The making of a media literate mind: marketing threatens your children's psychological integrity. The best protection? Education

Rob Williams

We live in the most media-saturated society in the history of the world. Americans spend between 10 and 12 hours a day consuming media through ever-more sophisticated technological delivery systems, including (for the average household) three televisions and radios, two VCRS and CD players, one computer, one video game player, and a bewildering variety of newspapers, comic books, magazines, books, and other print media. (1)

As we enter the 21st century, this situation might seem to call for celebration--more media theoretically means more voices, more diversity, more channels for information, entertainment, and education. A closer look, however, reveals a more disturbing reality. Most of the stories told in our media culture--by some estimates, as much as 90 percent of our media content--are ultimately owned by a handful of giant transnational corporations, including Time Warner, News Corp., Disney, Viacom, Vivendi, and Sony. (2)

Veteran media critic George Gerbner explains that whoever is telling the stories within a culture has enormous power to shape how people think, act, and buy. For the first time in human history, Gerbner notes, most of the stories about people, life, and values are told not by parents, schools, churches, and others in the community who have something to tell, but by a group of distant conglomerates that have little to tell and everything to sell. (3)

As a result, our 21st-century world has ceded much of the cultural storytelling process to a small number of large media corporations whose primary concern is not our society's health or our children's well-being, but to maximize profits. The tools of their trade are media messages and content embedded within the worlds of the Internet, video games, television, and other media technologies. These corporations devote their energies to expensive efforts designed to mold our young people, from as early an age as possible, into brand-loyal consumers of corporately produced lifestyles, goods, and behaviors.

Spending more than $1 trillion in marketing each year, Big Media companies and their Fortune 500 allies use media to target our children with a wide variety of products, wrapping their appeals in suggestive stories that model compulsive consumerism; push sugar, caffeine, nicotine, and other addictive products; and advertise precocious sexual, violent, and other kinds of antisocial behavior. (4) Parents, teachers, and caregivers now find themselves on the front lines of a struggle over stories, as corporate media owners wage increasingly sophisticated advertising, branding, and marketing campaigns to win the hearts and minds of our children from ever younger ages.

At its best, education provides people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to become healthier, wealthier, and wiser, and it fosters a sense of compassion and mission to do good work within the larger communities to which we all belong. How do we help ourselves and our children make sense of the troublesome nature of our 21st-century media culture without dismissing media's power and importance in our lives? One powerful answer is media literacy, an educational approach that seeks to give media users greater freedom by teaching them how to access, analyze, evaluate, and produce media.

The word literacy traditionally refers to one's ability to read and write print-based media sources--books and newspapers, for example. This new century demands that we expand our definition of literacy to include a wide variety of media, including computers, video games, television, and the Internet. All of us can practice "reading" messages and stories across multiple media platforms, as well as "writing" (producing) our own media in multiple forms.

We must also take the media in media literacy seriously, recognizing that most of our media outlets are owned by powerful industries that not only make products but also promote certain sets of values--including ones that often run counter to our own as parents, teachers, and citizens--and play significant roles in shaping our culture. (5) We can begin practicing media-literacy education in our classrooms and communities by daily asking fundamental questions about media, and by teaching our children to do the same. Asking questions helps demystify media's power, allows us to understand the goods and the bads inherent in any experience of media, and gives us the tools necessary to understand the deeply rooted ways media influence our thoughts and behaviors.

Let's begin by asking, early and often in our classrooms and communities, these five sets of essential media-literacy questions.

1

How does this media make you feel?

Remember the frightening flying monkeys in the film The Wizard of Oz? Or the first time a descriptive passage in a book made you chuckle? Or the thrill that came with playing a new video game for the first time? Media make us laugh and cry, and can often scare or even disorient us. (Think of Christopher Nolan's film Memento, a story told in reverse in ten-minute chunks of flashback, each one taking place earlier in the story than the one it follows; or the six o'clock news, a pastiche of disconnected events punctuated by ads for aspirin and automobiles.) Commercials, political advertisements, and other powerful media experiences operate primarily at an emotional level and are often designed to evoke certain sets of feelings, then transfer those feelings to the desired idea, product, candidate, or behavior. Asking young people to think more deeply about how media move them emotionally is a powerful way to help them understand media's unique power.

