you are what you read

I am frequently asked by friends and family, with a sense of disbelief and dread, "What is happening to the youth of America?"  I suppose, being an educator, I should be some sort of authority on the subject.  I spend more time with kids than adults in a typical day and since kids are pretty transparent, I suppose I am an expert on a rather easy target.  The inquirers are usually particularly focused on the apparent crumbling of morals and ethics in our children today, as the news is swamped with stories of bullying and other violence among young people.

This question came to mind today as I previewed with my students some of the most current children and teenage literature.  As we learned about each book I noticed a common theme - violence.  Every book or series that was discussed had it and many were entirely consumed by it.  Now I am all for kids being excited to read.  The more they read, the better readers they become.  But I'm actually more interested in my students becoming positive people, people who work to create a safer, more peaceful world than the one they currently occupy. 

So if our children are filling their minds and time with stories and visions of violence, through books, video games, and let's face it, the common media, should we really expect anything different than the results we are seeing?  What if we taught our kids that true heroes don't need violence to overcome enemies or to feel empowered?  What if our kids idolized people like Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela, who all refused to be consumed by the injustice surrounding them, and instead resisted through peaceful measures, never compromising their sense of right?  And what if they didn't even need to look to larger-than-life historical figures, but instead just across the dinner table or the classroom or the playground to see heroes who stand up for their beliefs without violence?  Imagine that world, when people would ask the question, "What's happening to the youth of America?" and the question would instead be filled with hope.