'Kid Nation' introduces youngsters to joys of drinking bleach!

Kids are hurt every day at their own homes, sure. However they are in an enviroment where their safety comes first. What parent would put bleach in an unmarked soda bottle? These children are of an age when they would know to stay away from bleach. But if it looks like a soda, they are probably going to have a sip. I wouldn’t trust adults who already taught isolating forty kids without school for six weeks was a good idea to have a child’s best interests at heart. If “Kids Nation” was done by PBS or the Discovery channel I may not be as skeptical since these channels are more intersted in education not ratings. ABC has been losing some of its former thunder and wants it back. Unfortunately they decided to take advantage of grade school kids. As for the mother who wrote into the CPS, I wonder if she can be prosecuted for putting her child in a situation where they could be subjected to harm. (Is it even legal to withdraw your child from school that long for something that frivolous?)

This show is just another step closer to the precipice (sp?) for us.
seriously, how far away are we from having a Running Man show with Richard Dawson?

Let’s see.
It’s a reality show…
and it’s on CBS.
So yeah, 2 reasons why I shouldn’t and won’t watch Kid Nation.

It seems that many of the responders haven’t left the 1950s. Can someone please tell me how this is any more exploitative than The Bachelor or Survivor? Why, because it involves kids? If any of you pulled your heads out of your but*ts long enough to think for a second, maybe you’d see this as a worthwhile sociological experiment. Kids today are far more self-sufficient than any other generation, for better or worse, and this concept should not be so troubling. By the way, I have a child and if she were the appropriate age I would have no problem taking her out of school for 6 weeks to engage in such a real-life learning experiment. This is the kind of thing that schools could never teach, and why I strongly believe that most of the important learning happens outside the classroom. Sure, you learn how to read and write in school, but you don’t learn how to talk to your peers or deal with real-life problems. But no, let’s shield the kids as long as we can! Uh Welcome to the 21st Century.

And Steven, its in NEW Mexico not Mexico (though as a resident of the state it is hard to tell the difference). It gets a little tiring having to assure people that yes, we are part of the United States.

Oh sure, Scott M.–most of the important learning happens outside the classroom. There must be a lot of people who agree with you, which is why U.S. kids lag behind the rest of the Western world in math and science, and a lot of them can barely read or write. But hey, what does that matter if they can be on the teevee? Right?

Hey nunya, I know it’s been a little while since I read Lord of the Flies, but didn’t every character get killed in a massive blaze of fire on the island (save Ralphie, who got rescued)? Not that this adds to the debate or anything, but I just wanted to be sure.
As for Kid Nation itself, it looks exploitative as hell in the previews, but for all I know, it could surprise all of us on how it’s handled (if done effectively). So I’ll hold judgment until I see for myself before declaring CBS should go to hell. And like a few of the other posters said, kids get hurt all the time. Yeah, it’s accidental, but it’s sometimes the best way to make them learn from their mistakes.

It amazes me to no end that in North America you need a license to do anything but have and (not)raise children.