Elementary School = High School?

M

mumupie

New member
Back in the 90's and early 00's, most school shows had kids that were "supposedly" Elementary schoolers, yet were far too intelligent/mature to actually be that age.

On top of that, they were put in situations that Elementary schoolers would never expereince emotionally or physically.

Now, writers seem to have their ages right and school shows are set in HS/ Jr. High, but my point is, why were the ages so odd in shows like Hey Arnold, Doug, and All Grown Up?

Hey arnold especially confused me. The kids were way too street smart to be 8, and were allowed to walk the city streets alone and go on dates? Not to mention(and this applies to doug also) They had lockers in elementary school, where nearly all classes are taught by the same teacher and there are no period breaks.
 
I always thought that they made them elementary school age to appeal to kids and the writers had completly forgotten what it was like when they were in elementary school.
 
I think most cartoons usually have kids that are like 8 or 9 sounding like they're 14 or 15 maturity wise. The default age is usually 10, where you're pretty intelligent, but still extremely immature about stuff.
 
Sort of like how the kids in Home Movies didn't really act that much like kids at all in a lot of the later episodes? Even in the earlier episodes, there was some talk about dating and such.
 
Well, home movies was really more of a satirical show, and for adults.

Ironically, Family Guy is probably the closest animated show where the kids act what their true ages are.
 
Pretty typical sitcom situation to make 10-year-olds more like 30-year-olds trapped in 10-year-olds' bodies (see: Bart and Lisa on "The Simpsons", as well-done and funny as Bart and Lisa are...).

A side effect of the "make them like teenagers despite being grade-schoolers" came up for me when watching the Fairly OddParents episode (Unwish Island, I think) where Timmy finds himself alone at home and says something about "every 10 year old boy's wish to be surrounded by supermodels!" Apparently the writers forgot that most 10-year-old boys are probably still in the "eww, girls" stage, let alone ogling for supermodels; maybe every (heterosexual) *17*-year-old boy's wish, on the other hand....

-B.
 
I really don't think this is true nowadays. Many kids in my elementary school liked girls and many also dated. Kids grow up fast these days.
 
Lisa Simpson acts way to old to be 8.

As far as the Fairly Odd Parents in that particular episode you missed the joke. Timmy had no interest in the models like most guys would. He used as people to clean his stuff, to bake cookies, They were just maids or moms to Timmy. But there are other episodes that is better example, particular episodes that centered on Trixie Tang.
 
When I was in elementary school there were people who liked other kids. Heck, I even had a friend that was drooling over guys since she was nine. As far as dating goes "dating" was hanging out on the playground.
 
It is always kind of weird watching a cartoon about grade school kids acting like teenagers and dealing with more teenage issues. It might be to make the show more interesting for kids to watch them. I was never allowed to walk outside alone as a little kid or just go off to wherever I wanted to. Of course, there was also the thing that I usually didn't want to go out in the first place. As for the dating thing, when I was eight, many of the boys were still in the "girls are gross" stage. I didn't hear about any of my classmates dating until I was twelve. It is true that kids are growing up faster these days, but it still sounds werid to me when little eight year old kids are talking about their boyfriend/girlfriend.

One thing that I've noticed in some recent cartoons is that some of the kids don't even look like they're suppose to be in elementary school. The one example that comes to mind is Juniper Lee. She and her friends were suppose to be like eleven or tweleve years old. None of them really looked that age. They mostly looked like early teenagers to me. Shoot, Juniper herself was tall enough to pass as a sixteen year old. It was a good show, from what episodes CN would air, but the fact that she was suppose to be eleven years old just bothered me quite a bit.
 
For some reason, the very idea of 7-10 year old kids having boyfriends/girlfriends and going out on dates is just plain creepy to me.

Another thing about this trend that bugs me is how on kid shows, they have elementary schools with programs/curricula that they would never have for those grades: there was an episode of Hey, Arnold! where the kids took part in a school project of coupling up and taking care of eggs in order to learn how to be parents (I'm seen numerous cartoons that utilize this plot-but did anybody ever actually have to do this?) Kids that age don't even take Home Economics, let alone partake in social experiments. In It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown, the kids' school has a Homecoming, complete with parade floats, a dance and a football game. Since when does an elementary school have a homecoming? (I won't even go into how the Peanuts' characters' team didn't wear proper uniforms, just helmets and cleats over their regular clothes. Lucy wore a dress during the game, and Peppermint Patty wore sandals with cleats! What Foot Locker sells those??) And when the heck was the last time you saw an elementary school have a foreign exchange program? Most kids that age aren't allowed to cross the street by themselves, let alone leave the country. Yet kid-vid is full of 9-year-old exchange students.
 
Actually, my elementary school DID have an exchange program. I distinctly remember several kids from France coming to my school and even staying at a house or two in the neighborhood I lived in. Well, it might not have been an EXCHANGE program per se, but...

And about the kids acting at least 10 years older than their actual age. I've always wondered how the Muppet Babies had easy access to two large ladders and other stage props, some very unsafe (like the board across the ladders) from the Snow White episode. These guys had to be what, 4 years old? What adult would let them climb up to the top, and how were they smart enough to even think up the stage pully system? I guess I think too much.
 
I've always been miffed by how the media does things like this, but I think there's a good reason for it. For one, kids want to watch shows about kids. They want to watch shows about people their age doing things. But what kids do at their age just isn't as interesting as what older kids do. Thus, they craft arguably more interesting stories, while using younger kids that the young audience can relate to.
 
My take on it is that the writers at time read into the situation events from their own adolescent and young adult experiences, assuming under the concept that children are more advanced today. This is not entirely the case. What I see in a lot of these types of stories is kids being placed into situations that are too mature and complicated for their actual emotional development and acting ability.

Children seeing these types of programs are given the impression that this is life, and this confuses them in dealing with their own day-to-day living. They see children their own age tyring to "act out" parts that were not written for their own age level, and many times the acting comes off supercial and abrasive, with snippy, bratty, rude behavior, many times lines delivered in loud,argumentative tones when a lesser, and more thoughtful delievery would be more effective. This is most apparent when I see shows where children talk back to adults in an overly heavy-handed manner that is far too disrespectful towards anyone of any age. In this, the directors come into play, but in all fairness, we don't know the situation of the directors, who may be pressured to get the shows out, not having time to direct the child actors or more care, or augment the script to make it more believable.

Children seeing this type of portrayal emulate this behavior without understanding that what they have seen is artificial. These types of behaviors also put out a message of unnecessary pressure as they suggest very strongly that this is the way one is supposed to behave at that age. This includes a sexual awareness at a time when the results of hormones have not yet been realized. And because of this, it seems that the culture suggests that it is a "right of passage" to engage in sexual activity at the Junior High School level, and even sooner. While the television shows dealing with younger children are careful not to suggest this, there are times when underlying content tends to imply such things.

It can be reasoned that the writers have forgotten what their childhood experieces were like. This is the time when we as people are starting to interact with the world around us and find ourselves as individuals. This means learning about others and trying to get along. Instead, too many of these shows involve the kids with adult level motivations that they would not have the mental and emotional development to experience at that point in their lives. This is very confusing for them and a very likely reason why so many grow up so indifferent, and insensitive. It only makes me wonder what affect this has on the kids who act out these parts for the shows.
 
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