News Literacy Project being taught in schools now.

A school program called the News Literacy Project is currently training students in major cities to separate fact from fiction in many news sources they come across.

This is an amazing idea and I hope it spreads like wildfire in schools all over the place. How valuable would this class have been back in the day? I can only imagine how different things could be and probably will be in the future with this knowledge being taught to children.

A recent class at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, is trying to do just that: helping students distinguish news from opinion, fact from fiction, amid the daily onslaught of TV, radio, newspapers, and social media.

Social studies teacher Colin O'Brien began with a real-life example, a fast-moving email, in fact, a hoax, claiming that all schools in Great Britain had removed study of the Holocaust from their curriculum because the Muslim population claimed it never occurred.

LINK: PBS Newshour

At first I thought this article was about "New speak" such as 1984.

I'm glad to see it's the polar opposite. This is brilliant in the sense it should have been applied years ago.

Give the youth their brains back, damn it.

Sounds like a good idea. I wonder who decides what the facts are,

edit: Could we start something like this for ATS?

This is a great idea! A more informed generation! I like it very much. Something that they should teach the students is to separate fact from fiction regarding polls. I remember when I first learned about things like standard deviation and how it applies to polls, and how so many results are basically meaningless given the margin of error they have.

I couldn't agree more on how important this class is. The dumbing down of society by the media has been going on for entirely too long. Teaching people, at an early age, how to to see the difference between fact and opinion is such a valuable necessity. It's amazing how many are out there now who think just because they see a story in any MSM that it must be true. I only wish they had this when I was in high school.

I am afraid I have to hold my enthusiasm for the project until I can more meaningfully assess the application of the curriculum.

This sounds great and much needed.... but it also hinges upon the lesson plan, the teacher, and the actual skills taught. For all we know they are simply training people to accept only "MSM Talking heads" as news...

We already have enough blanket generalizations about news which people share as opposed to news which is "produced" or prepackaged by the subject of the story itself.




Edit to add....

For example the article title "News Literacy Project Trains Young People to Be Skeptical Media Consumers" says that there is a project to 'train' young people to be skeptical about the media they consume - but it is couched in the initial terms "News Literacy" as if that were the only media anyone should be skeptical about.

Our thread title "News Literacy Project being taught in schools now." seems to imply this is happening in more than one place.

Such an observation is not meant to diminish the OP or contributing member, but just an example of the difference between 'skepticism' and 'discerning.'

And just in case you were thinking of embracing this development as a good sign... note the final paragraph:

JEFFREY BROWN: To further the effort, the News Literacy Project and the American Library Association are launching workshops around the country to make high school students better media watchdogs, with a specific focus on the 2012 political campaign.

Hmmm.. our tax dollars at work eh? Can you imagine an application for this "focus"?

reply to post by Maxmars


I see some of your points but at least this is a step in the right direction. They are teaching kids to be skeptical about what they are reading and to get documented sources from the media stories. We aim to do the same thing here at ATS.

The main story shown talks about an email that was sent out to be a story of fact. The students job was to do their own research to see if it was or not. It even says in the main article the medias they try to cover here:

helping students distinguish news from opinion, fact from fiction, amid the daily onslaught of TV, radio, newspapers, and social media.

I chose the title for this thread to be "News Literacy Project being taught in schools now." Maybe I could have stated it differently but the story stays the same.

You also say it is meant to imply that it is happening in more than one place. Well, it is:

The lesson is part of an effort called the News Literacy Project, a four-year-old program now taught to middle and high school students in 21 inner-city and suburban schools in the Washington, D.C., area, New York City, and Chicago.

I think it is fantastic that they are going to be focusing on the 2012 elections. It will give students a chance to see with their own eyes how corrupt and fictitious many news agencies are. (i.e. FOX)

Shameful thread bump.

I think with all the complaining I see time and time again, about the media, more people should be aware that this is in the works.

I wish I had written a better thread title though. Oh well, too late now I guess..