Rockin' the School

YOU ARE SINGING ALREADY, AREN'T YOU?

Five of my students, all college freshmen, are taking an American government class this semester. With a midterm coming up this week, study is at a fever pitch (mostly because, as college students, they have put it off until now! You all remember that, don't you?) Anyway, we're doing study cards, practice tests and oral readings of the notes they've taken with explanations from me of things like "habeas corpus" and "de jure segregation" which they've never heard previously.
The professor is doing his part by suggesting study strategies like...watching "Schoolhouse Rock" for the episode which features how a bill becomes a law as it works its way through the system. Of course, you remember those clever, entertaining little tidbits interspersed in the Saturday morning fare. They were designed to catch and hold the attention of younger viewers while providing education of the necessary kind...but college students? They were singing along by the second time they watched it...and so was the assistant volleyball coach whose office stood next to the conference room where we were working!
My buddy Joseph then proceeded to show me his top three favorite "Schoolhouse Rock" videos after the students decamped. He, too, was singing along merrily with a smile as big as his face. (His favorite featured the number 3; my favorite was "Conjunction Junction," BTW).
Knowing that you remember them but have forgotten how entertainingly instructional they were for four-year olds and up, I'll offer the link to YouTube where all of these are found.
For the truly industrious and musically gifted, as recently as 2000 there was a touring musical that played virutally everywhere. You can gain the rights and put it on yourself! Go the schoolhouserock.net to find out how!
Meanwhile...
Enjoy reminiscing.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&source=hp&q=schoolhouse+rock&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=XFfmSsPEOpDQsQPVzJGlBQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQqwQwAA#