Teach Media Literacy in School

Schools must work to improve media literacy amongst students. Students must be able to determine trustworthy sources, and schools are perfectly situated to provide this education.

Everywhere people look, there are websites, news, TV shows, movies, books, and more, all trying to sell ideas. It is more necessary than ever for students to know how to understand all the messages in the world around them, and schools have a responsibility to help students become media literate.

In a recent Bear Facts survey of 300 people about media literacy, 51 percent of respondents reported that school has only somewhat prepared them for finding reliable information. Another 18 percent of students said they felt school had prepared them very little and 14 percent felt not at all prepared. Students spend nearly seven hours per day in a classroom setting, and these classes must start to include lessons in media literacy so students do feel prepared.

An easy way to teach media literacy is in English classes with research projects. Teachers should not focus so much on finding reliable sources because the other side of the issue, how to spot unreliable sources, needs as much attention. Teachers heavily emphasize on databases, but once students leave high school, they will likely not have access to databases, let alone the patience to actually use them, so focus instead on how to find a good source just from a search engine.

Once students lose the access to school-provided databases, they are left to the vast expanses of Google. If schools only teach about databases and no other information-finding techniques, they have wasted a valuable chance to teach students how to realistically find reliable sources and how to spot a site specifically made to fool. Once students are out beyond the high school sphere, they currently do not have the proper training to be informed consumers.

Media literacy can also be taught in History classes, such as how to be media literate and why, historically, it is important. The recent rise of clickbait and fake news mimics the past’s yellow journalism. Science classes can integrate it in terms of “Is this study legitimate?”, which teaches valuing fact checks and critical reading of things that seem naturally unbiased. Studies can seem objective when they are not. Everything can be slanted, even statistics, through careful selection or misrepresentation.

“To examine statistics more carefully and critically, we need to evaluate how and why the study is being reported,” according to Julie Dobrow from the Center for Media Literacy, on medialit.org. “We also need to learn more about how a study was conducted and who conducted it. Understanding these elements will enable us to evaluate what we can — and can’t — learn from the numbers we so often hear cited.”

When students place too much trust in the certainty of statistics, the school system has done them a disservice. In the Bear Facts survey, 50 percent of respondents said they rarely or never fact-check statistics. If a figure looks legitimate, people will take it at face value rather than taking the time to make sure the source is a quality study.

Instead, students should take time to examine studies and sources. Studies from obviously biased sources are untrustworthy, as they obviously have motives. It is important for students to have classroom instruction how to examine studies, as well as how statistics can be manipulated to serve a purpose. One simple practice is to look at the original study and  deciding if the research methods are responsible.

Media literacy is important, not just in finding accurate, objective news, but also in helping young people establish their viewpoints and develop opinions. Having the facts and seeing convincing, fair arguments about topics can help students figure out what they believe, as well as giving them the skills they need to argue those beliefs in a passionate, yet evidence-supported way. Schools are a perfect place to teach such skills.

Today’s political and social climate is very polarized. Armed with proper tools, students can combat the false narratives they find to be informed consumers.  It is too easy to lie on the internet, and people will easily believe things that sound legitimate. Schools can prevent students from going out into the world completely vulnerable to internet swindlers.