» Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese :: The Pop Diner

Oct102007

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese

Filed under Uncategorized by jennifer o'callaghan at 3:22 pm

A recent survey shows more Americans know the ingredients for a Big Mac than the 10 Commandments.

I wish I could say this shocked or surprised me, but it doesn’t. I have a vague recollection of watching a comic on late-night TV poll people prior to the November 2000 elections. More people could identify Rudy from "Survivor" than either Al Gore or George W. Bush.

Before you start moaning about pop culture’s influence on our lives, though, I have a few confessions to make.

Most of my knowledge of geography comes from "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"
I only remember the state capitals by mentally singing an Animaniacs song. (Concord, New Hampshire, just a quick jaunt, to Montpelier, which is up in Vermont)
My ability to identify gold on the periodic table comes from a cramming tip Tootie and Natalie exchanged on "The Facts of Life."

And these are just a few lessons I can credit more to TV than my classroom education.

This is no to knock my parents or teachers. They taught me plenty. But sometimes you need a kicky jingle to keep things in your head.

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Kathleen 2 years ago 1 point
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I am totally a "musical" learner. Thirty years later, I still remember all the lessons from Schoolhouse Rock. And like you, all my politics, geography, grammar and multiplication facts are from those imbedded songs.

C'mon, sing along! "Conjunction Junction, what's your function? Hitching up word boxcars and making them function..."

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scott 2 years ago 1 point
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we are fated to get the celebrities we deserve - but it seems some people are ruining it for the rest of us!

Back in grade school, one of my teachers took a pagre right out of School House rock, and taught us to memorize all the linking verbs, prepositions etc... by singing them to Christmas carols... cut to high school where we had to memorize all the prepositions, and I lost points for jotting down the song I learned 7 years prior and not listing them alphabetically.

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http://168offcampus.blogspot.com/