A little background on the human brain is helpful here. Music and images are processed in our brain's limbic system, the seat of our emotions. We consciously process eight frames of image per second, while our 21st-century media travel much more quickly. (US television moves at the approximate rate of 30 frames per second, for example, while film travels at 24 frames per second.) (6) Thus, much of our media travels too quickly for first-time reflection. Using a VCR or DVR (digital video recorder) to slow down, repeatedly view, and actively discuss media experiences can help children make more sense out of what they're feeling. Beginning with their emotions is a useful way to open up conversations about media's power.

2 What kinds of realities does this media construct? What stories does this media tell? What are the "untold stories" here?

Begin by analyzing advertisements, the lifeblood of our media culture and, on a per-second basis, the most expensive media of all. Americans daily witness as many as 3,000 ad messages, and each one makes a devastatingly simple claim: "To be, you gotta buy." (7) Through constant repetition, advertisements work to "normalize" harmful ideas, products, and behaviors. Think of the ways in which the alcohol and tobacco industries use media--Hollywood movies, television commercials, Internet marketing--to glamorize beer and cigarette consumption.

Or take a more benign product, such as soda, which teens drink at the rate of two cans per day. (8) Coca-Cola's charming digital polar bear campaign, which has targeted young kids for a decade now, makes drinking soda look like a family-friendly bonding experience. Mountain Dew's edgier, teen-targeted ads link consumption to a wide array of risky activities, such as heli-blading off a skyscraper. It all looks fun, but the ads don't tell us that drinking soda is linked to a whole range of unhealthy outcomes, from obesity and type 2 diabetes (each can of Coke contains 10 teaspoons of sugar, one of the world's cheapest substances to manufacture) to attention deficit disorders and mild addiction (courtesy of caffeine, an FDA-regulated drug) to tooth and bone decay (due to soda's displacement of more healthful drinks--water, milk, natural fruit juices--in growing bodies).

While we pay up to $2.00 a pop (at the airport) for this unhealthy cocktail, it costs the soda industry only pennies per can to make, allowing them to pour their tremendous profits back into huge marketing budgets, including aggressively negotiating exclusive "pouring rights" agreements with cash-strapped public schools. By teaching our young people to explore and publicize these inconvenient realities in the media stories told by the soda, alcohol, and tobacco industries, as well as other powerful marketers, we empower them to make wiser choices about their own health and wealth.

3 What kinds of production techniques and branding strategies does this media use?

Advertisers, the public relations industry, and other powerful media makers spend tremendous amounts of time, energy, and money carefully creating media to influence the ways we think, behave, and buy. One way of counteracting this influence is to "deconstruct," or analyze, branding strategies, such as the underwriting of Sesame Street by fast-food giant McDonald's. What does McDonald's have to gain from underwriting a popular children's educational TV program? The answer: plenty of public goodwill and, more important, children's attention while they watch.

Begin by examining an advertisement's production techniques: camera angles, lighting, editing, music, sound effects, colors, font styles, symbols. This examination can develop children's aesthetic awareness and media savvy and help them become more careful and literate readers of media.

We can teach children, for example, that a photograph of a fast-food cheeseburger--a juicy-looking beef patty on a gorgeous sesame-seed bun with a thick layer of cheese and seemingly fresh vegetables--is the product of hours of careful construction by professional food photographers. The individual sesame seeds are glued on by hand, the "cheese" is a waxy substitute, the beef patty has been pried open to appear much larger than the bun, and the vegetables have been bathed in a mixture of glue and oil to ensure a high-gloss shine.

