Reading Rainbow. 
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112312561
I grew up on this show. It infuriates me to no end that the Bush Administration's vile 'No Child Left Behind' helped influence it's demise.
Absolutely reprehensible. I'm so pissed.
Look, if you're going to criticize someone, at least do it accurately.
Linda Simensky, vice president for children's programming at PBS, says that when Reading Rainbow was developed in the early 1980s, it was an era when the question was: "How do we get kids to read books?"
Since then, she explains, research has shown that teaching the mechanics of reading should be the network's priority.
"We've been able to identify the earliest steps that we need to take," Simensky says. "Now we know what we need to do first. Even just from five years ago, I think we all know so much more about how to use television to teach."
Research has directed programming toward phonics and reading fundamentals as the front line of the literacy fight. Reading Rainbow occupied a more luxurious space — the show operated on the assumption that kids already had basic reading skills and instead focused on fostering a love of books.
By just blaming Bush, you are leaving the impression that
he cut funding.
The show's run is ending, Grant explains, because no one — not the station, not PBS, not the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — will put up the several hundred thousand dollars needed to renew the show's broadcast rights.
Ok, so the reason the show is ending is because nobody wants to pay the fees to renew broadcast rights. Here's a thought, if it's so very important to you: Organize an effort to raise the money to keep the show on the air. I am certain that it wouldn't be necessary to raise the entire amount. If people care enough to donate even half the funds, PBS might reconsider.
I am an opponent of the No Child Left Behind philosophy. But the "we can blame Bush because he's Bush" is as bad as "we can blame Obama because he's Obama."
