North of the 49th | Amway

Sometimes the eyes have it!

You know I love books and writing, but there's something to be said for visuals. I was reminded of that when an old high school acquaintance of mine posted a link on Facebook.

The link was to a scene from the Electric Company, featuring Easy Reader. Now, I always preferred EC to Sesame Street — the music was better and it was way more funky. I was lucky. My parents read to me all the time and encouraged me to do the same. I was a precocious reader and it was one of my passions as a youth. It remains so to this day.

(Side note: Obviously, I don't remember this story, so if there are any errors, blame them! Apparently, at a very young age: around two, I was fairly proficient at reading — which almost got me in trouble. At an optometrist appointment, I was asked to read the eye chart. After a few attempts, the doctor asked my parents if I had some sort of intellectual deficiency. They said, 'No, he's trying to read the eye chart. He didn't believe them. My dad had a copy of The Godfather that he had borrowed from the library and handed it to me. After the first two pages, the eye doctor was convinced. Moral of the story? I'm a great reader — but I don't follow directions too well, apparently…)

Helping me foster that passion were shows like Electric Company, Sesame Street, and — of course — Schoolhouse Rock (which I now own on DVD and share with my kids).

There's a reason why these shows endure — they work. Kids learn best when they don't realize they're learning. And these shows were able to combine a solid educational component without pandering to the lowest common denominator. They treated kids with respect, gave a wink and a nod to the parents they knew would be watching as well, and we learned in spite of ourselves.

Maybe I'm old and curmudgeonly in my 30's, but I didn't see the same with the shows that were prevalent when my kids were at those ages. Teletubbies was just bizarre — and mindnumbing. Barney was great for the whole sharing and caring thing, but not so much for the education. And don't get me started on those Baby Einstein DVDs — which over-promised, under-performed, and led to the parent company offering a recall.

All these shows were fine, but that's it. They didn't challenge kids at all. And I don't mean that we should be forcing our kids to learn faster than they're able, but what shows like EC, Sesame Street, and Schoolhouse Rock did was talk to kids like humans. No baby talk (although Sesame Street may have jumped the shark with its Elmo focus) and no apologies for sometimes talking above certain viewers. There was just the assumption that kids would catch up because the shows were so entertaining.

On the radio last night, I heard a commercial for an eyeglass manufacturer, which quoted a statistic that over 80 per cent of a child's learning is done visually. I'm not here to validate or refute that number — but it makes sense. In fact, I think many of us do learn better by seeing.

As I mentioned, I'm a voracious reader. But I'll admit that I'd rather be walked through the steps of installing a light fixture with text AND pictures. 

That's why I think the Learning Center on amway.ca is so valuable. It's not the be-all-and-end all of training and education — but it's a wonderful tool to use as part of a broad-spectrum approach to learning and business development.

The basics of this business are fairly simple — building a balanced business through a combination of retail sales, personal use, and sponsoring. It's the application of these business basics that can sometimes prove a challenge. People can tell you things, you can read other advice — but there's something about watching it that helps the key lessons stick and can serve as a wonderful complement to any training you may be receiving.

If you've tried the Learning Center, please share your thoughts in the Comments section below. And if you haven't, log on to amway.ca (or your local site) today and give it a shot. I'd love to hear what you think: did it help? What did you like? What would you like to see added? 

I know what I want added — Morgan Freeman reprising the Easy Reader character for all of our videos. 

Have a great weekend everyone. All the best,

Jay