Real educational radio
I've been observing that radio did a good job of education via some of the syndicated programs. The official education programs, featuring academic discussions between famous arrogant liberal "intellectuals", were shit.

Here are two unique examples of real classroom-style learning without a classroom atmosphere.

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The first was produced by Lindsay MacHarrie, the most courteous and respectful entertainer in history. Only a few episodes seem to be available online.

Guess What featured several seriously difficult brain exercises in each episode. 'Beheading' invited you to find a series of words with different meanings when beheaded, like Elate / late / ate. There were historical questions about which general fought which battle, including some highly obscure battles. I'm pretty good with words, but I only got about 80% right. There was also a list of sentences with "mispronounced" words, but in this case the quiz was only 20% right. 8 of the 10 "mispronounced" words were actually correct and normal by all rational dictionaries. Only the most extreme Grammarrhoids would consider them wrong. (For instance, the show claimed the first syllable of alternate should be like Albert.)

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The second example seems to have been broadcast only on AFRS, aimed solely at soldiers. Are you a genius? was hosted by Mel Blanc, the exact opposite of respectful and courteous. Again the questions were fairly difficult, punctuated by Blanc's usual characters like Porky Pig and the hiccuping man.

Ordinary quiz shows were far more common, and continued for many decades on TV. Ordinary quizzes had contestants who were trying to answer the questions, and the audience was nominally invited to match wits with the contestants, but not scored or evaluated.



These two shows were not ordinary quizzes. They were strictly between the host and the listener, a teaching and learning conversation with quantified self-scoring and self-evaluation.

Labels: defensible times, Experiential education

  ¶ 5:36 AM