Media Literacy: The Purposes and Rationale
For the Media Literacy movement to grow in the United States, its advocates will need to carefully, consistently and cautiously articulate the purposes it serves.
The visibility of the movement, while important, is less significant than its viability, which ultimately relies upon its credibility.
Given the decline in both juvenile crime and teen intercourse -- both occurring amidst increasing media depictions of sexuality and violence, one must be very cautious about putting all of media literacy's pedagogical eggs in a so-called "protectionist" basket. If the media contributes to or causes such behavior, why ask critics, is the behavior going down, not up.
As a relatively new movement in American education, media literacy appeals to many constituencies. It is embraced by health educators, faith-based organizations, various consumer advocacy groups, citizenship and community organizations, among others.
But it is the public schools of the nation that will be the front line in the battle for media literacy. One recurring pattern in the nations that have long ago included media literacy in the school curriculum, has been the active, grassroots movement of classroom teachers.
Many teachers in this country find themselves caught in an ongoing conflict and competition between the demands of a crowded curriculum, parents concerns and the relentless high-stakes testing that characterizes the current climate of accountability.
In short they already have so many demands placed upon them, that any meaningful attempt to encourage them to embrace media literacy, must start with their concerns, their discipline, their state standards and the traditional goals and mission statements of American education.
This management strategy, places media literacy within American education as the natural evolution of literacy and therefore a co-partner with computer literacy and information literacy.
It is certainly true, that the spirit of media literacy is already, abundantly evident in the frameworks and standard of many states.
In California for example the ELA [English Language Arts Standards] state that students should be able to "identify, analyze and critique persuasive techniques in media messages".The Social Studies curriculum in the same state, says students should be able to "Evaluate, take and defend, positions on the influence of media on American political life".
In Texas, the Essential Knowledge and Skills for English, Language Arts and Reading has an extensive section on media representations. Students are for example, expected to, "recognize genres such as nightly news, news magazines and documentaries and identify the unique properties of each".
Generally regarded as bellwether states, Texas and California frequently set patterns and trends followed by other school systems, where they have for example, a huge influence on the content of textbooks.
Purpose
1: Preparation
