Street Smarts: Straight Talk For Kids, Teens & Parents

Detective J.J. Bittenbinder is the hard-talking host for this lecture and rap session between Bittenbinder, kids (ranging from elementary school age to post-high school), and parents on the subjects of street safety, gangs, and drug abuse. Talking to a studio audience, Bittenbinder exhorts kids to never get in stranger's cars, always run away from strangers ("get your knees in the breeze"), and always talk to their parents about anything which makes them uncomfortable In part two, he discusses the dead-end road of joining a gang (the only two ways out of the gang are death or jail), and the self-destructive aspects of drug use. Finally, Bittenbinder tells both kids and parents, during the closing rap session, to maintain an open relationship. The best that can be said about Street Smarts is that Detective Bittenbinder's approach is straight and forceful--he's serious and he means business. However, two aspects of Street Smarts make it a less than optimum choice. First, each of the subjects--which Bittenbinder covers by talking off the top of his head--are handled better and more comprehensively by any number of other programs on the market. Second, I question the wisdom of conflating the age groups together here: Bittenbinder can go from talking about taking candy from strangers to talking about gang rape with no problem, but I'm not sure that a seven-year-old can or should be able to make that transition. Not a necessary purchase. (See THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: GOIN BACK TO T-TOWN for availability.)