Fred Rogers’ speech has been a subject of much study. He is deliberate without being rigid. He stopped talking. He was compassionate without disability. How did you accomplish this? He worked hard on his writings. In his barn in Pennsylvania, stacks of documents covered in documents honor Rogers as a self-organizer. The printed documents contained capital words that were carefully erased and replaced with more understandable language. After all, Mister Rogers, a respected character and de facto mayor of Mr Rogers placeHe talked a lot about epilepsy and millions of children watching from their homes. He understood that they were hanging on his every word. But what were those words, exactly?
We know that Fred Rogers created an environment of encouragement and kindness, but by examining what words he relied on, we can learn to create meaning and lessons that are child-friendly with the building blocks of Mister Rogers’ speeches. To achieve that, It’s my father’s analyzed the closed captioning text of episodes representing 30 episodes of Mr Rogers place off a 31-season run. After discarding the common words (conjunctions, subjects, pronouns), we looked at the frequency of use of the words. The results show that Mister Rogers was not just a calm and reassuring character. He persisted in testing and in action. He wanted to know. He also responded to it.
A breakdown of Mister Rogers’ most used words provides a window into an incredibly effective communication strategy. And his top five most used words are a good place to start.
5) “Knowing”
Used 457 times
It makes sense that the foundation of educational programs for children like Mr Rogers place it can make you average. To know means to be taught and to understand. But for Fred Rogers, action was dynamic and transactional. Knowing went both ways. Yes, he wanted his young audience to know the world through the lens of their place, but he also wanted to know his younger audience.
In Mr. Rogers’ world, “knowing” is often part of the question. Rogers doesn’t assume a child’s knowledge or want him to know too much about anything. But he uses knowing to arouse curiosity: “Did you know…?” or “Do you know…?” it has the power to draw children into discovery. The name places importance on the act of seeking an answer, and reassures children that the world is unknown. That way, Rogers was able to encourage children to be curious, while also assuring them that an answer would be found. Rogers is often remembered for the emotions of his work, but he was not just concerned with emotions. He loved to empower children with truth. The sense of security he breathed came from the thought that Mister Rogers had not escaped. He wanted his audience to know what he knew.
4) Do it
Used 469 times
Many viewers of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood you will miss the factory tour. Viewers were often taken to various locations near the WQED studios in Pittsburgh to learn how things were done. We were given a glimpse of the manufacturing process to see that the items in our house did not appear fully assembled. There were steps to make paper, or violins or rubber balls.
Rogers loved the idea of manufacturing. In Make Believe puppet Cornflake S. He specifically calls himself a productive man. He made chairs. And there are often sites surrounding the factory that makes Cornflakes chairs. Cornflake was one of the first dolls Fred Rogers ever made.
But apart from showing his young viewers how things are done, Mister Rogers often invited children into his kitchen, to sit at the table and do some handiwork with him. Projects would often involve items found around the house – a protean form of promotion before the name was invented. And thankfully, they rarely had the proper means of crafting. There was always room for creativity. The beauty was that the word “make” included both industrial processes and creative processes. The creative act, rather than the scene in which the act took place, was the object of interest.
3) Go away
Used 609 times
Fred Rogers was calm, balanced and reassuring, yet his third most frequently used name was motivation to move. One doesn’t really match Mister Rogers with action, but if you watch his episodes with the word “go” in mind, it becomes clear how restless the show is. The camera is constantly changing and Mister Rogers and his audience rarely stay in one place for very long. Again, this is great by design. Children don’t have long attention spans. To keep his audience engaged, Rogers had to move quickly.
Consider the fact that the show begins with the act of arriving and ends with the act of leaving. Viewers don’t just happen when Rogers is sitting in his house doing nothing. Viewers catch him here and there. And while they were with him, they left. Viewers go to factories and businesses. Viewers go to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. The spectators go outside or go to the kitchen.
Yes, as children, we stayed at home and watched. But we were watching the man being active. Mister Rogers simulated active behavior on television – a completely different strategy.
2) Look
Used 675 times
A close second to “go” is “see.” There may be a reason that both words are used about the same number of times in these passages. Because if you go, you will see. “Let’s go see … ,” is a common refrain Mr Rogers place. But there is more to the “must see” than the action that takes place once the viewers arrive at their destination. Interestingly, the word “look” is used almost as often as “they” (346 times) in the same number of passages. “Watch” is used the least (59 times). What is the difference? If Rogers just wanted kids to look something up, wouldn’t these words have similar levels of usage?
Not really. Viewing is not possible. Looking at nothing happens. Seeing works. When you see, you notice. When you see something, an object or an event, you have managed to capture and preserve something of its quality. To know something, you have to see it. Seeing is part of learning how to see wrongly. Fred Rogers didn’t want children watching his show. He wanted them to see the inside of his house and his neighborhood.
1) Oh
Used 918 times
At first, this seems like a mistake. Isn’t the common use of this two-letter exclamation more rhetorical than selective? Doubt. It is unlikely that he would have allowed an “oh” to change his sentence. There is no reason to believe that “oh” was not a measured option. And, when you think about it, the prevalence of “oh” starts to make sense. In fact, it sounds profound. The word “oh” refers to recognition and awareness. It’s a hook on which the conversation can hang. Again Mr Rogers place it was a conversation.
But “oh” is not just an acknowledgment. It is a declaration of surprise and wonder. “Oh” and “Oh!” And “Oh!” a big hearted feeling. It can mean happiness or love. It consists of about two characters. In a sense, the word “oh” can capture the whole scene of Mr. Rogers in one beautiful letter.
But when taken with four other words in Mister Rogers’ top five words, “oh” becomes an exclamation point for a good life slogan that one might write on one’s wall:
Know. Do it. Go away. See…. Oh!
It’s Fred Rogers’ last commandment to us — learn something of the world, create something useful that lasts beyond yourself, go beyond the realms of familiarity, make an effort to be aware of the world around you and never be afraid to show your joy in it.
Know. Do it. Go away. Look.
Oh!
This article was originally published
