NJ to become 1st state with mandatory media literacy curriculum for K -12

[get these nets]

Media literacy bill heads to governor’s desk​

Nov 23, 2022

​

Students in New Jersey could soon be required to learn how to spot misinformation.

The New Jersey legislature, on Nov. 21, passed a bipartisan bill that would require public schools to teach media literacy.
Media literacy, sometimes called information literacy, is defined as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication,” according to the National Association for Media Literacy Education, a professional association for educators, academics, activists, and students.


It’s about “understanding the influence media has in our lives and the need to apply critical thinking to our involvement with media and to understand how to communicate using it,” said Sherri Hope Culver, a Temple University professor and the director of the university’s Center for Media and Information Literacy.
The New Jersey bill comes as students spend more time online and as the media landscape becomes more complex. Every day, people are inundated with so much information that may or may not be credible, and experts say it’s important that kids learn how to think critically about all that information.
“Here we are today where the very threats of our democracy are tied to mis- and disinformation,” said Olga Polites, the leader of the New Jersey chapter of the nonprofit advocacy group Media Literacy Now.
“If we can ensure that our K-12 students learn the critical thinking skills necessary in order to be able to identify credible sources of information, to ask questions, to create their own information, we would really be moving the needle on helping them become more civically responsible citizens,” Polites said.

While teaching media literacy skills in K-12 schools is not new, New Jersey would be the first to mandate that school districts teach media literacy skills for students at every grade level from kindergarten to 12th grade, if the bill is signed by Gov. Phil Murphy. Polites said it’s “very likely” that Murphy will sign the bill, given that it passed unanimously and is supported by the New Jersey School Boards Association, the New Jersey Association of School Librarians, and the New Jersey Education Association.

In Illinois, school districts are required to teach lessons in media literacy for all high students. Other states require the state boards of education or departments of education to develop media literacy standards but don’t require schools to teach those skills, according to Media Literacy Now.

The New Jersey bill directs the state’s education commissioner to develop curriculum guidelines on media literacy; to establish in-service training programs on media literacy for school administrators, certified school library media specialists, and the teachers who will provide the instruction; and to develop an evaluation system to gauge the effectiveness of districts’ instructional programs.

The bill would also require that the state’s traditional teacher preparation programs as well as alternate teacher prep programs incorporate programming on media literacy.
“Having [media literacy] incorporated into legislation enables teachers to recognize the importance of it in a more official capacity and dedicate the time that is needed to help students with that skill,” Culver said.
K-12 educators have a lot of topics they’re required to teach, so even if they know media literacy is important, they are more likely to spend time covering the topics students are tested on and that teachers will be evaluated on, she added

 

[EndDomination]

Makes sense to me.

Media literacy is something that's typically a part of the critical thinking skills you develop throughout your primary and secondary education - but considering how low literacy rates in the U.S. are generally, of course media literacy is going to be low.

One of my worries is how conservative most of these programs inherently are - is The Grapes of Wrath going to be given its proper anti-capitalist reading? Invisible Man? Beloved? Animal Farm? Moby-dikk?

Media literacy taught also has to be media literacy learned, and there are plenty of education administrators that don't have strong media literacy either.

Overall though, this is a good start.

 

[mastermind]

this is good, but a proper educational system shouldn’t need this if you have critical thinking built into the curriculum.


Maybe this can help develop that?

 

[Serious]

 

[YvrzTrvly]

Typical American fashion...there's misinformation there hrmm stop it outright...na let's let these dumbass kids decide and guess what the rest of their education is shyt. Pointless exercise...

Reminds me of something else...ahh yes healthcare

 

[get these nets]

Typical American fashion...there's misinformation there hrmm stop it outright...na let's let these dumbass kids decide and guess what the rest of their education is shyt. Pointless exercise...

Reminds me of something else...ahh yes healthcare

"Stop (misinformation) outright"
HOW?
Article points to younger generation increasingly getting news and information from the internet and social media. Who, and how would they "stop it outright"?

 

[Amo Husserl]

I don't know what to think about this. It can go either way to advance a narrative.

 

[YvrzTrvly]

"Stop (misinformation) outright"
HOW?
Article points to younger generation increasingly getting news and information from the internet and social media. Who, and how would they "stop it outright"?

"Stop (misinformation) outright"
HOW?
Article points to younger generation increasingly getting news and information from the internet and social media. Who, and how would they "stop it outright"?

