Is there a Single English Word for "Pretending to be Educational"?

[Tomm]

"Our summer series of sales films is winding down, but I've found two more films trying to sell you something while pretending to be educational."

"SeaWorld is a façade, pretending to be educational, pretending to care for the intelligent sentient creatures ..."

"Where we have been disappointed is when a program advertised as educational is, in fact, nothing more than an entertainment act pretending to be educational."

"...it dominated every Apple computer in the school system by pretending to be educational."

Is there a single English word for "Pretending to be educational"???

We really need one. The biggest industry today is "pretending to be educational", it's everywhere.

We wouldn't be wasting so much of our time saying "My son has been watching so much GZX, but he hasn't learned anything in 3 years except coarse language and violence, it is just pretending to be educational, blah, blah...My daughter has been using that XZJS language software, but she hasn't learned a word, it's pretending to be educational...blah, blah, Z is pretending to be..." if there is such word.

So many things nowadays are pretending to be educational that we need a single English word to convey that, many TV programmes are pretending to be educational (which in reality are crap), many children game software are pretending to be educational (while in reality are wasting children's time), etc.

Certainly if products pretend to be educational, they'd sell more. It'd be terrible if some day we arrive at a time when products don't even have to pretend to be educational.

 

[The Barbarian]

The best I can think of is "alternative ed." How about "apaidieic" ("not educational")?

 

[-57]

Pseudo-ed

 

[AlexDTX]

"Our summer series of sales films is winding down, but I've found two more films trying to sell you something while pretending to be educational."

"SeaWorld is a façade, pretending to be educational, pretending to care for the intelligent sentient creatures ..."

"Where we have been disappointed is when a program advertised as educational is, in fact, nothing more than an entertainment act pretending to be educational."

"...it dominated every Apple computer in the school system by pretending to be educational."

Is there a single English word for "Pretending to be educational"???

We really need one. We wouldn't be wasting so much of our time saying "X is pretending to be educational, blah, blah...Y is pretending to be educational...blah, blah, Z is pretending to be..." if there is one.

So many things nowadays are pretending to be educational that we need a single English word to express that, many TV programmes are pretending to be educational (which in reality are crap), many children software are pretending to be educational (while in reality are wasting children's time), etc.

Certainly if products pretend to be educational, they'd sell more. It'd be terrible if some day we arrive at a time when products don't even have to pretend to be educational.

Propaganda

 

[The Barbarian]

Propaganda

The word "propaganda" comes from the same root as "propagate", to increase. In its modern perjorative meaning, it's more like "falsehoods." Good word, but it doesn't exactly fit this one, since the practices under discussion aren't really there to propagate but to pointlessly entertain.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

"Our summer series of sales films is winding down, but I've found two more films trying to sell you something while pretending to be educational."

"SeaWorld is a façade, pretending to be educational, pretending to care for the intelligent sentient creatures ..."

"Where we have been disappointed is when a program advertised as educational is, in fact, nothing more than an entertainment act pretending to be educational."

"...it dominated every Apple computer in the school system by pretending to be educational."

Is there a single English word for "Pretending to be educational"???

We really need one. We wouldn't be wasting so much of our time saying "X is pretending to be educational, blah, blah...Y is pretending to be educational...blah, blah, Z is pretending to be..." if there is one.

So many things nowadays are pretending to be educational that we need a single English word to express that, many TV programmes are pretending to be educational (which in reality are crap), many children software are pretending to be educational (while in reality are wasting children's time), etc.

Certainly if products pretend to be educational, they'd sell more. It'd be terrible if some day we arrive at a time when products don't even have to pretend to be educational.

Here's an idea ... let's call it "Promosec." That way, it sounds like an unneeded drug, and it will combine the phonetics and thematics of 'Promoting Secular Humanism.' How about that? Think it'll catch on?

So, in use, it'll sound like this, "....Hey, that's not education, that's Promosec!"