Such analysis can be applied to any beauty advertisement as well. Hours of expensive makeup work can make any magazine model look larger than life--or, in the case of many anorexic-looking models, smaller than is probably healthy. Digital technology can clean up any defects or airbrush away any blemishes, even to the point of removing people's pores or combining body parts from different models. A wide variety of expensive toys and fashion accessories--gadgets and gizmos, clothes, shoes, hair and makeup products--are also peddled to kids using sophisticated production techniques and branding strategies. Young people find deconstructing media techniques quite provocative, particularly when combined with a bit of background research.

Movie previews, designed to make a feature film look as exciting as possible in one minute or less, are also great for studying production techniques. Analyze a 30-second film trailer, frame by frame, to study the editing and lighting and camera-angle decisions--or focus on the music, special effects, and voice-over choices. Then run the movie trailer again in "real time" to see how all the production techniques work in concert. These kinds of media activities are both fun and eye-opening for young people.

Deconstructing media can be a difficult challenge, and it takes a lifetime of practice to master. Go slowly, keep it fun, and consult useful resources along the way. A good place to start is Chapter 5, "Production Values;' of Art Silverblatt's Media Literacy: Keys to Interpreting Media Messages, second ed. (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001).

4 What kinds of value messages does this media send?

All media transmit value messages. Asking children to consider, in an age-appropriate manner, what kinds of values media promote can help them build better judgment and develop an ethical framework for cooperative social interactions and pro-social behavior. All of us can remember childhood books and movies that modeled widely admired personal qualities. Celebrating media that promote such values--video games that promote cooperative and peaceful problem-solving, for example, or enjoyable books that also tackle developmentally appropriate social dilemmas such as sharing toys, making a new friend, or dealing with a loved one's death--can be a useful way to discuss values.

Conversely, discussing a violent movie or television program in a supportive context leads to conversations about the nature of violence, as well as about how our media tend to promote certain kinds of violence (individual shootings and stabbings) while ignoring other, more systemic types of violence (domestic abuse and poverty). Looking at messages embedded in the covers of fashion magazines leads to remarkable discussions about self-worth, sex, relationships, dating, fashion, and a host of other socially relevant topics, many of which are completely ignored by popular media, Watching or reading the news raises questions about media's priorities: Is celebrity X's marriage more newsworthy than the school play, the city council meeting, or the weekend community concert? Who within media circles determines which stories and values are most important, and why? Do their decisions reflect the values embraced by your family, school, faith group, or community?

5 Who or what owns this media you're consuming?

This question bears repeated asking. Most media are owned by commercial interests, and media companies are among the world's most influential and powerful corporations. Researching questions of media ownership, production, and distribution is vital to fully understanding media's influence. (9)

Recall the 2004 Super Bowl, America's most-watched annual media event. Critics made a huge fuss over pop stars Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson's breast-baring halftime show, occurring as it did on a publicly owned and commercially licensed network as millions of young children watched. Largely ignored in subsequent "indecency" debates, including those in Congress, were more fundamental and less censorious questions of media ownership, as well as discussion of the ways corporate conglomerates continually push the envelope in terms of acceptable broadcast norms to enrich their own pockets.

Let's follow the money. The Super Bowl was broadcast by a commercial broadcast network, CBS, which charged close to $3 million to air each 30-second commercial seen during the game. Those commercials included close to a dozen alcohol ads designed to appeal to underage potential drinkers. (Who else but middle-school boys are the "target audience" of the sort of potty humor seen in a Budweiser ad featuring a woman's face barbecued by a Clydesdale horse's flatulence?) CBS is owned by Viacom, which also owns Music Television (MTV). Conveniently, MTV got the call from CBS to produce the Super Bowl halftime show, which included foul-mouthed rapper Kid Rock strutting his stuff while wrapped in an American flag, scantily clad female dancers clumsily gyrating on stage, and the now-infamous "tempest in a B cup."

