a
Explanation
The Joke
The comic shows a large, muppet-like bird character (resembling Big Bird from Sesame Street) on a stage with red curtains, cheerfully announcing: "Today's letter is A. Remember A because if you don't you're a bad kid and bad kids get eaten by wolves!" The caption below reads: "The medieval version of Sesame Street was much more effective."
The Humor
The joke imagines what Sesame Street would look like if it were produced in the Middle Ages, when pedagogy relied heavily on fear, threats, and corporal punishment rather than the gentle, encouraging approach of modern children's educational television. The contrast between the familiar, wholesome format of Sesame Street -- a beloved character teaching letters to children -- and the brutally coercive medieval teaching method is what generates the humor. The character looks like the friendly, goofy Big Bird we know and love, but is delivering a message that combines moral judgment ("you're a bad kid") with a terrifying consequence (being eaten by wolves). The caption's dry observation that this approach was "much more effective" adds an extra layer, wryly acknowledging that fear-based motivation does, in fact, tend to produce results -- even if modern society has (rightly) moved away from it.
References
Sesame Street is the iconic American children's television program that has aired since 1969, known for teaching letters, numbers, and social skills through friendly puppet characters like Big Bird, Elmo, and Cookie Monster. The comic's character visually resembles Big Bird. Medieval education was indeed often harsh and punitive, with physical punishment considered a normal and necessary part of learning.