Reading Rainbow Kickstarter Earns One Million Dollars In Less Than a Day 164
An anonymous reader writes "LeVar Burton and the rest of the Reading Rainbow crew opened a Kickstarter campaign to bring back Reading Rainbow yesterday, with the ambitious goal of collecting a million dollars for their cause. They are now at almost two million dollars, with over a month left to go. 'This Kickstarter campaign is about reaching every web-connected child. Universal access. Thousands of more books than what we have now. And hundreds of more video field trips,' Burton said."
Re:Two Problems (Score:2, Insightful)
1. In my experience non-profits rarely are. Does not being a non-profit corporation make it difficult for them to deliver on their goals?
2. Was a background in education, child development, and psychology critical to the original's success?
Are they actual problems, or just your preferences?
Re:Two Problems (Score:4, Insightful)
Beyond that, it's following the typical blockbuster kickstarter pattern of asking for some palatable/marketable amount $X, with no real plan on how to use / why they need $X specifically. Then they hit $X and start asking for $Y more for "stretch goals" before they even figure out what to do with $X.
People who have to use their own money / satisfy investors / secure a loan tend to plan ahead and think about how much they need and why.
People who have their hand out tend to ask for whatever they can get and think about how to spend it later.
Your Problems are my solutions (Score:2, Insightful)
1. If you go to their website, nothing indicates this is a non-profit corporation.
And so what??? Were you hoping for a tax break? The only question at hand is, will they do what they promise to do. If so, good enough.
2. None of the people involved has a background in education, child development, psychology, etc.
You know, the same was true when he was on Reading Rainbow the TV show. Do you think that show (a) helped kids of (b) destroyed lives.
In fact I would place his being on Reading Rainbow as having more of a background in education than most people.
Re:Two Problems (Score:2, Insightful)
What you see as problem #2, I see as feature #1.
Look at the crap being peddled in schools today. Think any of that makes kids want to read? Maybe it takes people outside the broken system to accomplish a goal the system cannot.
Let's see why... (Score:5, Insightful)
It was a kick-starter wet dream. When I saw the initial post I said "He'll have the money in 48 hours tops". Apparently I overestimated by about 4x!
Re:This is great and all, but (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, kids reading vs some pseudo-science fantasy. Idiot.
Re:Two Problems (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, except this guy is not a dim wit and my Star Trek fanboy nonsense aside, go take a look at his record [wikipedia.org]. LeVar Burton has been involved in encouraging kids to read and generally expand their knowledge since the 80's. He's not doing this for himself, he genuinely cares about this. He's by no means a a multi-bajillionaire from working in Hollywood but he certainly doesn't need the money (is he even getting anything out of this other than some facetime on the interwebs?).
If he can use some of his geek cache to help kids get an education outside of our broken school system than more power to him. This isn't Madonna or Angelina adopting a kid from Somali because it's suddenly fashionable to do so, this is a guy who has been passionate about kids education since he was young lending his semi-famous name to a good and worthy cause.
I have to agree with you on damn near everything you stated. But I do take exception to your statement regarding Angelina Jolie. She started adopting kids before it was fashionable. Much to her chagrin, she's probably part of the reason that doing so has become fashionable.
Re:Two Problems (Score:4, Insightful)
Sorry, misunderstood your comment. After re-reading I guess you meant kickstarters as referring to the contributors, not the site. But, my point about low risk by spreading it thin still stands. After all, this isn't being funded by tax payers, no one is forcing anyone to jump on board.
Re:Your Problems are my solutions (Score:3, Insightful)
By that logic, Hugh Laurie would be a great doctor because of all those years on House.
Lose the elitism dude. You don't need a bloody PhD to encourage kids to read. You must be a real hit at parties.....
Re: Two Problems (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless, of course, all the bridges built by engineers have fallen way below specification.
You don't need a PhD to raise children, even though there are plenty of schools with developmental psychology PhD programs...
You don't have to be a chef to cook great food, not an ASE certified mechanic to change your own transmission. Been there, done that.
In my view, there couldn't be any worse qualification to teach children than a degree, of all things. If you think a wall of diplomas or a long list of publications qualifies you to teach, you're out of your mind and clearly do not understand what this and similar efforts are really about.