The setting for my first four years of teaching was a school of 1,400 students in the inner city of Oakland, California. One of the many challenges I faced as one of the eight kindergarten teachers on staff was attempting to curb the violent and aggressive behavior of my students. During my first year of teaching, a kindergartner from another classroom shot his younger brother three times in the stomach. The following year a first grader …showed first 75 words of 10218 total…

…showed last 75 words of 10218 total…person who is media literate has the ability to "communicate competently in all media forms, print and electronic, as well as access, understand, analyze and evaluate the images, words, and sounds that make up our contemporary mass media culture" (Center For Media Literacy). Is this not what we want for the adults of tomorrow? It seems to me that becoming media literate is as crucial today as being print literate was for the last generation.