Live data from Hacker News

Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

npr.org

151–160 of 490 posts

Re: Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

#151
post #2

Given the primary example used on the kids, the 2016 election, this seems more about instilling bias under the name "news literacy". Are they going to do a section studying the "coverage" of hunter biden's laptop? Remember, for weeks it was cast as Russian propaganda. What about the origins of covid.. will they discuss how at first the lab leak theory was discarded as "misinformation"? I could not trust a public scho…

If they had any trustworthiness they would also include the media that led to 2/3 of Democrats falsely believing that Russia had tampered with the votes: https://mobile.twitter.com/peterjhasson/status/1064259048902... . They could also look into all the Russia Collusion stories that turned out to be hot air. People’s overreliance on the Steele Dossier would actually be a good example. Like there’s actually plenty of…

... Did you just use a Twitter link that does nothing but make claims on numbers as a source? More specifically, it provides the claim that there was no tampering without any evidence.

Meanwhile [0] shows that they have the capability, and the motivations.

This is the exact reason we need a class like this.

[0] https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/docu...

Edit: And even looking at the numbers provided this is a mischaracterization. Slightly over 30% of Dem's believe it happened, and another slightly over 30% think it probably did. These two things are not equivalent.

Re: Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

#152
post #52

Part of the primary school curriculum here in Norway is how to be critical of source material, no matter where it comes from. We call it “source criticism.” Summed up, it's about how trustworthy a source is, what method was used to obtain the data or opinions in the material (if any), whether the observations or claims in it are first hand or second hand, and whether its conclusions are reasonably objective or subjec…

> We call it “source criticism.” Summed up, it's about how trustworthy a source is, what method was used to obtain the data or opinions in the material (if any), whether the observations or claims in it are first hand or second hand, and whether its conclusions are reasonably objective or subjective.

That sounds fantastic. What is known about, and what are your experiences with, the outcomes? After class? 1 year later? 5 years later? 20 years later?

This should be the top post, something we can learn from. Thank you.

Re: Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the article and I disagree that the 2016 election is a specific example of what students in class actually learn about (which is what I interpreted when you said “used on the kids”). The 2016 example is actually part of a study to claim there is evidence that students have poor ability to discern from good quality and bad quality news sources, such as a video of dubious origin on Facebook. The actual examples…

An important part of indoctrination is training children that only regime approved news sources are reliable.

It doesn't matter how many times these news agencies get caught making stuff up out of whole cloth, they are "reliable news" because people are conditioned to believe it. Faith is strong.

Re: Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't you study the difference in quality versus non-quality sources as a child? I remember lots of term papers where my references were questioned and only references of certain quality were allowed.

Yes, that's exactly the training I was referring to.

Are you suggesting that all sources are exactly equal? If not, then people need a framework to determine source quality, otherwise we aren't really preparing them for the world. What is your proposal?

Re: Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

#155
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you people even read the article or do all of you need to take this course? it says right in the article what they're teaching kids and no it's not 'these news sources are the right ones' it's how to analyze the news like the headline says.

First, read the guidelines. Don’t do “did you even read the article” here. Secondly, I did read the article. All it talks about is spotting questionable sources, comparing reports to shake out fake news, etc. As I said, the most effective propaganda tool is omission. You’re not going to compare sources on something you never even read about. After fact-checking a hundred times you’ll decide that NPR does report facts…

[deleted]

Re: Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

#156
post #52

Part of the primary school curriculum here in Norway is how to be critical of source material, no matter where it comes from. We call it “source criticism.” Summed up, it's about how trustworthy a source is, what method was used to obtain the data or opinions in the material (if any), whether the observations or claims in it are first hand or second hand, and whether its conclusions are reasonably objective or subjec…

This sounds fantastic, and I also see 0% of anything like this being implemented at scale in the US public school system, no matter what label it goes under. The different biases and values of the various regions of the US are simply beyond one structure or framework for thinking about objectivity (at least for a very long time). Idk though, I hope I'm wrong

Re: Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the article and I disagree that the 2016 election is a specific example of what students in class actually learn about (which is what I interpreted when you said “used on the kids”). The 2016 example is actually part of a study to claim there is evidence that students have poor ability to discern from good quality and bad quality news sources, such as a video of dubious origin on Facebook. The actual examples…

Oh come on... > https://web.archive.org/web/20171106063502/https://www.thegu... > Trump dump: president throws entire box of fish food into precious koi carp pond > While his host, Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe, spoons small amounts of feed, the US leader gives the fish a large feast > Having apparently lost patience with tempting the fish to the edge with modest offerings of food, Trump simply upended his wooden…

Oh yeah I remember this whole charade. It happened rather early and was blatantly transparent.

Re: Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

#158
post #2

Given the primary example used on the kids, the 2016 election, this seems more about instilling bias under the name "news literacy". Are they going to do a section studying the "coverage" of hunter biden's laptop? Remember, for weeks it was cast as Russian propaganda. What about the origins of covid.. will they discuss how at first the lab leak theory was discarded as "misinformation"? I could not trust a public scho…

This week, a story broke how Hunter Biden had yet another laptop stolen from him, this time with videos of him doing "crazy sex acts". [0] Yet again, as in 2020, I was unable to share the link below in a private Facebook Messenger group. What else will be censored next, at the behest of the government? I severely mistrust when the government tells you what and who to believe, and that includes our schools. Teach crit…

I'm sure you know this, but you're only being downvoted because they think you're making shit up. I, unfortunately know that you are not making this shit up.

Re: Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

#159
I think there's merit to deliberately teaching concepts like analyzing the source of a particular news story. Coincidentally, it was an AP Euro course I took at my Illinois Highschool that first made me aware of such a concept. My teacher put a special emphasis on analyzing bias in source documents that were provided in the document based questions in the AP exam.

I may not remember much of the European history taught in the class, but the idea of analyzing bias has stuck with me ever since. My experience may have not been universal amongst my classmates though which exposes how this type of incidental teaching to analyze bias might be insufficient and a more intentional approach is warranted.

The fact that I was taught the concept in a history class devoted to a different continent helped to mitigate some of the problems that might present themselves when trying to teach it in the context of current events. My hope would be that this type of news literacy education would similarly focus on historical accounts which, while not wholly sufficient, could create some distance between the daily news onslaught which can distract from actually developing the skill.

Re: Illinois Is the First State to Have High Schools Teach News Literacy

#160

I don't see the point of this. a typical English class should already be teaching one how to critically think anyway and engage with text. There's no need for a specific "news literacy" course IMHO.

The point is that the current strategy isn't working.

there's no reason to believe focusing on "news" specifically will change anything, from the article.
Post reply on HN