Re: Pocahontas

[Paula Neale <mohmie@COOP.CRN.ORG>]

Claire and group,
I should keep quiet as I have already written on this topic once, but you
have hit what I think is a key point--what seems to be the increasing
difficulty that kids (any many adults) have in distinguishing fantasy
from reality.  This is not new.  I can remember a kid who had me
searching all day for information about the U.S.S. Poseidon (Remember the
Poseidon Adventure).  When I finally demanded he show me proof that there
really was such an occurance, he said he could just tell from the movie
that it was real.  I have argued with kids and even with teachers who
believe that the Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman is a true story.

However, I think the problem is getting worse.  My kids put Juraissic
Park together with O.J. Simpson's DNA evidence and consider that proof
that the events in that movie could REALLY happen. That's my school kids
not my real ones.  My real ones can tell the difference though they both
love fantasy.  It seems to me that something useful we could do is go to
the parents with our concerns.  Although that may be opening a Pandora's
box.  I've heard quite a few supposedly "educated" adults use docu-dramas
as evidence of fact.  All this makes media literacy all the more
important for us to teach, but you know I don't think we can do this job
alone.  I would like to see some powerful college courses developed and
required for EVERYONE who gets any kind of education degree- Maybe for
everyone who goes to college at all.  I am lucky enough to remember a
world without television.  Kids today have been bombarded with images
(moving at an ever increasing rate) since they were born.  When they get
to the age where they ready for abstract reasoning, we ought to get them
to take a hard look at what has been pouring into their brains (conscious
and sub) for so long.

Paula Neale
mohmie@coop.crn.org