Totally agree!! A new style needs to be devised to encourage children to be patient, love more , hate less, and drop that anger. And of course it does not have to sound like a lecture! You can see how they just switch off.

Increasing violence is a worldwide trend as I just wrote in response to Varni's post. With the world becoming flat and the explosion of media that leaves for everyone to see the violence in the headlines of news of ours and other nations, and increasing violence in the common forms of entertainment that children today resort to (video games, movies, music), there must be more of a stress on ethical education as you have rightly suggested.

On a somewhat related note, during a recent discussion I was having with some friends about Taare Zameen Par - Aamir Khan's movie that has been recommended on educatorslog as well, someone observed that clean, family entertainment movies like those made by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and others in the 70s and 80s have become such a rarity. Our children watch so much violence in films today. Even Hollywood films which are purportedly 'kids' films' like the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings, Series of Unfortunate Events, Tales of Narnia and even the recently released Golden Compass - have so much violence. It is no wonder that our youth are desensitized to violence - it is all happening from such an early age!

I think Usha Jesudasan's posts provide an answer to your question. It must start with us at home, as parents to our children; in schools - we teachers must practice what we preach when it comes to violence...and violence as she has suggested in her various posts comes in many forms - bullying, exclusion, in how we talk and behave. If our kids are brought up in loving, nurturing environments, they will hopefully be sensitive to the horrors of violence that they see and hear in the media, and not resort to it themselves. "Peace Education" (as her posts are tagged with) is what should be seriously considered being taken up in all schools.

I have been catching up on all the views here on this issue of violence - among children and in society today. Your list of incidents (although not all are in India) are saddening, and there are many more that you have not listed.

Here are IPS officer, Kiran Bedi's views on the large number of molestation cases happening around the country - a shocking number of cases over the last few weeks all over the country - Lack of values leading to molestation cases: Kiran Bedi - http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200801091859.htm