Who benefited from this spectacle--which occurred, let's not forget, on television airwaves owned by the American public? Justin Timberlake won two Grammy awards the following week. On-line hits to Janet Jackson's website went through the roof--just in time for the release of her new CD. Sunburst nipple-ring sales skyrocketed. MTV, which has a vested financial interest in marketing edgy pop videos that "cut through the clutter" by sensationalizing provocative behavior, reaped the benefits of all the publicity. Meanwhile, congressional debates about "indecency" during the winter of 2004 derailed a national conversation about a much more important issue: monopolistic media ownership. The true "indecency" is a US media culture beholden to such a small number of huge corporate players.

Rewind the tape for a moment. When the Federal Communications Commission, chaired by flee-marketeer Michael Powell (Colin Powell's son), issued a decision on June 2," 2003, that might make it possible for a single corporate entity to own up to eight radio stations, three television stations, and one newspaper in any given "market" (that's a "community" to most of us), it received more than two million letters from concerned Americans on all sides of the political spectrum. (Name any other political issue on which the National Rifle Association and the National Organization for Women agree.) By fall 2003, Congress had heard one message loud and clear: US citizens care about creating a more democratic media culture that honors genuine localism and true diversity over homogenous content, endless commercials, and the corporate bottom line. (10)

The good news is that Americans are beginning to understand that media ownership is a political issue and that media-literacy education can help us understand and change what's wrong about our media culture, even as we celebrate what's right about it. The five sets of questions posed in this article are powerful starting places, but we can help ourselves and our young people learn about media in many other ways as well.

As parents, teachers, and citizens, we can provide our children with the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to make their own media. Alongside books, films, and musical instruments, let us lay digital and video cameras, website design programs, desktop and 'zine-making technology, 3D computer simulations, and other multimedia programs. When media-literacy education is combined with these powerful tools, our children can tell their own stories in new and dynamic ways, rather than simply consume the prepackaged stories of large corporations interested in enriching profit margins by using media to encourage compulsive consumerism, brand loyalty, and self-destructive behavior.

As a classroom teacher, I look forward to the day when US high schools graduate seniors who are adept at both mathematics and moviemaking, history and video editing, science and web-page design. As a parent and a citizen, I look forward to the day when continued collaboration among like-minded individuals and organizations results in the reclaiming of our storytelling culture from a powerful few on behalf of the many. With growing interest in media-literacy education throughout the US, that day may come sooner than we think.

For the notes to this article, please see www.mothering.com/extras/medialiteracy-notes.html

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Find dozens more resources at www.acmecoalition.org

Books

Anderson, M. T. Feed. Candlewick Press, 2004 This young adult novel portrays a dystopian future in which people are networked into a corporately controlled electronic reality via chip implants. A provocative read for all middle school children and above. Visit wwwcandlewick.com for more details.

Goodman, Steven. Teaching Youth Media. Teachers College Press, 2003. An important book for teachers that links video production to social change.

Linn, Susan. Consuming Kids. New Press, 2004. A psychologist explores marketers' exploitation of childhood in this provocative book Linn is also a driving force behind Stop Commercial Exploitation of Children (SCEC); www.commercialexploitation.com

McChesney, Robert W. The Problem of the Media Monthly Review Press, 2004. Combines media scholarship with a commitment to media reform; written by one of our country's most important media historians and the cofounder of Free Press; www freepress.net

Film

The Truman Show (1998) What happens when a corporation builds an entire TV program around the life of one person--and he discovers that his entire life has been a made-for-television movie? Watch Peter Weir's film end find out. Available at any video rental store.

Websites

Commercial Alert's mission is to keep the commercial culture within its proper sphere and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity, end democracy; www.commercialalert.org

Media Education Foundation: For more than ten years, the MEF has produced independent videos, DVDs, and resources focused on media literacy; www.mediaed.org

MEMEfilms, "Where hands-on media literacy education and hi-tech video production meet." Steal their video formulas for creating simple and powerful youth-focused videos: www memefilms.org

The New Mexico Media Literacy Project is one of the nation's most successful grassroots media-literacy organizations, with several multimedia CD-ROMs that focus on a wide variety of media-literacy issues; www nmmlp.org

Stay Free is Carrie McLaren's activist magazine investigating commercialism in American culture; wwwstayfreemagazine.org

To purchase books on-line, go to www.mothering.com and click on the Powell's Books button.

