Kids These Days
To the School Board of St. Paul Public Schools:
More than ever before, we live in a society which is connected through technology. Adults are seeing huge changes in the ways their workplaces communicate and organize. Young people, however, are even faster to join the latest wave of technology. Media studies are a necessary part of their secondary education, both to help students critically analyze information and to ensure their engagement in the classroom.
Currently, there are several high schools which offer some media course as an elective. However, no school has written a media studies curriculum or requires students to take a course. This is unfortunate because critical consumption of media is essential to helping young people to analyze information they are receiving. Media studies is easily integrated with a Language Arts curriculum. However, our school district should not confine media studies only to the English classroom. Teachers across disciplines could use technology and media to enhance student engagement and enrich content.
Young people today are consuming media at a rapid pace. Televisions, computers, ipods and cell phones are just a few examples of the many ways students connect with the world. Not only are they spending many hours a day in connection with media, they are also using multiple forms at once. It is not common for a student to watch television, chat on-line and do research for school, all at the same time. With students managing so many stimuli at once, it’s no wonder they find school boring. By using media in the classroom, teachers can engage students and bring them into whatever content area being taught.
Further, adults need to realize that media has a large influence on the thoughts and opinions of young people. Rather than attempt to close adolescents off from media, educators should teach them to be conscious consumers. When media representations are unquestioned, they can have a negative affect, such as stereotyping. However, if young people learned to think critically about what is being portrayed and for what reason, the negative affects of media could be tempered.
Thus, it is my opinion that the St. Paul school board should not only keep the media studies program currently in schools across the district, it should expand it. Instead of giving in to a "back to basics" mentality, this school district should look ahead and see the importance of media studies.
More than ever before, we live in a society which is connected through technology. Adults are seeing huge changes in the ways their workplaces communicate and organize. Young people, however, are even faster to join the latest wave of technology. Media studies are a necessary part of their secondary education, both to help students critically analyze information and to ensure their engagement in the classroom.
Currently, there are several high schools which offer some media course as an elective. However, no school has written a media studies curriculum or requires students to take a course. This is unfortunate because critical consumption of media is essential to helping young people to analyze information they are receiving. Media studies is easily integrated with a Language Arts curriculum. However, our school district should not confine media studies only to the English classroom. Teachers across disciplines could use technology and media to enhance student engagement and enrich content.
Young people today are consuming media at a rapid pace. Televisions, computers, ipods and cell phones are just a few examples of the many ways students connect with the world. Not only are they spending many hours a day in connection with media, they are also using multiple forms at once. It is not common for a student to watch television, chat on-line and do research for school, all at the same time. With students managing so many stimuli at once, it’s no wonder they find school boring. By using media in the classroom, teachers can engage students and bring them into whatever content area being taught.
Further, adults need to realize that media has a large influence on the thoughts and opinions of young people. Rather than attempt to close adolescents off from media, educators should teach them to be conscious consumers. When media representations are unquestioned, they can have a negative affect, such as stereotyping. However, if young people learned to think critically about what is being portrayed and for what reason, the negative affects of media could be tempered.
Thus, it is my opinion that the St. Paul school board should not only keep the media studies program currently in schools across the district, it should expand it. Instead of giving in to a "back to basics" mentality, this school district should look ahead and see the importance of media studies.
posted by Sarah @ 11:35 AM
1 Comments:
At 2:43 PM,
Peckskamp said…
I think you're exactly right! Kids can be very engaged by media studies. If you do something with them in class that reminds them of myspace, I'm sure that they will love it!
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