Yes, yes. Technically Reading Rainbow was already mostly-dead. It being in reruns and all. Sure, sure. The “death” happened in late August(about 16 days ago as of this post). Last night, Adult Swim’s post-Robot Chicken bump made the loss all the more real. Idle scanning for reasons why PBS would let a mainstay fall into complete death lead to a maddening discovery.
Grant says the funding crunch is partially to blame, but the decision to end Reading Rainbow can also be traced to a shift in the philosophy of educational television programming. The change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, he explains, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on the basic tools of reading — like phonics and spelling.
Grant says that PBS, CPB and the Department of Education put significant funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read — but that’s not what Reading Rainbow was trying to do.
“Reading Rainbow taught kids why to read,” Grant says. “You know, the love of reading — [the show] encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read.”
All the snark in the world fails to vocalize our utter dismay.
