Education on Star Trek
Have you ever wondered if watching Star Trek is good for kids? I started watching Star Trek back in the middle of the ’90s as a kid, and as of right now. I am still hooked on the fandom. Besides the awesome characters, episodes and music, did you know that there’s also an educational element within the Star Trek series? Star Trek is good for kids to watch, and adults can watch it with them if you think the episode may be too graphic. Here are some things kids can learn from watching Star Trek:
- Culture
tar Trek is technically about living in space and meeting new civilizations “to seek out new life and civilizations” (James T. Kirk). The characters encounter different cultures, and even before landing on their planet, they have to learn what the customs are. For instance:
- Greetings – hand salute (Vulcuns, humans)
- Language – Kardasi, English, Klingon
- Race – Cardassian, Humans, Bajorans, Klingons
Just like in the show, in real life we have different cultures that we have to abide by. In school, we will learn the basic language, like Spanish, Chinese, or Japanese. We even learn the basic greetings: buenos dias (Spanish), Nihao (Chinese), konnichiwa (Japanese). Lastly, we learn about the foods, history, etc. of the people who speak Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese.
The episodes that teach about culture will sometimes let the viewers see how to meet and greet someone they don’t know for the first time.
- Education
Besides culture, there are even some real-life topics on the TV series that kids could learn about if they watch enough Star Trek episodes:
- Military time
- Military ranks
- History/Astronomy
On Star Trek, the time is stated in military time. Someone might say 0900 hours, which means 9:00am. It took me a while to understand the military time as I was also a kid while watching the show, and even to this day I sometimes make mistakes. However, if you’re interested in military topics, this is something worth learning as it coincides with real life.
The military ranks in Star Trek are different from real life, of course, but kids could understand the concepts—for example, what’s the highest rank in Star Trek—and they might even ask, what the highest rank is in the army in real life.
Lastly, history and astronomy! Not a lot of kids like learning history or astronomy. However, if they see an episode of Star Trek that involves history, astronomy and the past, classes may become interesting to them.
Who doesn’t like to learn about Amelia Earheart? Or who doesn’t like knowing about the history of space? We learn a lot about the planets above us; Star Trek might be able to get the kids into this topic as well.
Star Trek is an interesting sci-fi show that has a lot of themes besides being educational. There are different cultures and subjects kids can learn in real life that could get them interested in school. I think watching Star Trek is a way to get a kid to get into something as there are a lot of Trekkies (fans of the Star Trek show) out there who love the show. So, Star Trek could be good for kids and for adults.
