"Kid Nation": What If Kids Ruled the World?

The latest reality show that I've been watching is called "Kid Nation", which airs Wednesday nights on CBS.  The premise is simple:  Take 40 kids, ages 8 through 15; dump them in a ghost town in New Mexico; and see how their society develops through the course of 40 days.

The kids don't get to figure everything out on their own.  This is, after all, REALITY television.  From the start they've been guided and prodded on-camera by the adult host of the show, and behind the scenes by the producers.  From the start, four of the kids were assigned the duties of "town council".  Each week the council members read from a book that was left behind by the previous town residents, and add something new to their community.  Issues addressed on the show so far include dividing the town into districts, creating a social class structure, establishing laws, confronting religious differences, learning about the political process by holding town elections, and dealing with sanitation and ecology.

This is definitely real-world stuff.  NOT.  Every few days the kids compete in "showdowns" that determine what their class standing is, what jobs they do, and how much they get paid.  (I've never had to wade through 16,000 gallons of baked beans looking for tin cans in order to get a raise or a promotion at work.)  The book the council members read each episode gives a "historical" aspect of the town, which becomes the topic that the town must address in that episode.  (Why do I get an image of Moses on Mount Sinai, holding the Ten Commandments?)  Whenever there's a problem, somebody in town is the perfect person to resolve it.  (Greg knows more about butchering and fitting pipe than any adult I know.)  And more than a few of the kids are looking to make a career out of being in the spotlight.  (Jimmy's an aspiring actor, as are Mike, Olivia, Morgan, DK, and several others; Taylor participates in beauty pageants.)  Yep, definitely situations and people that your average kid is exposed to every day.

Drama abounds.   When the kids found out that every few days the person who contributed the most to the town would be awarded a "gold star", a two-pound solid gold star worth $20,000, some of the kids became almost cutthroat in their attempts to win the coveted award.  For some reason, cooking duty (and the associated cleanup) has fallen to the kids who don't want to do anything, leading to some interesting confrontations in the kitchen.  But right from the start, it was Taylor who set the bar when it came to drama.  She epitomizes the phrase "drama queen", throwing tantrums as a council member when people wouldn't do what she said, and staging a two-person mutiny against the town by refusing to do any of her district's assigned chores.  Her parents must be so proud, especially once they start making millions after they trademark her pat phrase, "Deal with it!"

And then there's the legal stuff going on when the cameras aren't running.  Parents of the children involved in the show claim that the contracts they signed state the kids must do whatever the producers say or be expelled from the show.  Some claim that what the kids are going through violates child labor laws.  The producers respond by stating that the kids aren't paid, and that any rewards they may earn through the course of the show is not considered payment for employment, effectively making them exempt from any child labor laws.  The state of New Mexico has expressed concerns that housing and other conditions in the town may violate state law.  And of course there are all the contractual stipulations that supposedly give CBS the right to own these kids for the rest of their lives.  (You have to wonder why parents didn't raise a stink until AFTER they signed the contracts...)  Why don't they put this stuff on camera for us?  That would be some REAL reality television!

So does "Kid Nation" accurately potray a world as run by children?  I can't help but laugh every time I think of what one council member, Anjay, said in the first episode.  He claimed that adults have ruined the world, and that this would be an opportunity for kids to show adults how to do it right.  Sorry, Anjay.  Your comment makes for great press, but the adults are still running the show...and in your case, literally.