Everybody loves a hero. But pop culture spends so much time worshipping Hollywood stars and super athletes that many of our children don't know a true hero from an imposter.
Add that to fact that the news media constantly criticize our Armed Services, that our schools often teach revisionist history, and that many leaders "blame America first," and it's no wonder that our children seem more prone to want to grow up to become a pop icon than anything akin to a "superhero" of old. Nearly gone are the stories of mighty men rescuing damsels in distress or of those courageously leading brave soldiers into battle to free the oppressed.
A fourth-grade teacher recently learned just how low the hero-bar has fallen when she assigned an exercise on heroes and role models. She asked her students to draw a picture of someone they aspired to be like and explain why. The children chose "heroes" like Madonna and 50 Cent; more than half the boys' glorified criminal characters with one stating he wanted to be a "hit man."
The majority of girls drew women who were in some way pop icons, mostly dressed in something skimpy. There were no soldiers, no rescue workers, no stories of our Founding Fathers, great explorers or "ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things." The children listed only thugs, rappers and pop stars. Continued...