But other educators surveyed through a listserv generally rated the new kids' magazines highly, and were untroubled by the brand loyalty question. I think the greater depth of printed articles, as opposed to sound bites on the evening TV news, is important to get the full picture of many issues. Global parallels North America is not the only place in which adult news periodicals have spun off publications for kids. Newspapers in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Uruguay have found that the educational supplements are enormously popular with children, but also encourage their parents to read the newspaper every day. In addition to explaining current events and providing regular columns on language, science, and other subjects, the supplements provide activities and games.
Children often insist on collecting every issue.
Teachers find that the supplements can help relate knowledge to the present, which schoolbooks, which can take a year or two to produce, cannot do. They provide up to date information, and can stimulate debate on current controversies. The people who produce these publications, no matter what part of the world they originate from, have been gratified at the response that teachers and young people have shown. This is especially gratifying in the face of stereotypical views of both the media and young people as self-obsessed and unserious. Few people would disagree that the world is changing both technologically and politically, with more people seeking self-determination and new tensions arising as old orders recede.