In Finland, media education has been part of schools since the 1950s and is woven into the curriculum. Students learn about propaganda, misleading statistics, and even create their own media messages to understand how narratives shape perception.
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LOL - here in the states we barely teach the 3 r’s. They are to busy pushing anti DEI and trying to put bibles in schools. So very glad my grandchildren are going to school in Finland 🇫🇮
Finland is a model for public schools and how they treat teachers. What's noted in Finland's standards is taught in NC, but it doesn't matter because we have starved our public schools to the bare bone.
Estonia has a mandatory high school course called "Media and Manipulation," where students analyse persuasion techniques, fact-check claims, and recognise propaganda.
The goal isn't to turn everyone into an investigator—this isn't about making people into "Mini-Bellingcats." It's about equipping them with the basic skills to navigate a fragmented information landscape. Critical thinking is the first layer, but it needs to build towards something more.
In democratic societies, thinking critically isn’t enough on its own. We need to ensure that people can take those skills and apply them to civic engagement - so they can challenge misinformation, participate meaningfully in discourse, and hold power to account.
A key driver of disordered discourse isn’t just misinformation - it’s a lack of trust in democratic institutions. When people feel powerless, when they believe institutions don’t serve them, don’t listen to them, and don’t respond to truth, they disengage. That detachment fuels disordered discourse.
Teaching young people to think critically and uncover truth is essential. But if we stop there, if we teach them to find truth but give them no way to act on it, we set them up for frustration. When knowledge leads to no impact, cynicism takes its place & institutions feel just as distant as before.
Agree. And: Education takes funding, time, and parental support. All barriers to any short term solution. Thanks for an exceptionally thoughtful thread.
I have been wrestling with this just this week in my US History classes. I teach 11th grade and am covering appeasement in the 1930s in my AP class and the start of the Cold War in the on-level one. We are doing the critical thinking bit, but I’m struggling with the application part.
The current state of academia and public education almost anywhere in Europe - with massive cuts, very low salaries, and talented, yet disillusioned people leaving teaching positions simply because they cannot afford living just a bit above poverty wage - points at where to start.
In addition to the media studies component, there is also a need to learn about the nature of evidence, which can be taught in both science and the humanities. For example👇🏻
We need to teach people how to identify, understand and manage their emotions from a young age. Only then can they learn critical thinking skills. We no longer model emotional regulation in society and without those skills there is no critical thinking
Education is the key. But like most things in America, the system lacks inclusivity and primarily only the wealthy or fortunate end up with better outcomes.
Despite the 'special relationship', the US is the antithesis of what Europe stands and strives for (with minor exceptions).
This is how the cycle continues. A generation raised to see through falsehoods but unable to challenge power will still lose trust in democracy. And when people lose trust, they don’t just stop believing lies-they stop believing anything. That vacuum is where disordered discourse thrives.
I love seeing kids testifying in hearings about book-banning or transkids or offensive mascots, and often they win. Write a Letter to the Editor, or meet with a state rep or member of Congress about an issue you care about and have studied.
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We need to teach people how to identify, understand and manage their emotions from a young age. Only then can they learn critical thinking skills. We no longer model emotional regulation in society and without those skills there is no critical thinking
eg someone applying “critical thinking” skepticism to mainstream vaccine info in order to dismiss it in favour of uncritical belief in anti-vax stuff?
Despite the 'special relationship', the US is the antithesis of what Europe stands and strives for (with minor exceptions).