For more information about media literacy, see the following articles in past issues of Mothering: "Saying No to Marketer's Madness," no. 103, and "An Epidemic of Violence," no. 95. For mere related material, log on to www.mothering.com

Rob Williams, PhD, is a teacher, historian, musician, and father of two who has taught and written about media-literacy education for many years (see www.robwilliams media.com). He is currently board president of the Action Coalition for Media Education (ACME), an international organization devoted to critical media-literacy education, independent media production, and grassroots media reform.

media literacy: an operational definition

Media literacy is an overall term that incorporates three stages of a continuum leading to the media empowerment of citizens of all ages.

The first stage is simply becoming aware of the importance of balancing of managing one's media "diet"; that is, making choices and managing the amount of time spent with television. videos, electronic games, films, and various forms of print media.

The second stage is learning specific skills of crucial viewing: learning to analyze and question what is in the frame, how it is constructed, and what may have been left out. Skills of critical viewing are best learned though inquiry-based classes or interactive group activities, as well as from creating and producing one's own media messages.

The third stage goes behind the frame to explore the deeper issues of who produces the media we experience and for what purpose. In other words: Who profits? Who loses? And who decides? This stage of social, political, and economic analysis looks at how each of us--and, as a society, all of us together--take and make meaning from our media experiences, and how the mass media drive our global consumer economy. This inquiry can set the stage for various media advocacy efforts to challenge or redress public policies or corporate practices.

Although television and electronic media may seem to present the most compelling reasons for promoting media-literacy education in contemporary society, the principles and practices of media-literacy education are applicable to all media, from television to T-shirts: from billboards to the Internet.

--ELIZABETH TROMAN, CENTER FOR MEDIA LITERACY (WWW.MEDIALIT.ORG/DEFAULT.HTML)

common persuasive techniques

You and your children can become more critical media observers (and have fun!) by learning to spot these 11 persuasive techniques commonly used by our media culture's most powerful players.

1. Symbols Persuading through the use of idea-conveyances (such as an American flag on a lapel pin) that associate one thing (a politician) with another (support for his speeches or policies). Symbols are often phrases ("Just Do It"), images (the famous "Earth seen from space" photo), graphic brands (McDonald's golden arches), or icons (well-known politicians, athletes, or artists). Symbols are rarely used by accident or chance; they are always employed very carefully.

2. Big Lie Persuading through dishonesty; not telling the truth about X. An easy technique to spot in advertising ("Smoking makes you glamorous," "Drinking makes you cool"), but sometimes harder to spot in political propaganda. This is where reading a variety of independent media sources comes in handy.

3. Flattery Persuading through in-sincere or excessive complimenting. Advertisers use this technique all the time ("You deserve a break today"); television programs, including so-called "reality TV," use this technique in more subtle ways, suggesting that the audience is smarter, cooler, etc. than people on the screen.

4. Hyperbole Persuading by making exaggerated claims. Found all the time in advertising media ("The best smoke ever!"), and often in political propaganda.

5. Bribery Persuading through the offering of a bribe--money, favors, savings, a little something extra. Advertisements use this technique repeatedly: "Act now and we'll throw in extra X or save you Y dollars."

6. Bandwagon Persuading by insisting that "Everyone's doing X." Works in both advertising and political propaganda.

7. Simple Solutions Persuading by offering a simple solution to either a manufactured or a more complex problem: "Take these pills and lose all the weight you need!" But what about a responsible diet, regular exercise, the influence of genetics on body weight, and a healthy sense of individual self esteem, despite one's being larger than some others?

