We inferred students' conduct and statements as reflections of their attitudes and  values.  Since these are difficult to capture with a camera, we decided to interpret our discoveries through clip art and  by highlighting some defined behavior and communication that was observed.

• Money -  Most of our observations concerning money and how children perceive its value were consistent.  Many kids are aware of the importance of money in our society and we are going to assume that the media is a major influence in communicating that message.  Students in the fifth grade classroom discussed money as a form of power and  influence.  We were interested in knowing what the students felt about money since we are in a predominately low income school due to its Title I status.  We also were curious to see if their socio-economic status played a part in their goals, ambitions, or plans for the future.  Do they feel like a part of the media society?

• Gender Roles -  During our observations, we noticed the influence of gender roles through students' activities, conversations and questions.  Of course there are few exceptions, but the majority of students identified with roles typically designated to a sex.  Boys talked about bull riding, trucks, fighting, fishing and they read "boy books."  And we would hear comments like, "That's a girlie book."   The girls at Mabel identified with the female gender roles.  Fourth and fifth grade girls wore makeup, they talked about cute animals and babies, some brought  teen magazines to school, and they seemed to be more aware of their appearance.

• Diversity - With as much diversity that is transmitted through media, it seems that these messages were communicated  more powerfully in the home.  We thought it was possible that as parents, these sort of values are reinforced more than gender and money.  Media is very affluent in diversity and representing many forms, though not always accurate, we agreed that the media is more conscience of how diversity is portrayed because it is such a sensitive issue.  We found little sympathy and respect for diversity at Mabel.  Perhaps we just remember the strong comments by several students more, so we certainly don't want to generalize and claim that Mabel Elementary is insensitive to diversity.  But, for the record, we observed several instances in which students slandered race and culture outside of their heritage.  For instance, one student was recorded as saying, "I hate Spanish because I don't like Mexicans."  When asked to explain why he/she felt this way, the student referred to hearing such comments at home.  This is one example of the lack of influence of the media on this particular value.

We felt that it was important to include the media's' influence on students' attitudes and values.  However, please note that our assumptions are based on our observations and we are aware that we have only seen a small part of Mabel Elementary.  It is possible that our inferences represent a minority of attitudes and values shared by the students at Mabel.