The 4 Rs - Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Media Literacy
The recent use of social media by political parties to attack it’s opposition and the insertion of foreign entities influencing voters preferences and knowledge of the issues has become the second pandemic of this decade. There is no better motivation than the insertion of ‘Trumpism’ in our lives to inspire the reform, upgrade and intensification of the media literacy programs in our educational institutions.
In 2018 The Commission on Fake News and the Teaching of Critical Literacy in Schools of the UK, published its final report (https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk) outlining a number of findings. Some of which were a cry for reform to say the least “…only 2% of children and young people in the UK have the critical literacy skills they need to tell whether a news story is real or fake. Fake news is driving a culture of fear and uncertainty among young people. Half of children (49.9%) are worried about not being able to spot fake news and almost two-thirds of teachers (60.9%) believe fake news is having a harmful effect on children’s well-being by increasing levels of anxiety, damaging self-esteem and skewing their world view.” Finland, in 2014, once again set the educational standards with a comprehensive approach to digital literacy with the aim of countering the impact of disinformation promulgated on the multiple media platforms. They rank as the most resistant country in Europe to fake news by the Open Society Institute (http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/).
Media literacy has been predominantly focused on keyboarding, software knowledge, coding and search skills for the internet. Negligible attention has been paid to the critical thinking skills necessary to discern the quality, reputation and legitimacy of the source of the information as noted in the UK study cited above. We’ve progressed from a world where a commonly believed foundation of information anchored our exchange of views and differences of opinion. In less than a decade “fake news”, alternate views of reality, has surfaced and the common foundation of information from which we shape our point of view has been delegitimized. The most vivid example can be observed in the political arena of the USA as “Trumpism” has utilized the various social media platforms to create an alternate universe of incompatible political facts, altered the beliefs systems on appropriate methods of mitigating a pandemic and forged an attempted coup with an attack on the Capital buildings in Washington.
This generation of children and youth are developing in an era that is more connected than ever before in history. This can be of significant benefit to their development or can be an equally detrimental and malicious phenomena.
What needs to be done to protect and ensure our children and youth are equipped to erect their own ‘fire wall’ to misinformation? Come back in the near future to explore the solutions.
About Kemp Rickett Consulting: My business is founded on enabling clients to ignite the passion for learning in individuals and groups. I provide strategic planning services, curriculum development and professional development and training for school administrators and program co-ordinators.
