A Basic Cultural Education

[Raven Crowking]

Never did Fraggle Rock, (I didn't have HBO as a kid), but it does remind me that The Muppett Show is also essential viewing.

And Sesame Street.....

 

[Ahzad]

I miss having that reference point with the younger generation as well. I did much the same thing with my own kids and now I'm doing it with the nieces and nephews. I've just recently introduced them to the Land of the Lost and the glory of the sleestaks While the show could be cheesy as heck I really enjoyed it as a kid and so do the younger generation.

I also miss having that same reference point with gamers, especially that newer generations. I remember when most of us all played through the classics, The Keep, Against the Giants, Vault of the Drown, Temple of Elemental Evil The Tomb, and etc. There is such a wide variety of stuff after 30 odd years that we have lost those touchstones in the hobby, and I miss that. I've taken to running those classics for my group (who are made of mostly this younger generation of gamers that haven't played those classics) when I need a one off or a break from normal campaigning and they've enjoyed them quite a bit.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The Marx Brothers. 'Nuff said.

They don't know old music, don't know what radio programs were, and not many even get references to Shakespeare or Homer anymore either.

Some of our contemporaries don't know some of this stuff either. When I was in law school, I was the one who had to explain classical references like "Sword of Damocles" to my fellow students.

The difference?

For many of them, schoolbooks were the only ones they read- all other reading was newspapers and periodicals.

When reading a book during a lunch break, one of my classmates stopped and asked what I was doing. "Reading," I replied.

"Yeah, but its not a class book... You read for FUN!?!?"

So, yeah...in many ways, I can see this being an important thread for you.

Oh, BTW...Aesop's Fables and a nice, annotated Grimm's Fairy Tales and Alice in Wonderland are a good ones to add.

 

[Fast Learner]

This is a very interesting idea. Me, while I introduced my daughter to a few things from my childhood, I never made a point to, and honestly, I don't really see the point.

My parents could have sat me down and had me watch Howdy Doody and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin and Divorce Court, but I honestly don't think my life would have been any richer for it. I would have watched them at the expense of what my peers were watching, leaving me with a common cultural background with my parents but a much more limited one with my peers.

Do you wish your folks had showed you old TV instead of your watching those shows on your list?

Mind you, I'm not trying to be critical, everyone's entitled to his/her own childrearing choices. I just don't get it, really.

 

[Jdvn1]

L'Mort D'Artur

One of my favorites, and often forgotten. I'd also add the Three Musketeers.

 

[ggroy]

I would be somewhat reluctant to give any kids a "cultural education".

I know when I was a kid, I actively rebelled at having any "cultural education" shoved down my throat for which I had very little to no interest in. If I was given a book on something for which I had no interest in, it ended up on the shelf collecting dust for a long time.

Most of the "cultural education" stuff I've picked up over the years, largely came about when something caught my attention (independent of what my parents or anybody else thought).

 

[Mark]

They don't know old music, don't know what radio programs were, and not many even get references to Shakespeare or Homer anymore either.

D'oh?

 

[Orius]

Oh, BTW...Aesop's Fables and a nice, annotated Grimm's Fairy Tales and Alice in Wonderland are a good ones to add.

Also either Bullfinch's or Edith Hamiton's Mythology. I'd lean more toward Hamilton since Bullfinch is mostly very stilted translations of Ovid and Vergil written in 150 year old English that's showing its age.

 

[Jack7]

I know when I was a kid, I actively rebelled at having any "cultural education" shoved down my throat for which I had very little to no interest in. If I was given a book on something for which I had no interest in, it ended up on the shelf collecting dust for a long time.

I get your point. But I've asked em. They don't object to watching and reading old stuff (relatively speaking - it ain't old to me).

They laugh, and ask questions about what life was like back then, they're curious. They like it.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

This is a very interesting idea. Me, while I introduced my daughter to a few things from my childhood, I never made a point to, and honestly, I don't really see the point.

My parents could have sat me down and had me watch Howdy Doody and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin and Divorce Court, but I honestly don't think my life would have been any richer for it. I would have watched them at the expense of what my peers were watching, leaving me with a common cultural background with my parents but a much more limited one with my peers.

Do you wish your folks had showed you old TV instead of your watching those shows on your list?

Mind you, I'm not trying to be critical, everyone's entitled to his/her own childrearing choices. I just don't get it, really.

I think it was less of a conscious descision from my parents. While I didn't see that much TV from my parents' time, since there weren't videos and DVDs of them to show me, I did pick up quite a bit from recordings of music and radio shows that they listened too growing up, and when rebroadcasts of shows they watched aired on some of the UHF channels, their interest in watching them sparked my own interest.

Overall I agree with you. I would not advocate sitting your kids down to watch the complete series of these TV shows under the idea of "Here, learn something of my generation's culture," but instead watch some of them on your own, or pick up some of the suggested books, read them again and ask your kids if they are interested as well.

As for limiting the kids' common cultural experience with their peers, the explosion of media with cable TV and internet, and the number of books published for kids already has done that. There is so much available that the commonality of it across the current generation of kids is much lower than it was for myself. I actually think it is on reason that things like Harry Potter and even Twilight are remarkable; they managed to push through the noise and become part of the current common cultural experience.