Child Soldiers Assignment

Connections - I can connect to both the article and the video in two ways.

To begin, I can connect with the article and Ishmael as my grandfather used to serve in the U.S military. This relates to the video and the article as he’s said that when he first enrolled in the military he had difficulty practicing shooting weapons and preparing for violence. He said that he had to be trained in a form similar to classical conditioning, where those who excelled in the shooting and practices would receive a greater pay.

Additionally, I can relate to Ishmael and the article as they both mention the difficulty of unlearning violence. When I was younger, I fought with my brother frequently. It soon became a natural instinct to cause fights and try to hurt “the enemy”. I can connect with the article and the video, as when I grew up I had difficulty “unlearning” the violence and the patterns that I had developed. This difficulty reversing the patterns is similar to the troubles child soldiers had in rehabilitation centers.

Challenges – None.

Concepts – There are a few key concepts and ideas that I believe are worth holding from the text. To begin, the text indicates that children should not be exposed to violence as entertainment. I believe this is important as informs the reader of the danger tied to the exposure of violence. For example, overexposure may result in a child being aggressive, or committing a real crime due to their poor skills of determining what reality is and what isn’t. Furthermore, the statistics in the text are important as it educates the reader on the increasing violence rates across the world. This is important as the text further explains the issues tied to increasing violence.

Changes – The interview indicates that Ishmael’s attitude changed when he went to the rehabilitation centers. Ishmael says that the centers helped him live a “normal” life again by working on reversing the violent patterns he had developed when at war. To continue, Ishmael’s thinking habits changed when he entered war as he did believed that was what he was meant to do.

The text changed how I viewed and thought about violence. The article made me aware of how important violence is and that changes that need to be made worldwide. I believe that there needs to be ways of reducing the exposure of violence to children. Additionally, I believe that children need to be more informed on the consequences of violence. I believe that rehabilitation centers should be accessible by all children at any time to help reverse early signs of violence.