The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

so economist suntribune education thursday nov 18 1999 to see v students taught media savvy in pilot project by jennifer brown staff writer theyre only in grade 4 but a group of students at doncrest public school are pos sibly thexnost discriminating media watch- around in a world of mass media kids have to be lert to what is truth and what is fiction said doncrest teacher micheline joseph joseph said the media surrounds children almost everymoment of their lives and the sideal time to educate them about the tries- sages they receive bna daily basis through television and newspapers is now tlierhdia completely engulfs them abripst from 1 the moment they are born and we want them to understand this is not real slife joseph saidu yf fj fffr t and with more violence everyday mey internalize it v that belief was found to be true when josephs students talked about the impact of gender and violence in a pilot project about the media they put violence on tv because vio lence makes tv shows more exciting you sometimes getinfluenced by watching tv some peopleafenide in public because they got influenced by violence on tv said stu dent christie li bombarded by ads selling toys television shows promotmg violence and magaziries vflth beautiful people students in josephs class said the project has taught them not to be fooled by the media the people mat make commercials look st staff photorob alary the grade 4class of michehne joseph centre was schooled in the art of seeing past media hype when it comes to tv movies and magazines sft for people that are thin active and very beautiful i think that isnpt fair because mose people think that we are going to be i like ithern biit we are not going to fry to be like them we will stay ourselves said stu- dent tristan stern josephs richmond hill class was brie of four in ontario chosen to pilot the unit cre ated by the elementary teachers federation ofontariomeouavvatchandthepritario f womens directorate joseph said students often have a hard tirrieuriderstanding exactiyat theyre see ding arid the unit addresses concerns about the impact the mediahas on chudreri taking a careful look at violence gender inequities racisim and body image more arid more children are going on diets and having eating disorders at a very early age we dont want to wait for high school there are so many things kids are internalizing joseph said awareness is key we hope they will be more savvy about years going on and hope- fully not be influencedfry what they see josephsaid the unit also supports the new ontario curriculum especially in ian- guage data management drarria art and social studies last week the class let their parents in on their findings in the form of a television news report with students delivering reports from the field on issues such as stereotyp- ing and gender bias using poetry arid skits students deriipnr strated how mey have developed media kter- acyskills so they can become critical viewers and make decisions about me media they areie6sed to every dayc- r the class examined techniques used in advertisements arid cbmriiercials learned how to become aware of physical and verbal iyiplericbn televisibriimpvies video games the negative body images portrayed in the media and their effect on the viewers self- reteem stereotypingas well as the negative arid positive role rriodefs iri the media were also analysed 3- tsciftyiss impressed wmhoweuj even at such a young age the children were able to grasp these complicated issues joseph said and as part of the unit the children were to count the hours of television they watched every day for one week trie average viewing time was 14 hours a week with pokemon declared the most watched show followed by the simpsons students determined that the world wrestling federation was the most violent show on television with 92 violent acts in pneepisode yv advertisements were also reviewed for their cpnterit and students were asked to comment ori the overall message in individ- ual advertisements an ad for a fisher price medical kit was deemed fair by the students because it depicted a boy and a girl playing together and indicated either one could grow up to be a doctor butforall their serious analysis students found a way to have fun with the lessons learned through poetry they created for the unit v- y commercials are very funny i laugh like a crazy bunny but dont think they are just funny they want you to spend your money they use tools toentertain you butdrityoubeafml- even if you might think that thfy are cool matthew cheng students take fi by patrick casey staff writer daniel arbide and andrea fibres have learned all about their rights and are anxious to pass the information along to others two years after the students in mexico city cast their ballots in the first ever national election for the rights of youth the mexican government last week adopted childrens hurrian rights into the countrys constitution and yesterday the pair shared their tri umphs and experiences with students at king city public school during a campaign rally before the local children cast their ballots today to choose the most important right in their life v a joint project of unicef canada arid 1 elections canada to mark the 10th anniver- sary of canadas endorsement of the united nations convention on the rights of the hild students will vote on one of 10 rights education family food and shelter name and riationality protection from harm nondis crimination culture health rest and play and shared opinions we learned many things especially about fee deriiocratic process and the way elections work said arbide 16 who was one ibf 3 7 jniuipn mexicans to vote iri the july 1997 elec tion most of us voted for education because we realize how important that isfpr us your vote is going to count and all rights are imporr in mexico and belize students voted for the right to an education while the right to a safe enyironmerit was endorsed in colombia and mozambique chose the right foan iden tity v king city grade 4 students mark fernandes and adam bloom have been studying human rights for the past three weeks and helped to create a series of posters spattered throughout the school v grade 8 student sean hebert believes stay ing free fromharm is an important right since no child should suffer from physical abuse in the classroom or at home while classmate lisa kileeg delivered a speech yes terday concerning health issues i am now more connected with todays rights and i am also apart of if because i am voting said kileeg 13 wj yfe have to know how good we have it in canada while children in other parts of the world dont have thesame rights we do ifeel really lucky to live iin canada i know people that live in the united states and they live in fear every day even mough they are in a really nice area vi in cariada students under 18 are allowed to vote iri the rights campaign during voting students bear in mind there are still 130 mil lion- schoolaged children around the world who do not go to school 160 million kids who suffer from malnutrition and another 12milr lion children under the age of five who die every year from preventable causes i king city principal john lester called the election autiientic learning that riiirrbrs the process of what occurs in a normal electiori kids iare learriing kriovyledge iiri a realway they have discussedinclass different aspects of their rights and how things are different in various countries said lester this is an important part of being an adult member of society beginning tbmbrrow results from across canada wiu be tabuiated arid downloaded on mewebbyfjeonscamada students and parents can analyze the- results at wiitburvoicecorri tiffany chan votes while austen gwu adam qte and jarniedariid berczy public school in markham the gradej- students took partin the nation election for the rights of youth this week along with other students across york region