Sesame Street is no stranger to controversy. From divorce to AIDS to Bert and Ernie’s sexual ambiguity, the show has famously pushed the limits on what preschoolers should know.
Sesame Street’s latest hot topic — incarceration — debuted this week as an educational kit titled “Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration.” The package, which consists of stories, tips and activities for caregivers and kids, is designed to act as “an educational outreach initiative for families with children (ages 3 – 8) who are coping with a parent’s incarceration,” the Sesame Workshop website explains.
According to a 2010 study The Pew Charitable Trusts , nearly 2.7 million children are growing up with a parent who is in prison. It’s an epidemic that has largely plagued minority communities, though a report earlier this year revealed a reverse in that longstanding trend.
No single factor could explain the shifting figures, Marc Mauer, the executive director of the Sentencing Project told The New York Times, but changes in drug laws and sentencing for drug offenses probably played a large role. Other possible contributors included decreasing arrest rates for blacks, the rising number of whites and Hispanics serving mandatory sentences for methamphetamine abuse, and socioeconomic shifts that have disproportionately affected white women, he added.
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See a video of Sesame Street’s ‘Incarceration Kit’ below..
Source: HuffingtonPost
