I was going to start out with a nice little introduction fluff piece, really I was. Then, as they say, idiots happened. I'm sorry to inform you, it's now turned into a rant. Maybe this is a true reflection of who I am, in which case, introduction accomplished, I guess.
It seems that one or more teachers at my daughter's (middle) school have been showing the students news clips from CNN (gasp!) to expose them to current events. A concerned parent took to the school's Facebook page to ask why this was allowed to happen. Really. This father actually wrote "...Kids should know who the president is, but not have to worry about ISIS or immigration." You guys, the kid in question is in 6th grade. Sixth grade!
From there, comments began expressing outrage that it was CNN being shown, rather than, I can only assume, FOX News. The one bright spot in all of this was that there were reasonable parents joining in and ultimately preventing a lynch mob from going after the principal and all those liberal socialist teachers.
I am a veteran of Internet flame wars, and I sat on my hands to keep from engaging in what was surely an exercise in futility. I did have to ask what news should be used to teach current events, but the (m)asses didn't reply to me. The next paragraph is the reply that I really wanted to post.
It is the job of both teachers and parents to develop critical thinking skills in our children. In an age of 'infotainment' it is imperative that viewers and readers have the skills and knowledge to sift facts from hyperbole. It is also important to be exposed to opinions different from our own, to avoid the "echo chamber" effect seen during the last election. The lack of these once common attributes are the reason that fake news pervades Facebook and other social media... because people have become too dumb to weed it out. I fear we are making a mess of things, a mess the next generation will inherit. The least we can do is give them the tools to clean it up.
::Mic Drop::
ADDENDUM: It turns out the news that was being shown to these impressionable young minds was CNN 10, a 10 minute news clip show created ESPECIALLY FOR STUDENTS. Here's a link to the leftist propaganda: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/studentnews/ten-content-tues/
This is why I hate people. Well, most people.
