Disney, I Omega pamphlet

Some time back I wrote about an I Omega pamphlet that came with my computer in several languages.  The observations I made upset a few people but were not intended to do that.   Now the subject come up again but this time it is a Disney product bought by my spouse for our baby.  Specifically they are 26 little books to teach kids the alphabet.  you will have to go back and read that article to get in the loop.

Anyway lets start with the X book, the picture on the front is a Chinese girl playing the xylophone.  I believe I said that if a kid never learned the word xylophone it would not impact that child in a negative academic way.  I said that even grown successful people with college degrees could not list ten words that start with an X.  The baby book begins with the word, X-ray.  A hyphenated word.  Two things are certain, not only is the word xylophone to long for beginners, but it is academically useless.  X-ray, has a dash, hyphen, and a child starting to read would be hurt by the introduction of concepts that are difficult for adults to understand.  The picture is taken in a dental office and is a graphic representation of a tooth.  So this will not promote the childs reading skill.

Disney could not find any more words that begin with an X so they resorted to EX, the word "explosion" is shown as an underwater detonation.  The word "extinguisher" is shown with a toy robot propelling himself in space with a fire "extinguisher".  The word "exhaust" is shown as part of a truck scene, with the truck surrounded by what appears to be a dust cloud.

What happens if the child has not seen the cartoons .... will they be able to get by this or will they suffer a setback.  What the hell, lets risk it, what could be the harm.  I submit that just based on the little X book, Disney should recall the books and pay reparations.

The Z book is equally dysfunctional.  It begins with the word ZOOMS, and shows a kid running by his mom at super speed.  This follow by ZEPPELIN, an obsolete reference to a flying balloon.  Things get worse not only has the child not be taught a useful word but the next word is ZURG, a movie monster.  This followed by the word Zebra, and a picture of a fish with a stripe.  The last one is Zipper and the picture does include one. 

Unfortunately all the books are more of a problem than a solution to our illiteracy rate.  The product is mfg in China, they do provide a customer service number 800.595.8484.  The books are copyrighted, so our government has blessed these teaching tool without ever consulting, a reading expert, a teacher, a mother ..... These books are the equivalent of the FDA letting through a medication that kills us.