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The curriculum connections
Since media literacy involves both reading (decoding) and writing (encoding) media messages, it is a communication competency tantamount to our traditional idea of literacy. As such the skills or competencies involved in media literacy, pervade many content areas and can be integrated across the curriculum in the same way that reading and writing are required skills beyond English and the language Arts curriculum. While many teachers and administrators are only now beginning to hear about media literacy, the content and competencies that it addresses are very evident in curriculum frameworks, mission statements and various documents that have emerged in the past few years as a result of school reform/ restructuring and the Goals 2000. In North Carolina for example, the State's information Skills k-12 curriculum says: "the sheer mass of information and variety of media formats challenges every learner to filter, interpret , accept and /or discard media messages." Students are expected to be able to a.) recognize the selection of all media in news coverage b.) draw conclusions about cause and effect relationships between the media's reports and the public's response c.) recognize the effects of distortion, stereotyping, propaganda and violence in visual media and d.) recognize, interpret and create visual images. Oregon's Certificate of Initial Mastery Outcomes also clearly addresses the concepts, content and competencies associated with Media literacy. Students are expected to be able to a.) think critically, creatively and reflectively b.) use current technology including computers to process and produce information c.) communicate through reading, writing, speaking and listening as well as through the integrated use of visual forms.  Far from being aberrations relegated to the progressive periphery of American education, such goals and objectives are increasingly representative of a growing realization among teachers, administrators and parents, that the changing information formats of our society demand a responsive, flexible and expanded definition of literacy. When our children have seen 5000 hours of television before they ever come to school, we cannot ignore the ways in which television's form and content may have shaped their perceptions of themselves and their world. This realization cuts across many areas of the curriculum as is evident when we look at the emerging frameworks.
Health and Wellness In 1992, The Carnegie Counsel on
Adolescent Development published "Fateful Choices." The
study noted a plethora of problems confronting American
teens including alcohol, tobacco and substance abuse, teen
pregnancy, unsafe sex, fad diets and violence. The study
also recommended media literacy as a necessary component of
educational efforts to address these problems. Similarly,
"Safeguarding Our Youth", a multi-agency government
report on school violence, also concluded that media
literacy had to be part of any overall educational and
institutional response to the problem of school and social
violence.
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It is therefore hardly surprising to find these issues being expressed in various state curricula related to health and wellness. Maryland for example requires students to be able to: Analyze how the media influences sexual attitudes and behavior. Georgia says students must: Identify and analyze alcohol and cigarette advertising. 
Social Studies The SociaI Studies curriculum is meant to provide young people with an understanding of their own society as well as different countries and cultures. In a global economy when America's standard of living depends upon growing markets particularly in the Pacific Rim and the Third World, we cannot afford to approach these people out of either ignorance or arrogance. While television and the mass media can clearly bring us closer to the rest of the world, too often the frame and filter through which we wee this world and its people, dwells on gloom, doom, famine, flood, and disaster. Too often this picture of human misery and suffering minimalize a an marginalizes the richness, diversity , achievements and culture of these peoples. Social Studies teachers must therefore do more than address textbook truths. They must help students explore the way media construct our window on the world and evaluate this representation in terms of its fairness and accuracy. This might include careful analysis of broadcast news or an exploration of stereotypes of people and places in motion pictures. Again, state documents support this approach. In North Dakota students are expected to: evaluate perceptions, prejudices and stereotypes. Florida requires students to: recognize bias and stereotyping in media. Georgia wants students to: evaluate the impact of mass media on public opinion.
English/Language Arts The English/Language Arts curriculum exposes students to the content, skill, form and function of language in all its richness and diversity. While it stresses the communication skills necessary to function in society, it also offers an opportunity to explore, experience, value and appreciate language. For decades now, English teachers have compared and contrasted books and plays with motion picture versions of those works. While this sometimes becomes celluloid literature, looking only at common areas such as genre, plot, conflict, resolution, etc., it also offers creative teachers the opportunity to explore the language and visual vocabulary of film and television. 
Today while the primacy of print is still stressed there is plenty of evidence to indicate that English/Language Arts frameworks are taking media messages much more seriously. In South Carolina for example, the 1995 framework noted: "The use of media enables students to enhance and expand their commutation capabilities. Through the use of computer technology, telecommunications, multimedia technology and other media forms, students will be better prepared to meet the rigorous communication demand in their future careers and personal lives." In New Jersey the curriculum wants students to: explore diverse print, nonprint and technological forms of communication and the means by which these influence people. In Virginia students should be able to: Identify the influence of mass media on the individual and society with emphasis on becoming an informed receiver. It is not possible in these few pages to look at all components of the curriculum or each state's response. Clearly in addition to the areas we have touched upon, media literacy is also relevant in areas such as Art Education, Performing Arts, Media Arts and History. It must be emphasized that beyond these content areas, media literacy is compatible and consistent with the concept of critical thinking and problem solving skills which cut across all disciplines.
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