YES Prep Public Schools should offer a Media Literacy course as an elective to allow students to expand upon their college readiness skills.  

We cannot assume that our students have learned these skills outside of school and should, therefore, plan to help them develop them.  

Media literacy is an important college skill, but according to research done by Stanford University high percentages, sometimes as high as 80%, of students had trouble judging the credibility of the news they read, including high school students. This is a troubling statistic, especially because of the growing use of social media as a way to spread information.  

Not only this but, some post secondary institutions require a senior thesis from students to allow them to graduate. For examples of these institutions include, but are not limited to, Haverford College and Princeton University.  

As a college access school, we must prepare our students for the varying types of rigor that they will experience, which includes completing research and finding reliable information. Therefore out district should provide a media literacy course. 

 

Media Literacy is essential in schools, we need to implement media literacy classes in districts. Media literacy is a must in today's environment, in which so many people reject credible sources of information and believe anything they see in the internet. Every single job has some sort of media involvement, and if kids aren't taught the different between fake and real media then they are not being set up for success in their jobs , and life after high-school. Kids need to be able to analyze and evaluate messages and create their own after assessing the information. Unfortunately, young people don’t have the knowledge or tools to distinguish false information and it is the education system responsibility to prepare them for the work force. Media literacy classes has a much greater influence than you might think, by helping the youth not only are you setting up young adults to be successful in the work field but you are also helping the economy have a greater labor force , that will be more equipped to handle their jobs. Overall, media literacy classes have both short term and long term rewards and it is clear that we, as a society will be better of with the class. So make a petition ! Help start a club ! Worl towards making the world a better place !! 

 

We have seen recently that false information has been spread on media which has caused division in opinions in many events and has sparked a lot of hate crimes, racism ,and foul actions. Therefore ,because of occurrences like this we believe that the schools should implement clubs for middle school and classes for high school of learning about media literacy in order to be able to grow up and learn about real news instead of falling for the fake information and because it will improve society as a whole. 

 

We should include clubs and classes that talk about media literacy in order for students to take in the knowledge and knowing the difference between real news and fake media so they can avoid the chaos that is going on right now. For instance in the article "Media Literacy: Help Youth Think Critically in Age of ‘Fake News’" mentions of the positive aspects of students learning about media .literacy because when a report was done by Stanford University "showed middle school students have a difficult time distinguishing ads from news articles, and high school students and college students are easily duped by false information." The information provided by the article demonstrates that because the lack of  factual information passed on media it causes teenagers form the young age of 12 to be misled by the news and causes for them to be confused on what to believe. The result of the media causes for many people to believe in false information and causes them to lash to the opposite views that disagree with their beliefs. Another reason we should implement the course of Media Literacy is to expand their skills to be able to breakdown information to take in and help for justice or faster actions to be done .For instance the case of the 20 year experience cop that shot an innocent kid and tried to pass it off as a mistake .Unbiased news gave information that this cop had 20 years of experience , a gun and a taser are in specific spots ,and weight different. Biased media wanted to demonstrate the clip and blame it all on the child but because factual sources were put out for many to see ,the truth unfold. Not only did misleading information almost caused for this boy to not get his justice but it cause for other to not get the justice they deserve. Media literacy helps those expand their skills to know what is real and what is not and helps people get the support they need. 

 

 Overall ,we as students believe that media literacy should be implemented in school in order to avoid situations like we are now in which many people's opinions are divided because of the unreliable information they take in which leads to no justice or actions to be done. Even though there are those instances in which the other side of media gives us more details and personal opinions we are able to decipher what is a fact and what is a lie. In order to get media on the right track and help society, we should remove those figures or powerful people who are biased to their own beliefs and opinions and because of this they spread fake rumors. This issue should be addressed as soon as possible in order for us to take in this knowledge and avoid situations that are going now a days. 

 

Sincerely, YES Prep students