Having founded a company based on student leadership, I was intrigued by the ads touting the new CBS show Kid Nation as an opportunity for “kids to take charge” and “create a community without adults.” Having taught and worked with youth for 45 years, I had no doubt that these 8 to 15 year-olds could succeed and create something special.
The show turns out to be nothing about what today’s youth are capable of but all about what adults assume kids are like. I guess this is what the media is calling reality TV and I suppose Kid Nation is typical of what producers now see as TV reality. In know way is Kid Nation real world reality. I have yet to see any situation that has not been scripted or manipulated by adults. Kids have no voice or real say and you get the idea that if they did the scenes would be cut.
Examples include (1) dividing the forty students into four “tribes” to create competition, (2) producers choose the original four leaders (town council) and when elections take place, (3) the town council chooses weekly who receives the gold star $20,00 incentive, (4) weekly competitions determine the social class structure, and (5) each week the kids have to choose between necessities like toilets and microwave ovens and luxuries like TV and pizza.
The show did do a good job in bringing in a real cross-section of students, but the way Kid Nation depicts today’s youth is in many ways similar to the way African Americans were portrayed in shows like Amos ‘n’ Andy and Stepin Fetchit.
When a television network is ready to really have a show about what kids can do, then I would be happy to help them develop it. But for now, we will still have to wait for a series that really empowers kids in the real world.
Tokenism doesn’t surprise me much at all to be placed upon a TV show. It’s quite common, actually, in my opinion. This just sounds like a pointless show in existence like Survivor, but for “kids.”
I’d love to see the script and the paycheck for the kids involved. Which, you already agree. I would say most ‘reality’ based TV shows would. It’s not likely that today’s television shows will portray actual students; I’d say kid but I find student a better title for whatever reason, just a personal preference. Afterall, we’re meant to be seen, not heard.
“I’d love to see the script and the paycheck for the kids involved.” Google or WP has information. I think the kids get a base of $5k plus whatever they ‘win’ on the show.
Kid Nation is all in how you watch it, I think. I see the kids support each other when they get homesick and work together against the obstacles they’re given. One kid who ran for Town Council then realized that leading is hard (well, all of them realized it) and was happy to let someone else take his place. The ‘bad’ kids are almost always shown apologizing for what they did after other kids point out that it’s not acceptable behavior, and they all get along for a while.
People say exploitation, but I don’t think that’s the right word. The kids are enjoying themselves and getting to do something amazingly fun and different that very few people will ever get to do. The contracts they and their parents signed weren’t deceptive, they’re compensated (and more, in some cases), they can leave (and some kids have, even though the other kids wanted them to stay). There are medical and child psychology professionals watching from behind the scenes at all times.
I think that everyone has at least one vacation or similar that they remember as being one of the best weeks of their life…I’m pretty sure that for these kids, these will be several of those best weeks.
It’s really sad that our culture is now labeling these type of shows as entertainment. Like yourself, I really feel this show does not emphasis the true capability of these children. I truly feel television execs are not focusing on this because they feel it will not sell. They feel audiences rather watch kids being manipulated by adults rather than watch their them use their brains. The whole reality television era is something I am so frustrated with. I still can not believe people are popularizing these shows. These shows are manipulated to show the worst side of everybody. Now, they are targeting children. If this show really showed children and what they can do in these predicaments then I would be more than happy to watch but if it’s not depicting what I know they can do, then I am not even going to bother. I teach a 4th grade class and my students still amaze me to this day. I do not need a television show to disprove this and you should not either.