'Kid Nation' raises cultural questions

This past Wednesday , CBS premiered "Kid Nation," a reality show that puts 40 youngsters, ages 8 through 15, in a New Mexico "ghost town" for 40 days without electricity, indoor plumbing or adult supervision. While six weeks off the grid may sound like exactly what today's overmediated, nature-phobic, hyper-parented kids need most, some people are suggesting that the finer points of the arrangements are more reminiscent of "Oliver Twist" than a Sierra Club camping trip.

In recent weeks, news has surfaced that a few of the children sustained minor injuries during filming and that the producers may have violated New Mexico child labor laws (they claim these weren't applicable because the kids were "participants," not "employees"). It's been reported that the kids' parents signed contracts not only promising confidentiality (a violation of which carries a $5 million penalty ) but also waiving their rights to sue in the case of "serious bodily injury, illness or death."

The payoff for this gamble? Each child received $5,000, plus chances to win many times that amount in prizes. Every week on the show, one child is awarded a gold star worth $20,000. "That's gonna pay for a lot of college," host Jonathan Karsh says in the promotional trailer that's just about all anyone's seen so far of "Kid Nation." Other highlights of that footage include scenes of kids pulling ox carts, cleaning outhouses and weeping during "Lord of the Flies"-style power struggles.

Being a reality show, it's likely that many of these scenes were staged and that some of the kids' lines were fed to them (for the record, CBS has stated that there were counselors on set, just not on camera). Because we don't know exactly what went on, it's hard to say how much exploitation actually happened. But what's interesting about all the fuss is the way it's contradictory to the fuss we usually hear about youths.

With nary a thong, video game or cell phone in sight, the children on the "Kid Nation" promo appear more physically active, intellectually engaged and (no small thing) appropriately dressed than most kids on TV (and in real life) these days. Instead of tempting diabetes with junk food or singing 50 Cent songs to their Bratz dolls, they're working with their hands, breathing fresh air and wearing clothes (think head kerchiefs and galoshes) that suggest the cast of "Little House on the Prairie" as models for Gap Kids (no doubt they were told what to wear, but still. ... ).

So good enough, at least they look and act like kids. But somehow it's hard to stop thinking about their parents and about everyone's motivation.