What are we teaching children?

[WhoTookMyUsername]

Stories like jack and the beanstalk


Anyone else share my concerns?

[jenerator]

HA! was discussing this the other day with my eng tutor

Your stepmother hates you because you're so attractive- You're pretty, your stepmother's not, and she's pissed eg cinderlla

Not only do these fairy tales instantly set up a contentious relationship between a girl and her dad's new wife... they ALSO pump her full of (generally unwarranted) overconfidence about her attractiveness.

You can literally get killed for stealing someone's food. This is the moral of "Goldilocks" -- don't get all up in someone else's porridge, or they will maim and kill you.

[funkyducky]

What about the nursery rhyme "goosey goosey gander"

Guy goes roaming in his girl's rooms ---> finds old man there doing god knows what ---> threatens him ---> throws him down stairs when he doesn't comply.

[rife168]

What about the nursery rhyme "goosey goosey gander"

Guy goes roaming in his girl's rooms ---> finds old man there doing god knows what ---> threatens him ---> throws him down stairs when he doesn't comply.

...wut

[Reckoner]

How about Where the Wild Things Are; be rude to your mother and then get to go and meet these awesome monsters   

*Edit*

I also heard that Ring A Ring of Roses was about people dying from the plague?? Is there any truth behind this?

[nemolala]

@Ipe: yeah my English teacher was telling us how Ring A Ring of Roses is about the plague.

If you read Year of wonders, its all about the plague and thinking about it, it actually makes sense that Ring A Ring of Roses refers to the plague.

It's even on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o'_Roses

[JellyDonut]

You can literally get killed for stealing someone's food. This is the moral of "Goldilocks" -- don't get all up in someone else's porridge, or they will maim and kill you.

By someone you mean a bear right? Cause that shit lethal

[pi]

lol, you are over thinking these things. Watch Shrek as a 6 yr old and then as a 16 yr old and suddenly you may not find it as appropriate. They are all just for entertainment imo.

[rife168]

lol, you are over thinking these things. Watch Shrek as a 6 yr old and then as a 16 yr old and suddenly you may not find it as appropriate. They are all just for entertainment imo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Farquaad#The_inspiration_debate (2nd sentence) 

Moderator action: removed real name, sorry for the inconvenience

[burbs]

Humpty Dumpty teaches children not to bring horses around when you are trying to fix a broken eggman/canon. THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE FINGERS OR THUMBS THEY'LL JUST MAKE IT WORSE.

[EvangelionZeta]

Plato (in The Republic) actually argued that we should only tell stories which have good public morals involved in them - 2500 years later, and his words are still lost!

[WhoTookMyUsername]

I dont think suggesting or potentially instilling the acceptability of things such as stealing at such a young age creates the possiblity for anything but trouble... Jac and the beanstalk is basically like - i stole from this guy but he was sorta angry after i stole it and we're kind of poor ( at the end "we're rich") so this justifies my actions.

[pi]

I dont think suggesting or potentially instilling the acceptability of things such as stealing at such a young age creates the possiblity for anything but trouble... Jac and the beanstalk is basically like - i stole from this guy but he was sorta angry after i stole it and we're kind of poor ( at the end "we're rich") so this justifies my actions.

...and to a 5 year old who doesn't know about morals and the like, its a damn good story. And I think thats all that matters. I haven't seen/heard any reports of kids trying to rob big people and kill them, so I think the story is simply just a story.

[Stick]

Humpty Dumpty teaches children not to bring horses around when you are trying to fix a broken eggman/canon. THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE FINGERS OR THUMBS THEY'LL JUST MAKE IT WORSE.

Actually, our teacher told us that Humpty Dumpty has a more sinister meaning. Apparently English housemaids told the children this story to deter them from committing suicide.

[nisha]

Guy's we listened and heard all these childhood stories, and we didnt turn out too bad at all.