Education, Commercialism and Barney

     The continued broadcast of the show "Barney
& Friends" is no doubt due to its strongest argument, it is educational.
The Lyons corporation and other supporters of Barney defend this point
rigorously, as do the parents that defend the show.  This portion of the
essay will cite their points of the educational value of "Barney & Friends"
and disprove them.

Imagination:

     Barney only promotes this in the context that he repeats the word
often. The use of imagination on Barney is limited to making art about
Barney, thinking about Barney, imagining Barney, wondering what Barney
would do.  This brands Barney into the children's mind, making them think
about him incessantly, singing his songs, buying his toys, and watching his
show to reinforce the image of Barney as the center of these children's
universes.

Numbers/Counting:

     While Barney episodes do indeed mention numbers, they are often no
higher than ten.  Showing these numbers may help in the learning process of
small children, but what does it do for older children.  Older children
watching the show don't learn any new numbers, and since Barney doesn't
bother too 'teach' any, they don't think they need to 'learn' any.  They
become content with their limited knowledge, thinking that if Barney
doesn't teach it then it must not be important.  This no doubt hampers the
children's learning process but also their basic education of what is
important.

Alphabet:

     Barney episodes have been known to help teach the alphabet, but how
much?  Extremely rarely the show mentions the alphabet, perhaps once out of
many, many episodes.  Other shows, such as Sesame Street, teach a letter
every day, helping the children retain the information.  Barney's rare
mentioning may help the children learn the alphabet for a short time, but
without continued repetition of this key element of education, the children
learn virtually nothing.  Things like the alphabet and numbers need to be
repeated into children's minds, because these need to be learned by basic
repetition.  Barney can't rightly assume that the children will get it on
the first try, and then they can go off and play.

Racial Harmony:

     It is claimed that Barney helps fight racism/discrimination by
putting in actors of many different races, nationalities, and religions.
However, this argument works against itself.  Barney shows that there is no
difference between these multi-cultural children by taking away their
individuality.  This teaches the children that they are all alike, which in
some cases is good, but also strips the culture and background of these
children.  There are no conflicts between the different cultures on the
show, so Barney can't help in showing how to live in harmony with other
cultures.

Morals:

     Barney supposedly teaches children correct social behavior.
However, in one episode stealing occurs, and the perpetrator gets off
without a punishment, or even a correct reprimand.  A child steals some
cookies from another child, it becomes okay because the child that had the
cookie didn't really want them anyway.  Did the child that stole the
cookies know that?  Can people go off taking things from others because
they can assume that they person won't want them?  In another episode the
children are involved in a contest to carry a peanut on a spoon without
dropping it.  One child puts peanut butter on his spoon, and easily wins.
The child is then rewarded for his creative thinking, when the child in
fact bent the rules, and changed the game so that he could win.  This
teaches that cheating is good, you win and people think that you are
creative, when in real life you will often be disqualified, or worse, and
severely disliked by other competitors who played by the rules.

     Overall, Barney does teach helpful educational material, but not
enough and without enough thoroughness.  Children could not adequately
learn basic educational material from the show "Barney & Friends".  While
it is possible to make the claim that Barney is educational, it is not
plausible.  This argument made both by the Lyons Corporation and other
supporters of Barney is simply a false front in its entirety to defend
Barney from rational arguments against it.