9 Times The Simpsons Predicted The Future
1. Fast Food Conglomerates Sponsoring Maths Lessons
In Lisas Wedding, we see that the American school system has changed somewhat. Rather than being taught by Mrs Krabappel, racks of kids sit and watch a decrepit-looking Troy McClure present Pepsi presents addition and subtraction.To whit:
TROY: If you have three Pepsis and drink one, how much more refreshed are you? You, the redhead in the Chicago school system.
CHILD: Pepsi?
TROY: Partial credit!
As LOL as this is, big business stepping in to provide education resources for cash-strapped local government departments does actually happen. In 2013, for instance, McDonalds offered to help out Australias maths teachers by giving access to an online course of their own design for free.
The catch was that the McDonalds arches appeared on screen along with the message Proudly provided by your local McDonalds restaurant, which does seem just a little bit like a fast food giant attempting to infiltrate the one area of a childs life where theyre not being marketed to yet under the cover of doing something noble. Its not exactly covert, is it? Queensland decided to block the move, but Julia Gillard, the federal education minister said: The Maths Online programme is a great resource. I commend McDonalds.