Blame it on Mr Rogers

[Detector]

So it seems Physiologists are blaming a generation of "under achievers" on the show Mister Rogers Neighborhood which promoted "You're Special".

Unlike the show Captain Kangaroo which promoted hard work and responsibility to rise above and be special, the Mister Rogers show promoted you're special no matter who you are which taught children it's OK to come in last.

The information was based on a study which compared kids that watched the show to those who did not. Those who watched the show felt coming home with a C grade was OK and those who didn't watch the show were not satisfied with a C and had more ambition to succeed.

This "You're Special no matter who you are", which was intended to help with low self esteem, is also thought to have contributed to the "give-me generation." The generation that feels they are owed simply because they exist.

That "everyone is equal" and "We are all winners" seems to have backfired. The Mister Rogers generation is claiming they were lied too.

[Army_of_One]

Wonder if Algore's son watched this program?

[wordsmythe]

Maybe Noelle Bush too.

[Highwayman]

We thank the late Captain Kangaroo for his service to our country as a Marine during WWII.

Don Chance, a finance professor at Louisiana State University, says it dawned on him last spring. The semester was ending, and as usual, students were making a pilgrimage to his office, asking for the extra points needed to lift their grades to A's.

"They felt so entitled," he recalls, "and it just hit me. We can blame Mr. Rogers."

Fred Rogers, the late TV icon, told several generations of children that they were "special" just for being whoever they were. He meant well, and he was a sterling role model in many ways. But what often got lost in his self-esteem-building patter was the idea that being special comes from working hard and having high expectations for yourself.

Now Mr. Rogers, like Dr. Spock before him, has been targeted for re-evaluation. And he's not the only one. As educators and researchers struggle to define the new parameters of parenting, circa 2007, some are revisiting the language of child ego-boosting. What are the downsides of telling kids they're special? Is it a mistake to have children call us by our first names? When we focus all conversations on our children's lives, are we denying them the insights found when adults talk about adult things?

Some are calling for a recalibration of the mind-sets and catch-phrases that have taken hold in recent decades. Among the expressions now being challenged:

"You're special." On the Yahoo Answers Web site, a discussion thread about Mr. Rogers begins with this posting: "Mr. Rogers spent years telling little creeps that he liked them just the way they were. He should have been telling them there was a lot of room for improvement. ... Nice as he was, and as good as his intentions may have been, he did a disservice."...

Moving On - WSJ.com

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