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1. 1 The two boys were about eight years old. Derek looked athletic...
1 The two boys were about eight years old. Derek looked athletic and confident. Adam
seemed more fragile, his thin shoulders hunched up around his ears. On "Go!" they plunged
into the water and began their race to the far end of the pool and back. The shrieks of their
classmates bounced off the walls -most were cheering for the obvious favorite: "Derek!
Derek!"
2 Adam kept his head down, concentrating on the shallow-end wall where they were to
turn. Derek kept a close eye on the teacher. When she turned to talk to the lifeguard, Derek,
quick as a wink, spun around and started back toward the starting point, shaving about six
metres off the prescribed distance. Adam turned at the shallow-end wall, as instructed, now
far behind his opponent.
3 The crowd of boys watching from the deck fell silent for a moment, as they digested the
fact that Derek had cheated. Some then resumed cheering for Derek, now almost guaranteed
to win. But others hesitated, then moved over to Adam's lane to lend him new-found
encouragement and support.
4 Although Derek did reach the finish first, it was, unbelievably, a close race. The teacher,
sensing something amiss, declared the result to be a tie. Derek argued loudly against that
verdict, insisting that he had won. Adam wrapped himself in his towel and walked slowly
back to the dressing room, a contented little smile on his face.
5 For some reason, this small incident took on almost epic proportions in my mind; a
representation, I thought, of the struggle between the desire to win and the ability and
willingness to play fair. That it had been enacted by two small boys was unaccountably
depressing.
6 A short while later, I turned on the radio to hear the announcer introduce a program "Is
TV Turning Kids into Violent Criminals?" The psychiatrist being interviewed described "
desensitized" children, who are "more likely to use violence" as a result of television
viewing. He cited the example of a three-year-old Washington child who found his father's
gun, picked it up, pointed it at his two- year-old playmate and shot him dead. The weekend
newspaper carried an article on children who are pushed to succeed so hard by their
parents that they become "problems, not prodigies."
7 The only item publicized that weekend indicating any kind of adult attention to the needs
of children highlighted the National Campaign to Save Lemon Yellow, a U.S. parent group
who are fighting hard to save "eight classic crayon colors" from the Crayola 64-pack.
8 I couldn't help myself. I saw Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

2. 9 To my mind, the morality of today's children looms as a more important issue than
discontinued crayon colors. Are our kids equipped with a solid set of values? A conscious
code of ethics? A healthy respect for the people and the world around them? Or are they a
generation of violent, stressed-out human beings, whose main objective is to win at any
cost? Are they a generation saddled by "moral illiteracy"?
10 Moral illiteracy is a term coined by Burle Summers, president of the Ontario
Moral/Values Education Association, a volunteer group of parents, teachers and university
professors. Concerned that traditional values are giving way to the fast track, the quick
promotion and a "me first" attitude, members promote the teaching of qualities such as
honesty, respect, courtesy, generosity, responsibility and self-discipline.
11 Summers cautions, however, against too literal an interpretation of the phrase "morally
illiterate." ''I'm not saying kids are immoral," says Summers. "I am saying that they don't
have the same background, the same set of rules as before." The result, he says, is five-year-
olds who don't know how to share and to whom "please" and "thank you" are foreign
words, 10- year-olds who laugh and chatter in the movies and put their feet up on occupied
theatre seats, teens who speak rudely to store clerks and loll about on public transit seats
while their elders stand precariously. The reason for such behavior, says Summers, is an
"absence of certitude"- a kind of moral vacuum that creates a need to explore potential
substitutes for values which were instilled in the previous generation but seem to have gone
missing in our kids.
12 It's true that many of us adults were raised in stable nuclear families, where issues were
discussed together around the family dinner table, and our parents took the time to school
us in manners and good grace. Even our TV viewing revolved around such wholesome
shows as Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best, and Leave It To Beaver - which, if anything,
erred on the side of idealism in depicting family life. Our upbringing may not have been
perfect, but most of us matured with finely tuned notions of right and wrong.
13 Our children are not so lucky. They live in a complex world, where truth, goodness and
respect are often hard to find. They spend almost as much time during the year watching TV
as they do in school, and their heroes include Bart Simpson and the Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles. Role models like Ben Johnson and Pete Rose have been barred from their respective
sports for breaking the rules-and kids have noticed that this only happened after they were
caught publicly. Our children live in a country which has been torn apart over the
Constitution and - incredibly - embroiled in a world war.
14 Today's children probably have more intense life experiences every day than we would
have faced in a year at their age. And, at the end of these intense days, many children don't
have the opportunity to discuss these experiences with their parents and, in doing so,
receive guidance. One of the reasons is that many modern families are often just too busy to
talk. Some families sit down to only one meal together a week, and for others, there are few
social situations where children can intermingle with adults to converse, interact - and
learn.
15 Instead, children spend a lot of time interacting with electronic gadgets. Walkmans
drown out the sounds of the surrounding world, running interference against two-way
conversations. Video games enable children to play for hours without another human being

