On January 9, 1493 Christopher Columbus, spotted in the waters near the Dominican Republic what he thought to be three mermaids. In his notes he described them as “not half as beautiful as they are painted”. Today we think he was looking at three manatees or “sea-cows” Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And our expectations often color our perceptions.

So it is in the world of school assemblies and school shows. Expectation often colors perception.

School shows and assembly programs have been around for many decades now. Here in Michigan, Mobile Ed Productions, of course, helped launch the world of “educational” school assemblies back in the 1970’s. Prior to the advent of “school shows that teach”, school assemblies were mostly magicians, clowns, jugglers and other pure entertainment type performers. But with the beginning of science and social studies assemblies (Chemistry, The Living Lincoln, etc.) came the beginning of a fine line that school show performers have been trying to walk ever since. Whether to veer more toward education and risk being boring, or more toward entertainment and risk not being educational enough. And it really is a fine line. Aa a performer for more than twenty years in this business, I can testify that it is not an easy line to find all the time.

And part of that is because schools are different in different places, and they have different expectations. At a school we visit on Monday they may want a more entertaining diversion with a little educational value thrown in. The same show may visit a school Tuesday that wants almost exclusively educational content and doesn’t care much if the kids are having fun. It can be a tough problem for even the best school assembly performers to deal with, let alone some of the less talented individuals we have seen in schools over the years. 

Here at Mobile Ed we try our best to walk that line every day, with school shows that are designed to meet state educational standards in a variety of subject areas, from science assemblies to social studies assemblies and including shows that encourage writing or character values and so on. And we hire and employ only the very best and most talented school show performers available. But each puts their own stamp on the program they perform. Sky Dome Planetarium, for example, in the hands of one presenter is a world of fun for the kids at one school but might be a little light on educational content at another. But in the hands of another presenter the opposite may be true. Again, both give great shows, but if you are expecting one style and you receive the other you may fail to grasp the value of the one you have. Of course, the kids are all that matter to us, really, and we never fail to please the kids!

So if you are the person slated to search out school assembly ideas, and a show you select turns out to be slightly different from what you expect, try not to be like Columbus. Rather than an “ugly mermaid” you may have a really cool new species of “Sea Cow”. If the kids are having a great time, just enjoy the show. They are the ones that matter, after all, right?