8. Rhetorical Questions Persuading through the asking of questions designed to provoke further exploration or generate a certain predicted response. "Do you want greasy hair?" "Why did politician X lie about Y?"

9. Humor Laughter is often the best medicine, especially if you don't want people to think too deeply about something.

10. Testimonial Persuading by invoking support from respected individuals or institutions--such as having a former surgeon general endorse your pharmaceutical products.

11. Plain Folks The opposite of testimonial; persuading by appealing to the common man or portraying yourself as "just one of the guys/gals." Used in many beer advertisements, as well as by millionaire politicians who stage photo opportunities that have them chopping wood, fishing, or reading to schoolchildren.

--ROB WILLIAMS

NINE TIPS FOR RAISING KIDS

hip to the tricks

1. Actively engage children in talking, playing, reading, listening to stories and music, and creating imaginative games. Providing children with these alternatives to television and computer games is fun, develops emotional and social bonds, and nourishes young brains.

2. Emphasize nondirected play with children, encouraging them to entertain themselves using materials at hand in new ways. Suggest that they experiment, create roles, and practice skills--activities that develop imagination, creativity, and self-reliance.

3. Help children recognize both the good and the bad in media consumption. Media are complex, carefully created products of commercial industry that are designed to sell values, behaviors, and consumerism through entertaining and emotional stimuli. Rather than simply demonizing media, cultivate "critical appreciation" skills with your child, asking, for example, what is good and what is bad about this media experience?

4. Develop consistent limits for screen consumption--TV, computers, and video games. Explain to children that a parent's job is to supervise the family media "diet." Television, movies. video games, and on-line fare often promote simplistic stereotypes, gratuitous violence, and mindless repetition, or simply run counter to your family's values.

5. Learn media's persuasive techniques and teach them to your children. Consuming media with your kids provides you with opportunities to discuss advertising's emphasis on toys, sugary foods, and caffeinated drinks, or to talk about stereotypes, the promotion of addictive behavior, or issues surrounding violence or unrealistic body image. Celebrate positive media portrayals, too, when they appear!

6. Watch programs with a VCR or DVR, so you can stop to discuss programs and fast-forward through commercials. Television and other image-driven media are powerful, multisensory teachers of values. Even under the best of circumstances, it is difficult for teachers and parents to be as persuasive.

7. Insist that children be critical media consumers. Asking them questions activates the brain's neocortex, where higher-level thinking (analysis, reflection, synthesis) takes place. Don't let passive acceptance of media messages become the norm.

8. Investigate the media habits of babysitters, daycare centers, and other caregivers. Be wary of those who continually use television, computer games, or the Internet to keep children occupied.

9. Encourage children to produce their own media whenever possible. Art and writing projects, making music, and video and film production are not only fen and engaging activities but will also help children cultivate their own independent creative sense.

Adapted from "Nourishing Healthy Young Learners," an award winning article Written for the American Academy of Pediatrics by New Mexico Media Literacy Project executive director Bob McCannon. Visit www.nmmlp.org for more information.

These suggestions are provided by the Action Coalition for Media Education.

just think

a media-literacy curriculum that works

DO YOU WORRY that media have too much influence over your child? Do you feel powerless to curb the domination of the Internet, television, and video games over your child's time and mind? Most of us do. And for good reason. Research has shown that American children spend almost as much time every day with TVs, computers, and other media as they do in the classroom. Of course, not all media messages are bad. But a daily diet of in-your-face advertising for everything from alcohol and tobacco products to junk food eaten by skinny, healthy-looking people, along with violence on TV and video games, is a far cry from good nutrition. Even if parents ban television at home, media are everywhere. But there is a way to lessen media's influence. Children need to become media-literate, They need to learn how to think for themselves so they can analyze and evaluate media messages.

