Jan. 6, 2023 marked the 50th anniversary of US network ABC’s Schoolhouse Rock!
The show aired from 1973-1985 on Saturday mornings children’s programs before its infrequent showings, and then was latercanceled by ABC in 2001.
Created by David McCall, according to Schoolhouse Rock Wiki, the idea started because one of McCall’s sons was having difficulty remembering the multiplication tables in school, but memorized the lyrics of many Rolling Stones songs on the radio. This caused McCall to return to his office and run the idea of combining math with the sounds of ’70s music, to jazz pianistGeorge Newall.
Newall later reached out to another jazz pianist and composer, Bob Dorough, to try and make McCall’s educational music ideas without writing them down to the kids.
Dorough began to look at his daughter’s textbooks and came back with Three is a Magic Number, a tune that covered the symbolism of the number 3, multiplication, shapes, and addition, all in less than 3 minutes. Debuted on Jan. 6, 1973, The ditty later became the first episode of Schoolhouse Rock!
Schoolhouse Rock consists of six seasons and 74 episodes of animated musical shorts: Multiplication Rock, Grammar Rock, America Rock, Science Rock, Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips, Money Rock, and Earth Rock, teaching the ways of the covered subjects of mathematics, grammar, history, economics, politics, and environmentalism.
The show now is available on Prime Vieo, Disney+, Vudu, and Apple TV, each episode being about 3 minutes.
Its purpose was to help kids learn the basics of school in a musical way, sometimes without even realizing it. Because of this, it was commonly used by teachers to help their students academically.
English teacher Kevin Estrada ’00 said, “When I was in grade school, my teachers showed us Schoolhouse Rock episodes, and the songs have stayed with me my whole life.”
Ashling Greene ’26 grew up watching the show. She said, “I loved Schoolhouse Rock as a kid because it was a fun way to learn.”
She added, “When I was little I always thought that I would have a hard time learning about history but when I found out that Schoolhouse Rock existed I was able to learn and understand history in an easier and more fun way.”
