Should Media Literacy Be A Required Course At School?

 

Can Your Generation Distinguish Trusted From Untrusted Information On The Internet?

How much do you think it matters?

By Michael Gonchar and Jeremy Engle October 26, 2020 The New York Times

It's Media Literacy Week, so we're dedicating today's Student Opinion message and our Lesson of the Day to the role of misinformation, misinformation, and fake news in our society.

Do you consider yourself a smart news consumer? And your friends? Is your generation good at distinguishing trustworthy from untrustworthy information on the Internet? Why?

Do you think spreading misinformation is a problem? If so, how dangerous do you think it is and why? For example, is it dangerous for you personally? To your family, friends, school or community? To our democracy? To the world in general? If so, how is it so?

Should Media Literacy Be A Required Course At School?

In "To Recognize Misinformation in the Media, Teach a Generation While Young," Amy Yee writes:

The Instagram post seemed strange to Amulya Panakam, a 16-year-old high school student who lives near Atlanta. In February, a friend showed her a sensational headline on her phone that read: "Kim Jong Un is personally killing soldiers who have Covid-19!" Of course, the news was not real. "I was immediately suspicious," Panakam said. He searched online and found no outlets reporting the false story. But his friends had already shared it on social media.

Ms. Panakam was amazed at how often students "grossly handle and spread misinformation without knowing it," she said. However, media literacy is not part of your school's curriculum.

So Ms. Panakam contacted Media Literacy Now, a non-profit organization based near Boston that works to spread media literacy education. With their help, he wrote to his state and local representatives to discuss the introduction of media literacy in schools.

The subject was not new. Long before the Internet, many scholars analyzed the influence of the media on society. In recent decades, universities have offered media studies to examine advertising, propaganda, prejudice, how people are portrayed in movies, and more.

But in a digital age, media literacy also includes understanding how websites benefit from fictitious news, how algorithms and bots work, and how to examine suspicious websites that mimic real media.

She continues:

Online disinformation may seem like an incurable virus, but social media companies, policy makers, and nonprofits are beginning to address the problem more directly. In March, large internet companies like Facebook and Twitter began removing misleading Covid-19 posts. And many lawmakers are pushing for stricter regulations on harmful content.

However, what still needs more attention is an earlier education. Teaching media literacy skills to teens and younger students can protect readers and listeners from misinformation, just as teaching good hygiene reduces illness.

And she writes:

There is no magic formula to disarm misinformation. But states' media literacy education policies often include first steps, such as creating expert committees to advise education departments or develop media literacy standards. Then comes the recommendation of curricula, the training of educators, the funding of media centers and school specialists, monitoring and evaluation.

States set guidelines for departments of education, although local districts often have ultimate control of curricula.

Even without legislation, teachers can incorporate media literacy concepts into existing classes or offer electives.

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

Have you ever fallen for misinformation or fake news of some kind? Have you ever spread it without knowing it? What happened? Can misinformation have real world consequences? Give examples.

How many viral posts, be they articles, videos or photos, do you click each week? How many, on average, do you share on social media? How often do you check to make sure what you are sharing or commenting on is real? How can you find out? How much does it matter to you if an item that claims to be real actually is?

Where do you get your news from: television, social media, newspapers, radio, videos, websites, podcasts, apps, word of mouth? How reliable do you think this content is? Why? Which media do you trust the most? Which one do you suspect? Why? Do you consider yourself a smart news consumer? Do you think you can tell when something is "fake news"? How well do you think you can distinguish between fact, fiction, opinion, and propaganda?

Does your school teach media literacy? Do your teachers incorporate media literacy lessons into their required classes, or are there electives that do? Do you think any of these efforts are effective? What, if any, has been helpful to you in strengthening your media or news literacy skills?

Should all schools provide media literacy education in some way? Should Media Literacy Be A Required Course At School? Why or why not?