They really should. The amount of people who do not even know how to do basic research or understand what they are reading or listening to is astounding.
The public school I remember had a large segment of each graduating (or dropping out) class that was completely disengaged / tuned out / just there because they had to be. I lost track of them when I went to college, but I can imagine where a lot of them are now, particularly politically.
Yeah these are still the teachers who, having digital access to the greatest accumulation of knowledge ever, will tell kids that internet sources aren’t legitimate for research…
I don’t think there is any teacher who does not realize that the internet provides digital access to knowledge. As long as citations are in a student’s final work. The internet provides fact AND disinformation. The point is to teach discernment between the two.
I think it should be embedded in core classes AND students should be encouraged to take speech and debate classes. As a debate coach, I am trying to help kids develop those skills every single day.
Critical thinking and media studies should be part of the English department. Librarians too need to teach their students how to research and how to verify fact from fiction.
OK. Media literacy. financial literacy. sewing. cooking. driving. voting.
There are only so many hours in a school year.
When do they have time to teach reading, writing, math, science, history, geography, literature, music, art, and gym?
What has to go?
As I waited to take my GREs, I overheard fellow test takers who were back for their 5th and 6th tries at the tests - still couldn't get their scores up high enough to be admitted to their choice programs. This after 4 years of college.
You can read a horse Descartes but you can't make him think.
The problem is that the majority of us have a very siloed or fractured world view.Kids are generally very aware the royal scam but don't have a good broad picture of things. But that could be said of most of us. I read 2-3 newspaper sites, plus 2 U.S. and 2 EU news radio sites and still have holes.
Starting at grade one, or at least the grade their parents let them have a phone. Of course parents have an obligation to teach their children the responsibilities of their behavior when they do venture online.
We learned to tell fact from opinion in elementary school. What happened to that? I guess it’s not on the standardized tests, so it doesn’t get taught.
No. While young folks have had their antics on the Internet, eating Tide pods & all, they already have to prove they have media literacy skills for their research & writing assignments.
The folks who need media literacy are my age (40s) & ⬆️.
The US taught revisionist history to nearly every generation since the Civil War thanks to the Daughters of the Confederacy. The belief in American folk tales is so deep that older generations are calling accurate, inclusive & honest history "revisionist". We don't even know we were taught lies.
Yes, they will need refreshers when they hit their 40s too.
Kids learn this stuff in school & some of it sticks, some doesn't.
It's us grown ass adults that were circulating stories about kids using litter boxes in school & speculations about whether a school shooter was trans, not the kids.
The young folks are good at antics, but they aren’t very good at critical thinking, reading comprehension, or doing research, and I don’t mean Google research.
Do you have any evidence that the "average" 50yo adult is consistently better than the "average" 18yo at even 1 of those things? Or how such things could be scientifically measured?
I'm not trying to be contrarian, but we know how the young people voted. The kids are alright.
I’ve been saying this since 2020 when I first noticed how stupid people who were telling me what’s on the news were. I didn’t even watch the news and I knew that whatever they were saying was bullshit. It was so stupid it’d have to be
Same here, though they called it U.S. Government. I learned more in one lecture about communism, socialism, democracy and capitalism than I did in any other entire high school or college class. Thank you Mr. Bouchard.
Now they teach it in elementary. 5th grade I think. Definitely should be a high school class but the elected officials would have taken it. Not many are younger than us. Lots of people need a refresher class for sure!
I’m 30, a civics class wasn’t even offered at my school. I don’t think any of the highschools in the district offer it idk about the other school districts here in Delaware.
I agree it should be a requirement. I graduated a couple years ago and my high school required a US government course. (Though there was a huge knowledge gap between the regular version and the AP level.) Every person who can cast a ballot needs to know how to use it properly.
Each state has its own standards for civics education. Most require at least one semester. 11 do not require any. If you are passionate about it, talk to your local school boards.
Certified school librarians work with regular classroom teachers to integrate information literacy lessons into class research projects. Unfortunately, many schools don’t have certified librarians on staff. I taught over 200 classes a year with classroom teachers as a secondary school librarian.
We need yo for something about this people. Republicans are all about dumbing down America & that means YOUR KIDS. Stand up & demand your rights before they are completely pulled out ftom under you.
As a college librarian who teaches media & information literacy I want to thank you for putting this out there! Librarians try their hardest to engage students. Sometimes, students come with cultural biases that are hard to overcome.
1984 Florida high school seniors were required to take a 1/2 year course called "Americanism vs Communism" most of which was a rehash of the same Civics lessons I had had every year of the prior 5 years.
After all that there were still plenty of graduating seniors who didn't know anything about it.
Our AVC teacher was ex-Navy, about 5'4" with the Napoleon complex to match. He was first, last, and always concerned with classroom discipline and student respect. Not a great fit for seniors about to graduate.
I honestly believe that teaching many of them was basically impossible.
Okay- pass them all. They didn’t learn anything, they won’t even remember being in the class, but they passed. In reality, schools are based in reality. There are practical limits on time and resources. You. Cannot. Force. Learning.
Uh no. If a student won’t learn, despite an excellent teacher, the society is responsible. You can offer a top quality program, but you can’t force a kid to learn any more than you can force them to eat or sleep.
That is the ideal. The level of teacher performance I have observed is: if they avoid physical injuries, sexual scandals and parental complaints, that's all that is really expected.
Many try to do better, but they are barely resourced to meet the above goals. Difficult to teach students? Ignored.
Every person is capable of learning, under the right circumstances, yes. Hard to reach a child who isn’t in the classroom. Also hard to give children the attention they deserve with a caseload of 30+ in a class that’s 90 minutes long x 5 classes a day. SMH.
I’d say there should be a version of this course in middle school also. Younger kids are consuming media and need these skills as well as general critical thinking skills as early as possible.
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The kids treat it the way we treated the D.A.R.E. lessons back in the 90’s. They think they already know better, so they don’t care.
They *should have made* media literacy a required high-school course.
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/14/1122895362/illinois-now-requires-media-literacy-instruction-in-its-high-school-curriculum
Senior year, must pass.
There are only so many hours in a school year.
When do they have time to teach reading, writing, math, science, history, geography, literature, music, art, and gym?
What has to go?
You can read a horse Descartes but you can't make him think.
In Finland.
The folks who need media literacy are my age (40s) & ⬆️.
Kids learn this stuff in school & some of it sticks, some doesn't.
It's us grown ass adults that were circulating stories about kids using litter boxes in school & speculations about whether a school shooter was trans, not the kids.
I'm not trying to be contrarian, but we know how the young people voted. The kids are alright.
https://newslit.org
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/28/fact-from-fiction-finlands-new-lessons-in-combating-fake-news
After all that there were still plenty of graduating seniors who didn't know anything about it.
I honestly believe that teaching many of them was basically impossible.
If all the student's fail, it's the teacher's fault.
I think children have a responsiblity to learn and teachers have a responsibility to teach.
Many try to do better, but they are barely resourced to meet the above goals. Difficult to teach students? Ignored.
Oh that’s right, they don’t teach Civics anymore.🙁