The word of the day is edutainment. I had never seen it before today. I saw it in the comments of this digg article, "dammit, mirror needed. i want to be edutained." (which I'm still laughing at).
It sounded derisive to me but wikipedia says "The noun edutainment is a neologistic portmanteau coined by Bob Heyman while producing documentaries for the National Geographic Society."
Wow, National Geographic, it must be good. I guess they were trying to copy something like Schoolhouse Rock or even Private Snafu and get more kids to learn, but it really does sound like a dumbing down of education to me.
Up there with Scott Adams' theory of philosotainment. Personally, I think they are both perfectly cromulent words.
ReplyDeleteAnd, remember, a noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.
Never heard of philosotainment either though I recently picked up Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes which seems to be the very definition.
ReplyDeleteYeah, back when I worked at Sears in the mid 90s we had a whole Edutainment section of our software shelves.
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