To the Editor:
"Kids Gone Wild" correctly describes a systemic problem in our culture's social and educational fabric. But what is missing from the discussion of why children are ill mannered and have little respect for adult authority is the fact that children spend as much as five hours a day on average watching television.
Both regular shows and advertisements are replete with rude and antisocial children.
One advertisement, portraying a substitute teacher overcome by an out-of-control class, teaches children that being out of control is expected and acceptable.
Seen often enough, these behaviors become natural and appropriate to imitate. If the children are wild now, how will they behave as adults?
We have long been concerned about the effect of television on attitudes toward sex. We should be just as concerned about other pathological content that our children are seeing.
Switching off the TV is too radical for most people. But we should at least ban advertising to children under age 12, as some Scandinavian countries have done. This is a constructive solution that would help ameliorate the problem.
Annamarie Pluhar
Executive Director
The Television Project
Brattleboro, Vt., Nov. 29, 2005
It is clear to me now that the real culprit is Annamarie Pluhar and The Television Project that have, so far, failed to curb the TV watching of our children.