How sad.. I grew up watching this show in the 90s. Too bad shows like this would never appeal to the likes of George Bush and Glenn Beck since, as emphasized below, it taught viewers
why to read and not how to read.
http://lafiga.firedoglake.com/2009/08/29/reading-rainbow-canceled-just-when-glen-beck-needs-it-most/The iconic Reading Rainbow which taught kids the joys of reading aired its last show Friday. Producers unable to secure several hundred thousand dollars to secure broadcast rights for the program hosted by LeVar Burton. But the Bush administration's education policies also played a part, explained John Grant director of content at the show's home station, WNED in Buffalo. According to Grant who spoke with NPR on Friday
Grant says the funding crunch is partially to blame, but the decision to end Reading Rainbow can also be traced to a shift in the philosophy of educational television programming. The change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, he explains, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on the basic tools of reading -- like phonics and spelling.
Grant says that , and the Department of Education put significant funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read -- but that's not what Reading Rainbow was trying to do.
"Reading Rainbow taught kids why to read," Grant says. "You know, the love of reading -- encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read."
A love of reading certainly would have helped Glenn Beck. See the more you read and enjoy reading the more you learn, from concepts to spelling. He wouldn't even have had to read Aristole or Xenophon, heck there's there's lots of books which use the word he's trying to spell in this video.
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