Ah, the rapid rise of news and media, moving from the small press to large corporate standing, everywhere you turn, a wave of information crashes towards you. News is available at the tips of our fingers by simply opening up our phones and checking Google. California Gov. Gavin Newsom just recently approved Assembly Bill #873, which requires media literacy to be incorporated into the curriculum framework for those in primary education.
Various teachers voice their views on the situation, explaining whether or not the curriculum change is beneficial for education.
AP English Literature teacher Shook Spear states, “This was not an issue until we discussed it. Let’s go back to blissful ignorance.”
Teachers are feeling incredibly attacked by this piece of legislation. History teacher Amy Rika spoke out recently, asking, “Was I not supposed to be getting all of the news from my Uber driver?” She continued, “I obviously turned out fine; these kids will be too.”
“Education standards are fine the way they are. I was a straight-A student and I know that I can get perfectly unbiased information from the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Instagram account,” says a Southern California school administrator. It’s very clear that the California education system has churned out the cream of the crop, and this monumental shift will only deteriorate the quality of graduates. It can only get worse from here, truly.
Increasing media literacy sounds a lot like increasing the ability to think freely. After years and years of being hand-fed information from the state and nation, children will be inspired to think for themselves.
While this may be a purely theoretical solution being implemented into core instructional standards, it will become the beginning of a renaissance. A fifth grader who should be online playing Club Penguin will instead view the game critically and realize they are feeding into corporate greed by paying a membership. An eighth grader researching United States colonization for a project will take a step back, find the millions of lives lost in the process and realize that maybe they do not live in the “land of the free.”
If students learn to be critical of the information they take in, they will become critical of those who give them that information. In no time at all, teachers will be brought to their knees by those they once taught. No one will rise to take their place either because who wants to be paid pennies to educate the next generation, especially the first generation, to practice critical thinking at a societal level?
Being critical of the media is the first step to revolution. The next is free thought and the desire for a better society. Students will get fed up with misinformation and lies and decide to enact change with their own hands eventually. The downfall of society is imminent as we encourage students to take information and learn to separate truth from lies, to steer away from big corporate media and realize that information that is presented can be skewed by greed.
As a society, we are not developed enough to adapt to this change in a timely manner. Deviating from societal norms is a dangerous thing; Governor Newsom should take a step back and think about whether or not he truly wants California to be the birthplace of the next revolution.
*This is a satirical piece and is not intended to communicate any true or factual information about the writer’s opinion except through humor and/or exaggeration. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental or is intended purely as satire, parody or spoof of such persons and is not intended to communicate any true or factual information about that person.
