A term that has been used widely since the 2016 presidential elections, ‘fake news’ and everything that embodies it (altered news stories, hoaxes, copyright violations, etc.) continue to have a huge impact on daily life and how people perceive the information they read and see every day — especially online.
California State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D) introduced SB 203 this past January that would tackle ‘fake news’ starting at a high school level by providing a process for students, their parents, school administrators, and other adults “to establish strategies for ensuring that digital citizenship, Internet safety, and media literacy became part of the state’s basic educational goals and learning requirements,” as described on Senator Jackson’s website.
A state-based advisory committee made up of educated officials/parents, working under the supervision of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, would help school districts develop strategies that will make the move towards teaching more about ‘fake news’ easier.
The thinking is that in these new classes — where students are specifically learning how to tackle what is the ‘real’ from ‘fake’ news — these kids will take the information they learned and teach their parents, who may not be as well-informed in internet/social media usage, how to figure out what is altered and what isn’t altered online. The classes would help students differentiate reliable sources, become better critical thinkers, be more safe online, and overall become more conscious in the things they are reading and passing along.
As Senator Jackson states:
“The role of the media and technology is only growing. The skills we teach kids today about critical thinking, the role of media in their lives and how best to interact with social media, fake news and technology will help keep them safe and serve them into adulthood.”
As this new ‘Age of Technology’ continues to progress and people are available to more news than ever, keeping students aware of the dangers of the things they say/do/see online can create not only a more well-educated society, but a more socially aware one too.
