Endangered Minds: Why Children Dont Think and What We Can Do About It by Jane Healy - Book Report/Review Example

Jane quotes Dr. Lillian Katz who reiterated that it is not obvious that when children enjoy something then that should be taken to be a sufficient reason to conclude that it engages their minds.  Most importantly, Jane says that the proportion of the failure rate of the poor children continues to grow in a frightening manner, yet Sesame Street’s main aim has been to improve the educational prognosis of the disadvantaged children. It is her view that other more important programs should be introduced, and aired at appropriate times when the targeted group might be watching, to help in reversing major societal changes.

The author thinks that this is important since Sesame Street alone does not cover many learning programs in-depth as it’s supposed to be. She says, ‘’Sesame Street does not teach: language, active reflection, persistence, and internal control.’ Finally, Jane asserts that if preschoolers’ brains are shaped by visual stories rather than the written word, they gradually grow to lose the ability to bend them intelligently.