this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2024
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Children will be taught how to spot extremist content and misinformation online under planned changes to the school curriculum, the education secretary said.

Bridget Phillipson said she was launching a review of the curriculum in primary and secondary schools to embed critical thinking across multiple subjects and arm children against “putrid conspiracy theories”.

One example may include pupils analysing newspaper articles in English lessons in a way that would help differentiate fabricated stories from true reporting.

In computer lessons, they could be taught how to spot fake news websites by their design, and maths lessons may include analysing statistics in context.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago

and maths lessons may include analysing statistics in context.

It always depresses me when people around can't even do a crude estimation that would debunk unteuthful information. And this isn't just about news - when you do any sort of math or experiment you should be able to make a crude estimation to eliminate mistakes.

I can easily tell when I'm two orders of magnitude away from the correct result. It seems to be a rare skill apparently

[–] [email protected] 85 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

This is great, honestly.

If you go back to antiquity, education was about philosophy. It was about learning how to observe, and think critically, and see the world for what it is.

And then in modern times, education became about memorisation - learning facts and figures and how to do this and that. And that way of teaching and learning just doesn't fit any longer with what our digital age has become.

In my opinion, we are heavily overdue for a revamp of what education should be, and what skills are most important to society in this post-truth world. Critical thinking is an important foundation to real knowledge that we don't teach enough.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (9 children)

"Critical thinking" was a buzzword when I was at school in the 80s.

Memorisation is a component of learning, but the vast majority of any learning I've done has been understanding.

Certainly children need to learn to be skeptical, but I hope we can do better than showing them biased articles from newspapers.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

A bit late, but sure.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Can they teach the adults as well?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 months ago (2 children)

ThEy WAnT TO FoRCe PEOpLE INTo REEEEEEdUCATion CAmps!!!

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 3 months ago (5 children)

basic media literacy is really needed, hopefully it doesn't come with any political bias built in

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Education is typically left leaning

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago

Reality has a well-known left-wing bias.

That's why the right's only solution is to wage a war on reality.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 3 months ago (2 children)

All information has a bias, so teach that it all has a bias and ways to figure out the biases. Also include that we all have biases in everything we think.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

that is probably the best way to go about it. I worry they'll simplify or strip away too much nuance. But if done well this can be great initiative

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

I think that’s pretty much impossible to achieve. One persons far-right content, is another’s “common sense”

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

hopefully it doesn't come with any political bias built in

They would never do that! /s

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

Get them all some fine excerpts from ml comms

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

"Extremist content" == "not wanting Palestinians to be dehumanized, dispossessed and murdered by Israel"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

No, but studying "hasbara" would make for good practice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Hopefully this is more aimed at far right anti immigration bullshit

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Hopefully it tries to be as neutral as possible, and just gives kids the general tools to spot when something’s fake/exaggerated.

Introducing this sort of thing without trying to be strictly impartial sounds like a slippery slope.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Obviously. But I’m referring to why this was planned, ie. some events led to this being deemed necessary. I’m guessing it’s alt-right radicalisation and post-truth politics, and not the recent Israeli Invasion of Gaza.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Can someone teach the boomer generation too? They are vastly more susceptible to believing anything they read online

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago

Online literacy is really impacting boomers and elder gen x. Like QAnon or Covid Vaccines - some of them flip and just go psycho to the point it impacts their lives.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 3 months ago

The Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)Information for The Guardian:

MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom
Wikipedia about this source

Search topics on Ground.Newshttps://www.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/aug/10/uk-children-to-be-taught-how-to-spot-extremist-content-and-misinformation-online
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