Television as Teacher Television in 21st century America plays a key role in the culture of the country; it influences our sense of humor, causes millions of people to spend two days talking about last night’s episode of American Idol, and influences the behaviors of the adolescent population. Television is a huge part in the lives of many children. Children are sometimes attached to the television for it’s entertainment value. This attachment got it’s roots in 1969, when the first episode of sesame street aired on television. Parents loved Sesame Street because it helped their kids learn to read. The essay written by Neil Postman, Television as Teacher, argues that television has influenced the youths’ attitude towards education in a negative way. He claims that television does not encourage to love school, but to love television. “Learning” through television is easier than book learning because it requires no prior knowledge, has little perplexity, and does not contain argument or discussion of the subject matter, but instead uses storytelling to get the point across. Postman targets people with similar views as his. Postman’s essay is moderately persuasive, as it is written for people that already agree with him to begin with. Postman makes an appeal to logos by stating “...Sesame Street encourages children to love school only if school is like sesame street.” (FIAW pg.422) Sesame street is a fun and stimulating television show, and although it teaches children how to read and spell, it causes them to expect the same level of stimulation in the classroom. Sesame Street was and still is given false pretense that it is an educational ally. Teachers tried using it as an asset in the classroom, but the retention statistics for “television learning” are significantly lower than “classroom learning.” “Stern reported that 51 percent of viewers could not recall a