“Children are 25 percent of the population but 100 percent of the future. If we wish to renew society, we must raise up a generation of children who have strong moral character. And if we wish to do that, we have two responsibilities: first, to model good character in our own lives, and second, to
We invite you to enjoy the Feature Articles written by teen writers for current and recent issues of KidSpirit Magazine, and to submit your poetry, artwork and writing for our future issues.
Victory
Last September, my mother told me that we would have an Afghan girl, Nilab Nusrat, staying in our house for a few months. My mother is the founder and board-member of a 10-year-old organization called Women for Afghan Women (WAW; www.womenforafghanwomen.org). WAW works to secure and advance Afghan women and children’s human rights. In addition
- April 2, 2012
- Comment
- A Lens on Learning
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Notes From a Tiger Daughter
“FWD: Read this, story of our lives?” Several months ago, my cousin emailed me a Wall Street Journal article entitled, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior.” Intrigued, I clicked the link, and read a pre-publication of Yale law professor Amy Chua’s book Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother, which chronicled her parenting techniques. Her ideas were
- March 5, 2012
- Comments (2)
- A Lens on Learning
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Where Does Morality Come From?
What are morals and where do they come from? Is morality like the laws of physics, ironclad dicta from nature? Or is morality like language, where there is no “right answer” but different languages that different groups of people speak? These are eternal questions with many answers. They have been intensely debated, from Aristotle to
- February 6, 2012
- Comments (1)
- Ethics and Morality
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Moral Clarity: The Real-World Legitimacy of Idealism
For most people my age, philosophy is something tantalizing, but always out of reach; referenced enough that we feel we should understand it, but so dense and abstract that we are convinced that we never will. Peel away the terminology and historical schools of thought, and what remains is a cloud of questions that are
- January 17, 2012
- Comments (2)
- Ethics and Morality
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It’s Right to Give Animals Rights
We live in a world marked by its shift toward equality. From absolute monarchs deriving their power through the Divine Right of Kings to the Declaration of Independence deriving its power through the consent of the governed, the history of our world is the story of this transition. This idea of the consent of
- December 5, 2011
- Comment
- Ethics and Morality
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Odyssey of the Mind: A Journey to Creativity
Typically, worldwide contests are for adults with life-long careers in a specific field, but the Odyssey of the Mind (often called OM) is a competition for students. Youth are given problems to solve creatively through teamwork. These tasks incorporate acting, play writing, set design and construction, musical composition, robotics, and other creative skills. Millions of
- November 14, 2011
- Comment
- Creativity and Imagination
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Filling a Blank Page
A blank page can be scary. Sometimes when I start a project, I feel anxious. When I am creating I feel a range of emotions, such as joy, fear, and surprise. Creating is like taking a long walk with many twists and turns and returning safely home with a prize. Creating something can be
- October 3, 2011
- Comments (6)
- Creativity and Imagination
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Technology: Creative Tool or Escape Route?
“Mom…?” She turned around to give me a cursory glance while wrestling with my willful sister’s tangled curls. “What?” It was too much. I knew, as I somehow always did, that this plan was going to fail once again. “Never mind,” I mumbled. “Nothing.” I was in third grade at the time, in a small
- September 12, 2011
- Comments (3)
- Creativity and Imagination
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Laughter in My Heart
Laughter is the world’s most common language. I can’t imagine life without laughter. It’s like cake without the yummy frosting. I think of humor as a sister to love, because when someone is laughing, it seems they beam. When I’m laughing, the air smells sweeter to me, the colors around me are more vivid, nothing
- August 8, 2011
- Comments (4)
- Exploring Humor
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