But, then we'll have to watch out, because those who really do support secular humanism will probably like it so much...that they'll adopt it as their "own label," even though they took it from a more Biblically minded writer. Remember that thing with the "Rainbow" that happened not so long ago...

2PhiloVoid

 

[Tomm]

Pseudo-ed

That's very close, but it's not easy to say, and it doesn't have the sense of "pretending to be...".

Here's an idea ... let's call it "Promosec." That way, it sounds like an unneeded drug, and it will combine the phonetics and thematics of 'Promoting Secular Humanism.' How about that?

That's an interesting word, 2PhiloVoid, but what we need is a word for exactly "pretending to be educational", not
"promoting secular humanism". What they promote is not so important in this context.

I remember they use "watermelon" to refer to Greenies, which means "green on the outside but red inside".
Also "banana" to refer to "American Asians who are westernized at heart". Can you think along this line to
create something similar - "educational outside but crap inside" ?

 

[2PhiloVoid]

That's an interesting word, 2PhiloVoid, but what I want is a word for exactly "pretending to be educational", not
"promoting secular humanism". What they promote is not so important in this context.

I remember they use "watermelon" to refer to Greenies, which means "green on the outside but red inside".
Also "banana" to refer to "American Asians who are westernized at heart". Can you think along this line to
create something similar - "educational outside but crap inside" ?

In academia, I've heard the term 'pseudo-intellectual' to refer to those who present themselves as "being in the know" when they really aren't. So, in the case of something being inauthentic as to it's educational integrity...maybe we'd like to create a word combining the idea of 'fakery' with that of basic 'pedagogy.' Maybe something like...."peda-pseudical." That way, it sounds like it's really something we should be careful of and maybe, just maybe, even keep our kids away from it. "Oh, that T.V. show is so...'peda-pseudical' it hurts my brain to even think about it!!"

 

[writewords]

Fraud.

 

[Tomm]

The best I can think of is "alternative ed." How about "apaidieic" ("not educational")?

Pseudo-ed

Propaganda

Here's an idea ... let's call it "Promosec."

In academia, I've heard the term 'pseudo-intellectual' to refer to those who present themselves as "being in the know" when they really aren't. So, in the case of something being inauthentic as to it's educational integrity...maybe we'd like to create a word combining the idea of 'fakery' with that of basic 'pedagogy.' Maybe something like...."peda-pseudical."

Fraud.

Thank you, everyone, yours are all interesting inputs.
You are all proficient in the English language.
Thank you so much.

 

[Greg J.]

Two words is the shortest I can think of. First word is either "purportedly" or "pseudo" and second word is "educational" or "didactic." You might be able to get away with a hyphen after "pseudo." i.e., pseudo-educational or pseudo-didactic. Or you could make up your own word: pseudodidactic. Of the above choices, I think "purportedly educational" then "pseudo-educational" would be most easily understood.

 

[HowdyDave@]

There are several depending upon the shading, implications, innuendos, and inferences that you want to infer.
Anything from pseudo-educational, to sophomoric, to delusional.
Personally, I always liked "sophomoric" (from sophisticated moron). It is the wisdom of a fool.

"Educational" is a vague term with several different interpretations depending on context.

 

[GeorgeJ]

How about "impersonatucation" or "masqueraducation"?

 

[dhanley]

Depends on the exact circumstance, but I think "infotainment" covers a lot of it. Especially from news outlets. Holding an audience is more important than upholding truth.

 

[Cnombob]

Here's an idea ... let's call it "Promosec." That way, it sounds like an unneeded drug, and it will combine the phonetics and thematics of 'Promoting Secular Humanism.' How about that? Think it'll catch on?

So, in use, it'll sound like this, "....Hey, that's not education, that's Promosec!"

But, then we'll have to watch out, because those who really do support secular humanism will probably like it so much...that they'll adopt it as their "own label," even though they took it from a more Biblically minded writer. Remember that thing with the "Rainbow" that happened not so long ago...

2PhiloVoid

How about 2PhiloVoid? You seem pretty uneducated.