Maybe ask Ronny to institute you know that institution that he dismantled for this very reason

 

[the cac mamba]

I don't know what to think about this. It can go either way to advance a narrative.

it sounds like bullshyt tbh

yes, we all know that fox news is awful. but as long as the left is telling us that men can give birth, i dont really wanna hear them define what 'real information' is either

we have freedom of speech, and right or wrong, people are gonna believe what they want. nothing is ever gonna change that, certainly not some fukkin class. and i'd rather live in a place where both sides can lie, as oppose to a place like china

 

[Amo Husserl]

it sounds like bullshyt tbh

yes, we all know that fox news is awful. but as long as the left is telling us that men can give birth, i dont really wanna hear them define what 'real information' is either

we have freedom of speech, and right ir wrong, people are gonna believe what they want. nothing is ever gonna change that, certainly not some fukkin class

True.
Where NJ schools get funding is another factor.
Property tax revenue in certain neighborhoods may determine what information is factual when overlaying those areas with political maps.
Are strong democratic areas going to play to democrat narratives?
Information can always be skewed.
Who is on the school boards?
Too many ways curriculum can say one thing while being the other.
This says more about school curriculum going downhill according to test scores.
Was reading about Project 100,000 this morning...
Big Think article

During the Vietnam War, Robert McNamara began a program called Project 100,000.
The program brought over 300,000 men to Vietnam who failed to meet minimum criteria for military service, both physically and mentally.
Project 100,000 recruits were killed in disproportionate numbers and fared worse after their military service than their civilian peers, making the program one of the biggest—and possibly cruelest—mistakes of the Vietnam War.

I can't say they're explicitly related but implications is where critical analysis takes place.

 

[the cac mamba]

and imagine if the thread title said "Alabama/Florida/Mississippi to instate media literacy classes for K-12"

 

[get these nets]

Think the curriculum is about instructing students to be able to screen verifiably false news stories, like the 2020 Election "being stolen". Some of you are talking about slants and narratives. People can disagree about those, but not the facts.

Well, most of us.



Once you get people in denial about facts, they'll go along with any ride you take them on.

 

[DEAD7]

and imagine if the thread title said "Alabama/Florida/Mississippi to instate media literacy classes for K-12"

 

[IrateMastermind]

I like the idea of this but the application will probably lead to nothing. Who the fukk is gonna be teaching this shyt, the same people on Facebook falling for clickbait headlines and not reading the articles

 

[get these nets]

Word of the Year 2023

'Authentic,' plus 'rizz,' 'deepfake,' 'coronation,' and other words that defined the year

www.merriam-webster.com

Word of the Year 2022​

'Gaslighting,' plus 'sentient,' 'omicron,' 'queen consort,' and other top lookups of 2022

28 Nov 2022

---

Gaslighting​

In this age of misinformation—of “fake news,” conspiracy theories, Twitter trolls,and deepfakes—gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time.
A driver of disorientation and mistrust, gaslighting is “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.” 2022 saw a 1740% increase in lookups for gaslighting, with high interest throughout the year.
Its origins are colorful: the term comes from the title of a 1938 play and the movie based on that play, the plot of which involves a man attempting to make his wife believe that she is going insane. His mysterious activities in the attic cause the house’s gas lights to dim, but he insists to his wife that the lights are not dimming and that she can’t trust her own perceptions.
When gaslighting was first used in the mid 20th century it referred to a kind of deception like that in the movie. We define this use as:

: psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one's emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator

But in recent years, we have seen the meaning of gaslighting refer also to something simpler and broader: “the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, especially for a personal advantage.” In this use, the word is at home with other terms relating to modern forms of deception and manipulation, such as fake news, deepfake, and artificial intelligence.
The idea of a deliberate conspiracy to mislead has made gaslighting useful in describing lies that are part of a larger plan. Unlike lying, which tends to be between individuals, and fraud, which tends to involve organizations, gaslighting applies in both personal and political contexts. It’s at home in formal and technical writing as well as in colloquial use:

Patients who have felt that their symptoms were inappropriately dismissed as minor or primarily psychological by doctors are using the term “medical gaslighting” to describe their experiences and sharing their stories.— The New York Times, 28 March 2022

The “I’m sorry you feel that way” approach, along with avoiding an argument in lieu of admitting fault, is good old fashioned gaslighting. — Psychology Today, 29 March 2022

My Committee’s investigation leaves no doubt that, in the words of one company official, Big Oil is ‘gaslighting’ the public. These companies claim they are part of the solution to climate change, but internal documents reveal that they are continuing with business as usual. — Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, 14 September 2022

After their fight awkwardly cleared the daybed, the two parted ways and Genevieve caught Victoria up on the unexpected blowout. “He told me I’m gaslighting him. I’ve never even been told that in my life,” Gen said. “Yeah that’s a big word to use… He doesn’t know what that means. He’s just using a buzzword, he’s stupid. He’s dumb,” Victoria replied. — Nicole Gallucci, Decider (decider.com), 2 November 2022

English has plenty of ways to say “lie,” from neutral terms like falsehood and untruth to the straightforward deceitfulness and the formally euphemistic prevarication and dissemble, to the innocuous-sounding fib. And the Cold War brought us the espionage-tinged disinformation.
In recent years, with the vast increase in channels and technologies used to mislead, gaslighting has become the favored word for the perception of deception. This is why (trust us!) it has earned its place as our Word of the Year.