MUCH previous research on the development of children's political orientations has emphasized interpersonal sources of influence such as families, peer groups, and schools. Central to this literature are the active learning concepts of motivation, practice, and achievement. But children also learn through passive experiences, which are typically effortless, responsive to animated stimuli amenable to artificial aid to relaxation, and characterized by an absence of resistance to what is learned, thus opening up possibilities that, depending upon one's view, one may welcome or deplore (Krugman and Hartley, 1970:184). Many of these passive experiences are provided to children