(September
20th, 2007. - Editor)
Forty kids between the ages of 8 and 15 were taken to the ghost town
of Bonanza, New Mexico. There they were charged with doing something
that the original residents of the long-dead town could not
accomplish. To bring a peaceful and successful society to the town and
make it function in a way that will benefit the members of the
community who live there. There will be no parents and no other help
of any kind. They must feed themselves and take care of all of the day
to day tasks that are needed to make their town and their society
function. Some see this situation as an experiment in modern
socialization. Some see it as a blatant abuse of the children, who are
being endangered and exploited for entertainment purposes. Either way,
it's Kid Nation, airing Wednesdays on CBS
As much as I am interested in the idea of a society that is run by a
bunch of soft-hearted, idealistic kids. I can't help but wonder what
would make a parent allow their child to enter into a situation like
this. Kids are governed by their emotions and that can be dangerous
when there is no other calming influence in the room. By part way
through the first episode, the reality of what they will be facing had
already settled in with some of these kids and the excitement of a few
days away from home with no parents had already been replaced by fear
and uncertainty. I can't imagine what some of these kids are going to
look like after 40 days together. The stress of their situation was
already showing on many of the kids as they arrived. And the so-called
town council appointed by the producers are already being blamed for
everything from the poor conditions of the sleeping area to the
horrible quality of the food.
Total chaos is an option. Just when you thought it couldn't get any
worse, the host introduces a competition that will see the kids face
off against each other to see who will take what role within their
society. The kids divide into four groups and compete against each
other on teams of 10 to see who will be the rich upper class, who will
run the town's various businesses, who will do the cooking & food
tasks and who will do the cleaning and manual labor. Each of the
already appointed town council members became a team leader and now
had the pressure of winning added to everything else they were already
trying to absorb. The competition went well and to my surprise, the
smallest kids didn't come in last. Their third place finish got them
appointed as the town's cooks, a job it turns out they were well
suited to do. The members of the community got a better than expected
meal with only a little quibbling over who was supposed to do the
clean-up.
The town council meeting was another battle of wills, as many kids
failed to follow the leaders, or even listen to them. A few cooler
heads prevailed, but several of the natural leaders in the group have
not been given leadership roles. This could prove to be a mistake, as
the people who can make the crowd move will withdraw and remain silent
if they are not able to leader in the style that works naturally for
them. That is also the reason I am against the idea of picking classes
for the kids based on teams. Not only does it create an unnatural
division of the kids, it gives the kids a chance to break up into
"Us & Them" groups that encourage a gang mentality and
more conflict. A better idea would have been to have an individual
competition for the first round where the top kids would get the
leadership roles. At least that way the natural leaders would be the
ones in charge. Then they might get something done.
If this show is still around until the final episode, it will be
because there has been a dramatic turn around in the attitudes of
these kids that is being driven by success in their environment.
Leadership is the key to the success of any group and this group is
being lead by the producers instead of being allowed to form their own
society as they see fit. If the tweaking works and the town is working
well, then the show could be fun and interesting. If the town is
not functioning well, these kids will be a mess in a hurry and that is
not good television.
-- Editor --
