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Read the following selections

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Read the following selections. You will need them for the writing you will do next, They contain different ideas about heroes. You will probably agree with some of the ideas and disagree with others. In order to prepare for your next writing, think about how these selections compare with each other and whether you agree with them. Since the readings present more than a single side of the issue, not all of them will support your opinion, regardless of the side you take. Nevertheless, you must include specific readings to at least two of these in your essay. Your essay will be evaluated in part on how effectively the readings are used. If you want, you may mark or write on the readings. Only the essay you write will be evaluated, but the readings must be turned in too. 1. Americans have always needed heroes, but the types of heroes we idealize change as the needs of society change, says Daniel Walden, professor of American studies at Pennsylvania State University "Since World War II, the growing technology of our society--particularly in the mass media--has created more and more celebrities, but fewer and fewer real heroes. As a result, we look more to fantasy heroes than we used to, such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, etc." Walden cautions against focusing exclusively on the fantasy hero because of the possibility of losing contact with the real world. "If are not capable of following people who are real and instead confentrate only on those fantasies that are dreamed up by others to appeal to certain parts of our character and our mental makeup, we can be in trouble." Solat, Mary. "The Need for Heroes." USA Today. June 1980: 3. we 2. We do need heroes--persons who will exhibit sufficient leadership qualities so that we can pull various segments of the country together. We have to have persons admired from all side who can help in the resolution of conflicts. People are affected by heroic lives and try to emulate them. There is a great unsatisfied need for heroes. Johnson, Alex. "America Needs Heroes to pull the Country Together." US News World Reports. June 1982: 68. As each short lived, superstar fades, his or her successors cease to have the same kind of credibility and influence because the sham of their immortal hero status has been exposed. This lends children to feel they can't really count on anyone. Dr. David Elkind, former professor and chairman of the Eliot Pearson Department of Child Study at Tufts Auniversity and author of The Hurried child, observes that even in much of children's current fiction, heroes have become less admirable or rather, they are concerned more with overcoming personal obstacles that socially, significant ones: they are noticeably busier healing themselves than helping others. The absence of heroes during childhood or later can be dangerous. A hero is, after all, an image of your own future, of what you admire in yourself or wish to become, a vision signifying hope, a striving toward excellence. But if you don't have such an image, it's easy to feel alienated or isolated form any sense of social value. Murray, James L. "Why Kids Need Heroes." Parents. November 1984: 22, 229. 4. Young people, in the beginning, and their parents as heroes. But then there comes a time in every child's life when he/she needs to separate from parents, and one way to maintain this hero's image successfully. "Kids today have several sets of heroes, says Herbert Kohl, a teacher and author of Growing with Your Children. "The first thing to understand about heroes is that kids admire different ones for completely different reasons. Allen, Joseph. "Hero Worship." Parents. June 1979: 52-54. 70