't know why Y didn't come." Anderson Cooper has parodied CNN, filling in for Oscar the Grouch, popping out of the garbage can to talk with "Walter Cracky" and "Dan Rather-Not." Grey's Anatomy has been alluded to with "Alphabet Memorial Hospital," CSI with "Rhyme Scene-Do Not Cross," Deal or No Deal with "Meal or No Meal" and Dancing with the Stars with "Dancing with Triangles." While children might not understand all of these allusions, they keep things culturally relevant for parents. Knell showed a clip of an episode of "Desperate Houseplants" where a female plant in a window complains that she hasn't been watered in days, until a young man Muppet shows up at the window with a watering can. "Okay we got a few complaints about that last one," Knell admitted, "but no one from Hamilton College."
Sesame Workshop also targets specific audiences in order to further convey messages. The day of the lecture, the Workshop did a special Veteran's Day program for military families, as 7,000 preschool-aged children (the largest number since World War II) now have actively deployed parents. For Knell, redeployment, "redeployment again," and homecoming are huge issues for these families to deal with, especially with the members of National Guard who didn't necessarily sign up for active duty. The organization has consulted with experts and distributed more than 4,000 kits designed to empower soldiers and their families to discuss these serious issues in a "developmentally appropriate way."
Childhood obesity is another particularly important concern for Knell, as the obesity rate has more than doubled for preschool-aged children, and tripled for children between the ages of six and 11. A Sesame Workshop study on Broccoli vs. Chocolate, showed that given the choice in plain packaging, 80 percent picked chocolate, but when a picture of Elmo was put on the broccoli, 50 percent chose broccoli. This proved the power that licensed characters can have on children, and Sesame Workshop has subsequently built a multimedia project called Healthful Habits for Life. In an effort to encourage good eating and exercise habits, the Workshop has enlisted the help of Vanessa Williams, Alicia Keys, the New York Jets and even Joe Torre teaching Elmo that "walking is good for you." Knell added that they are even teaching Cookie Monster that "cookies are a sometimes food," which resulted in Saturday Night Live accusing them of trying to make him a "Pilates monster." According to Knell, Sesame Workshop actually likes that kind of satire, because at the end of that day, some mom in Buffalo can say "look, even Cookie Monster can't have cookies all the time."
In this day and age, reaching children is all about using all pipelines that children can access. Knell's perspective is that "you can put negative portrayals of people and dumbing-down on these pipelines, or you can put content that inspires people." Sesame Street was downloaded 17 million times on Sprout last month, and it is now looking at satellite radio and V-Cast radio with Verizon. On YouTube, two million people have downloaded a clip with singer Chris Brown dancing and singing with Elmo about how to read signs, and Sesame Street became the #1 podcast in the U.S. in the second week of November.
Now that pre-school entertainment has become such an "overcrowded marketplace," Knell and his comrades are looking ahead to try and find what's next. For children age six to nine, they are going to relaunch the Electric Company, the 1970s show aimed at the same demographic that launched the careers of Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby. Sesame Workshop is going to use hip-hop as a foundation, and continue to segue into video games, the web and portable entertainment. Sesame Workshop is going to help children create user-generated content and songs and work with organizations like the Boys and Girls Club to spread these new capabilities. The organization believes "media can be a partner in promoting literacy, as opposed to being a part of the problem," and has dedicated the new Joan Ganz Cooney Center at its offices to address America's current literacy crisis.
In closing, Knell metaphorically suggested that Sesame Workshop has "helped design the kitchen," but it is their partners around the world who "need to decide what to cook for dinner." Children around the world need to develop 21st century skills, and Knell offered that "someone in this room can figure out how to use media to make a difference. He concluded his presentation with a film called The World According to Sesame Street, which offered a tour of various local broadcasts throughout the world and their characters, and ended with a simple message: "There are 1.8 billion children in the world -- 1.8 billion reasons to keep on working."
-- by Mariam Ballout '10
