Not Business As Usual At Hooper's Store Apparently Merrill Lynch has given $5 mil to Sesame Workshop to research and develop financial literacy materials for kids. Read carefully; there's some verrry interesting things going on between the lines. First of all, in the lede paragraph, it says this is "to help boost children's financial literacy and improve their awareness of global cultures" (emph mine). It's not clear whether these are supposed to be goals which can taught together. If they are, how is this fiscal globalism going to resemble or differ from Sesame's existing curriculum? Does this mean Merrill Lynch wants to acclimatize the next generation of kiddos before they grow up to reject unjust global business practices as some of their parents have?

Second, they're talking interest rates, mortgages, and retirement plans... what AGE are they thinking about, here?! Sesame's main products have been moving to a younger and younger target audience...

Finally, SW head Gary Knell closes on a slightly different note: "Learning that you can't always get what you want is an important lesson in life." Classic Sesame sentiments, god bless 'im. I wonder how and whether these messages will end up apearing in this curriculum. And I can't help but wonder if this is the lesson that Merrill Lynch execs teach their kids and grandkids. Let's hear it for the inevitable progression of educational inequality. Posted by Gus at June 05, 2005 05:46 PM