In Search of Character

An old man walking along the beach one day saw a young boy picking up washed ashore and dying starfish and tossing them back into the ocean. Now there's a pointless endeavor, the old man thought; there were just too many starfish. It wasn't going to matter and he told the boy as much. The child looked at the starfish in his hand and replied "it matters to this one," and sent it back into the life-giving ocean. This illustrative story, shared by Dr. Michael ("Dr. Mike") Thompson with a group of teens, contains a core lesson of Citizenship, one of 10 half-hour episodes from In Search of Character, the latest youth guidance series from Elkind & Sweet Productions (producers of the outstanding The Power of Choice [VL-4/89], You Can Choose! [VL-9/92], Prevent Violence with Groark [VL-1/96] and Big Changes, Big Choices [VL-3/94]). Using a framing device of a radio talk show where teens phone in questions to Dr. Mike and his co-host Anika Rose, Citizenship explores the question "what is a good citizen?" Cutting back and forth from the studio to teen discussion groups, the program effectively argues that good citizens take an active role in the political process, help out their communities and generally conduct themselves in socially responsible ways. A prime example is David Leavitt, a high school sophomore in Florida who hit upon the idea of rescuing sharing surplus school cafeteria food with needy members of the community. Embarking on this project at the age of 12, David ran into a whole roll of bureaucratic red tape and folks who said it wouldn't matter. Today, however, David's suggestion is Florida state law. Motivational, inspirational, warm-hearted and wise, In Search of Character is a powerful antidote to the socially rudderless, selfish stereotypes of young people presented in the mass media. The other episodes in the series are: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Honesty, Courage, Diligence and Integrity. All good words; all words well worth re-introducing both to teens and to the national conversation. Highly recommended. Aud: E, I, J, H, P. (R. Pitman)