Recognizing fake news now a required subject in California schools::undefined

  • Da_Boom@iusearchlinux.fyi
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    10 months ago

    I like that it’s a critical thinking subject, but it would be much better if you taught generic critical thinking, and used “recognising fake news” as one of the applications for critical thinking.

    • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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      10 months ago

      What would “generic” critical thinking even look like? You need some subject matter to apply critical thinking skills to. News is already a very, very broad subject. What kind of critical thinking do you think is important but not teachable in the context of news?

      • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        Teaching about logical fallacies, how the scientific method is supposed to work, etc.

        Not so much that it couldn’t be taught in the context of news, but there are far more areas where critical thinking is needed.

  • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    10 months ago

    Recognizing bias in news (because tabloid news was too silly to be taken seriously) was a large segment of critical thinking. Maybe we’re getting back to recognizing an obedient, credulous population is not necessarily a good thing.

    • prole@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Texas school board removed critical thinking from their state curriculum. That would affect text books for the entire nation because they’re such a large market. There’s basically two sets of textbooks in the US: Texas books, and California books, as those are the two largest markets. The rest of the states effectively choose between the two. I’m sure you can imagine what some of the differences are between them.

      It’s been a while since I read that about the curriculum though, so hopefully that, specifically, has changed since. I know it’s still probably shit curriculum, but please teach critical thinking.

    • John Richard@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      But that would mean they could figure out when they are being manipulated by advertisers… and those advertisers are buddies with politicians on both sides of the aisle.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        buddies with politicians on both sides of the aisle.

        You managed to “both sides” a situation where one of two parties primarily deals in objectively fake news. You made a point, but was it the one you wanted?

        • John Richard@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          I wasn’t very clear. The more you educate someone, the easier it is for them to formulate a reasonable opinion. The more they understand the techniques that can be used to manipulate them, the more they can counter such techniques. However, I could write a news story about how a star guided three magi to Jerusalem approx 2000 years ago where baby Jesus was born by a virgin and schools can’t say that is fake news… hell they’ll be singing carols about it in school choir. And the Democrats will be using tax dollars to pay for people to lead them in prayer about it in Congress, and our currency will claim that we all believe in this holy divine spirit. To kids, a lie is a lie. Are you going to feed them the American Dream, and whitewash American History too before you teach them to recognize fake news?