School
Violence update: Something we can do
A
few weeks back we reported on what local schools were
doing to address school violence. Many of the people we
spoke with agreed that media played a big role in
de-sensitizing kids to violence. SUNNY MILLER of
Traprock Peace Center in Deerfield, reminded us that
Traprock offers a number of programs that teach
non-violent conflict resolution skills. She also told us
about the Media Education Foundation (MEF) in
Northampton which produces videos that teach young
people to see violence in a new context. "We draw
on thousands of sources of media for our videos,"
Eric La Porta of MEF
told me. "We use clips, advertisements, commercials
and experts to help young people deconstruct the
violence that they are seeing and help them to develop
media-literate skills."
MEF's
videos such as "Tough Guise" - which looks at
how our culture encourages boys to be violent - are
often purchased for use by schools. Ask at your school
if they are using this valuable resource. MEF's videos
can also be rented at video stores including Video To Go
in Amherst and Pleasant Street Video in Northampton. You
can find out more about MEF at www.mediaed.org. Then ask
your local video store to carry their videos.
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