3. in sight. Television, which 97 per cent of Canadian children watch for an average of 20
hours per week, offers a third form of solitary entertainment. Through that screen, children
see and learn from a variety of characters. Bart Simpson, the bratty, brazen star of The
Simpsons does say grace before dinner, but this is how it goes: "Dear God, we paid for all
this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing." His father, Homer hears that the nuclear plant
where he works is "contaminating the planet" and responds "Well, nobody's perfect."
16 Antonia Coffman, publicist for The Simpsons, points out that the characters "aren't
meant to be role models. The show is meant to entertain, it's not a message show." Coffman
adds that both children and adults like the Simpsons because they're more realistic than the
"perfect family" portrayed, for example, on The Cosby Show. Coffman credits kids these
days with being "smarter, more savvy. They love the edge - and can see, for the most part,
what's right and wrong."
17 Maybe so - but it may not always be the right lessons that are sinking in, especially if
children absorb too much of this material alone or without discussion.
18 Marcia Williamson, a Toronto grade 2 teacher, is one of many educators who is rising to
the challenge of teaching values along with the regular subjects in the curriculum. Avoiding
"really scary" issues like nuclear warfare, Williamson concentrates on helping her kids learn
cooperation and non-violence-and how to react to everyday situations peacefully and
positively. She uses films, followed by discussion, and the lessons learned are repeated
around the classroom on large, colourful pieces of paper. Topics include sharing, learning
from disappointment and good manners. At this level, says Williamson, you can't expect
kids to perfect these skills: "All I'm doing is planting the seeds." Parent participation is
crucial, so Williamson sends information home and discusses her program with the families.
Without their support, she asserts, her efforts "just won't stick as well."
19 According to Burle Summers, "open, honest dialogue" among family members is also a
crucial component of values education. With respect to promoting it in the home, his advice
is threefold. To start, he says, we must "sort out what's important to us - what we'd live and
die for - and encourage others to reflect with us." Then, we must consider what we are
doing, as a family unit or on our own, to develop respect for the individual, society, the
environment, andhow that respect is extended to the community around us. Thirdly,
Summers asks us to "invite kids to participate in life decisions and life behavior." They do it
on a daily basis, says Summers, using practical, realistic examples.
20 A factor Summers perceives as inhibiting the effectiveness of values education is today's
focus on self. "Kids are emerging from a 'me first' society," he says, "and considering the
needs and rights of others can be difficult for them." It's true that children need a strong
sense of themselves, and what they stand for and believe in, before they can extend or
express those feelings to the world around them. Unfortunately, too many children have not
been taught how to move beyond the self, and this "me first" attitude can make life difficult
for those around them. Said one veteran teacher: " Teachers have a hard time these days
with the lack of respect from kids - and you feel like they're getting that attitude from
home." While none of the teachers I spoke with regret the freer, more open education
system that we have now, most point out that it has its price.
21 I have three children, and I know it's not easy, and occasionally impossible, to

4. consistently offer them the kind of time and dialogue that the experts have described. My
kids can squabble like masters, and I can be crankier sometimes than I like to imagine. But,
in the interest of honesty, and inspired by my conversations with people like Burle
Summers and Marcia Williamson, I decided to put into practice some of their peacemaking,
thoughtful philosophies.
22 When my kids erupted over possession of a cereal box prize, I resisted the urge to make
a snap decision on who got what. Instead, I let each of them have their say, without
interruption, and then asked for their solution. This turned out to be giving that particular
item to the youngest ("I didn't really like it anyway;' muttered one of the empty-handed
two) and adding a piece of paper to the fridge door, on which we will record receipt of all
such things from now on - and in doing so, know whose turn is next. And each day, I made
sure I spent time with each of them, just talking about whatever was on our minds.
23 The results weren't always picture-perfect. I sometimes became impatient with the
peacemaking process and jumped ahead to a ruling on the matter. And I'll confess that when
we played the one cooperative board game that we have, I found it less exciting than, say,
Snakes and Ladders.
24 But then something happened which gave me hope. I came home yesterday to find an
addition to our message board. Written in a child's hand, shining out from the list of that
day's activities, were the words, "Peace, Flower Power, Saving the World." It's a start, I
thought, a good start.
"Reach Out and Touch", by Maxine Tynes
1 baby girl, baby boy behind me on the bus
2 reach out
3 and touch the curly electric of my hair
4 your fingers dipped in the
5 brown skin magic of my neck
6 to see if it comes off
7 your mama
8 slapping hands away
9 hush-up of your questions
10 and wondering out loud
11 why it doesn't come off.
12 I turn and smile for you,
13 but you're already lost
14 in the silence and fear that mother love wraps you in.
15 I should have sat beside you
16 snuggled my big warm self up close
17 held you while your mama juggled parcels.
18 then you would know it's o.k.
in a multi-paragraph composition of approximately , write on the topic below. You may
agree or disagree with the statement. Your response may draw upon any aspect of your life
or the experiences of others you know.
Topic:

5. We learn the most from people closest to us.