Barney and Conventional Images

I was watching an episode of Barney this morning (I have a 4-year-old, OK?!), and the kids were talking about the different professions they would pursue as adults, as well as doing some dress-up and role-playing.

How do you think the teacher looked?

Stodgy, nerdy glasses, a three-ring notebook held up to show the "students", and holding a ruler that he used to point to the notebook.

That episode dated from the early '90s, but here we are just a short while later, and the image of a teacher is (or should be) entirely different. The little boy in the Barney episode represents a conventional image of a teacher, to be sure...but I would submit to you that, for many folks, this conventional image remains the current, operative image - even as 2009 wanes.

I'd like to hear some comments from folks on how that teacher might appear, were the Barney episode to be re-done in late 2009 or early 2010!