Putting Media Literacy In The Elementary School Curriculum

from the seems-like-a-good-idea dept

Since much of what we seem to focus on here is about the way various people and organizations "spin" stories to prove a point, I think it's increasingly important that people learn (at an early age, if possible) to be skeptical about how ideas are presented to them, and learn to be more discerning in asking deeper questions and looking for additional context. That's why it's encouraging to find out that many schools are adding a "media literacy" component to their English programs, where students learn just how easy it is to manipulate or spin a message. While some complain that this is just teaching kids "pop culture", I would disagree. It's a way to help develop critical thinking skills at a very young age. In a world where everyone seems focused on only presenting their side of the story, getting people, at a very young age, to realize that there are many sides (not just two) to every story is important - and is likely to be a very practical skill for anyone to have. Of course, already, you do have to wonder who they get to teach these courses, and if they'll have their own spin to put on it as well. Perhaps such courses should have multiple teachers with multiple points of view, just to prove the point. Found via JD's New Media Musings.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Chris ODonnell, 8 Mar 2004 @ 6:02pm

    No Subject Given

    I don't think we need school teachers for this. Let them get the reading, writing, and arithmetic figured out first! However, there is no excuse for parents not engaging in this activity. We do it all the time- asking our kids what they think of a particular commercical, etc. Both of mine are extrememly skeptical of just about everything at first, but of course I can't prove any connection between our efforts and that. They might just be natural cynics - like their father ;)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    thecaptain, 9 Mar 2004 @ 6:13am

    Re: No Subject Given

    There may be a need for parents to be involved but it is my opinion that critical thinking has been so long out of the curriculum at a fundamental level that we NEED teachers focusing on this AS MUCH as reading and writing and math.

    Parents these days cannot teach their children critical thinking...most of us have been raised (unintentionally or intentionally...you decide) to be consumer and political sheep. How else do you explain the success of reality tv shows? Or the vapid trends you see in advertising? Or how well "spin" works in most scandals and our 10-second soundbyte attention span?

    You are exceptional by what you do with your kids, and I salute you sir. However, you have what 90% of people out there do not, you can think critically.

    Teaching your kids to question what they are told is the first step in having them grasp true intelligence. We can't ONLY trust parents to do this because no one has done it for them...you can't teach what you don't know.

    Just hang around the water cooler and listen at times...before long you'll catch how blindly a LOT of people listen to what media feeds us. We could USE a little more cynicism out there.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Mar 2004 @ 9:00am

    Critical thinking is missing

    Media critism and critiquing skills are extremely important in today's world. My wife was a schoolteacher, and a good media critic. But none of her fellow K-6 public school staff members were remotely qualified to teach this. I can't remember meeting a more naive group of people.
    I'd say that at least college age kids have The Daily Show with John Stewart to poke fun at the media, and various biases. :-)

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.