Guest Author - Christa Mackey

One of the leading facilitators in Early Childhood Education didn’t teach from a classroom. In fact, he didn’t even have a certificate to teach. He was an ordained minister and a wonderful puppeteer who fought for national funding for the Public Broadcasting System that aired his 30-minute children’s show. That educator, of course, was Fred Rogers.

Mr. Rogers hated the television. He found it to be geared toward advertising and wanted to explore the potential of the medium to educate and “nurture those who could watch and listen.” He worked for NBC for a few years, but decided the commercialism was too much and quit. During his time at NBC, he worked on shows like NBC’s Opera Theatre and a few other children’s shows, becoming an excellent puppeteer.

He went to Canada in 1963, and developed a 15-minute children’s program that laid the ground work for what would become Mister Roger’s Neighborhood. He worked in Toronto for three years under contract with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It was there he developed Trolley and a few other of his trademark set pieces. In 1966, he acquired the rights from CBC for his show and began producing Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood on local stations in Pittsburgh, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

On February 19, 1968, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood went into distribution and in 1969, PBS picked up the show. Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood had the distinction of being the longest-running children’s show, airing 998 episodes.

In 1969, one of the greatest moments in our nation’s political history occurred. It was not something that was talked about for years to come or even something that seemed to be as impactful as what it was. President Nixon wanted to cut funding for PBS in a very substantial way. His six minute testimony can be found on YouTube. The chairman of the subcommittee on communications was not familiar with Mr. Roger’s television show. He spoke so passionately about nurturing children and teaching them that they are special that it moved the chairman. His quote was, “Looks like you just earned the $20 million.”

Before I started Kindergarten, I would glue myself to the television to watch such shows as Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, Sesame Street, 3-2-1 Contact, Newton’s Apple, and the Electric Company. Most of the programs I watched were geared toward education. So, when I finally did start Kindergarten at the age of 4, I was ahead of most of my classmates. I also knew that I was special and that I was loved—Mr. Roger’s had said so! He would look me in the eye every day and tell me that I was special and that my parents loved me and that God loved me and that he loved me, too. My parents both worked and my grandmother was the only person home during the day. When left to my own devices, I was often found learning something. I owe that to PBS and especially, Mr. Rogers.

For more information on Mr. Rogers, please see the following:

Wikipedia
PBS Kids
15 Reasons Mr. Rogers Was a Good Neighbor

Christa Mackey writes regularly for BellaOnline's Today in History Site