Helping children think for themselves is not a new concept to teachers at Ring Mountain Day School, a small, private K-8 school in Mill Valley, California. It is a core part of the school's philosophy. In science classes, for example, middle school students write hypotheses for lab experiments they design themselves, If their outcomes do not match their hypotheses, they are asked to articulate why. In art classes, students learn to critique and analyze works from various time periods, then they interpret the periods with their own inspired creations. In the upper grades, students are encouraged to question assumptions and to look critically at the way history is presented,

So when Julie Rudick, a Ring Mountain Day School parent, first heard of Just Think, she immediately thought of the school. "Just Think seemed so empowering and supportive," Julie remembers, "a perfect fit for a school like Ring Mountain, which my husband and I selected for our daughter because it nurtures a deep sense of self-worth while fostering a passion for learning that will last a lifetime." Like most parents, Julie is concerned about the deluge of messages being targeted at children. She feels it is crucial that children learn how to ask the questions that need to be asked to evaluate media messages. Part of the Ring Mountain philosophy is to teach children to think for themselves, explains Julie, and that's what Just Think is all about.

Started in 1995, Just Think has become a leader in media literacy, working with children not only in the US but also in places as far away as Zimbabwe and Croatia. Its programs are twofold, combining media education with media production. Its workshops are often conducted in Just Think Mobiles, fully equipped media production studios housed in school buses.

Research has shown that American children spend almost as much time every day with TVs, computers, and other media as they do in the classroom.

Once children become critical thinkers and can analyze media messages, they go on to produce their own media projects. For exam pie, a group of middle school girls from the Bayview Safe Haven program in the San Francisco Bay Area produced a video about grandmothers raising grandchildren. The film Miracle Makers, was screened at the urban KidzFilm Festival, the San Francisco Hip Hop Festival, and the Mill Valley Film Festival.

Julie Rudick presented the Just Think curriculum to administrators at Ring Mountain Day School, and soon both teachers and parents were excited about offering a program of media literacy to children in the middle school grades (5-8), children considered to be most vulnerable to negative media. In 2004, Just Think educators began working with students at Ring Mountain, teaching them to evaluate advertising and using innovative techniques to help them become critical thinkers, In one class, students evaluated two magazine ads, asking critical questions about each one: Who is the author/creator of the message? Who is the target audience? What is the purpose of the ad? To educate? To persuade? To entertain? To present an opinion? These are tough questions for students looking at a simple ad for a diet drink. But the Ring Mountain students responded with enthusiasm, and it was obvious they were enjoying becoming media critics.

Following the advertising analysis, students were told to take three digital photos of each other: one extreme close-up, one close-up, and one medium shot. Before leaving the classroom. students learned that in the next session, they would study the photos and, emphasizing the positive, be asked to give three words to describe themselves in the photos as well as three words they thought others would use to describe them. This session will take place in the very cool Just Think Mobile, where the students will be able to produce their own videos using professional Just Think media equipment.

Several other Just Think programs may become part of the Ring Mountain curriculum in the future. In the Hidden Heroes program, children interview heroes and leaders who live and work in their communities, Using "the interviews, as well as essays, poems, and artwork, the students create a video about each hero and try to connect the person to historical events in the community, the nation, and the world.

Another program, My Body Image, was developed to help children understand how the media affects how we think about our bodies. The program compares Americans' view of beauty with the views of others around the world. When children learn, for example, that in the Ukraine women with mustaches are thought to be beautiful, they begin to question and rethink their own ideas of beauty and body image.

Parents at Ring Mountain Day School know they cannot completely isolate their kids from television the Internet, print media, or video games. Nor do they want to exclude their children from the positive effects of the media. But they do want their children to understand how media messages try to manipulate behavior. Most important, they want their children to think for themselves. The Just Think program is helping Ring Mountain students become media-literate. They are learning skills that will enable them to be critical thinkers, skills that Julie Rudick and other Ring Mountain Day School parents believe will help their children in all areas of life.

To learn more about Ring Mountain Day School and the Just Think program, call Nancy Diamonti, Head of School, Ring Mountain Day School, 415.381.8183.

--CAROL D. TARLOW

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